Guest post by Kindergarten and Preschool for Parents and Teachers. Young children learn with hands-on exploration using their five senses and movement. Of course you want them to learn to read, but do their eyes glaze over when you try to interest them in flashcards? Enter: a letter sound activity that requires movement and action!…
It’s crazy but true! If you teach a student 10 sight words, they can read 10 words… BUT, if you teach that same child 10 letter sounds, they can read THOUSANDS of words. That’s the power of phonics! And these beginning sound cards a playful, hands-on way to help kids practice just that. Snag your set below and…
Looking for a motivating way to teach kids how to write the ABC’s? These free letter tracing sheets take writing practice to a whole new level of fun. The motivating pages are great to use as a literacy center, homeschool activity… even a busy bag you can take along when you’re out and about. Grab the…
Every so often, there’s an alphabet activity that makes my teaching heart skip a beat. It stretches kids’ thinking and helps them tackle those tricky letter sounds. It’s colorful, playful AND engaging. This is one of those alphabet activities. Enjoy these letter sound wheels as you and your little one make your way through the…
Help preschoolers and kindergartners remember the shape and sound of the ABCs with these adorable letter of the week crafts. Then, hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all of the tools, strategies and support you need to reach ALL of your learners. To young children, a letter is…
These letter sound wheels are absolute alphabet perfection! The playful clip cards are a motivating way to work on beginning sounds.
Clip the words that start with each letter.
But don’t be fooled! Four of the choices aren’t a match.
There’s one wheel for all 26 letters.
—> Bundle with all of our other alphabet activities and SAVE!
If you’re teaching kids how to identify beginning sounds, these board games are a fun way for them to show you what they know! Use them as literacy centers, small group activities or homeschool games. For more preschool learning, try our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack where you can get all of our pre-K centers in…
Phonics in a Box makes it easy to teach letter sounds in fun, hands-on and playful ways. Just prep the tool boxes once, and students can use them all year long!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND 6 PHONICS TOOLS THAT FIT PERFECTLY IN A PENCIL BOX:
–> Easy to follow assembly directions
–> 6 colorful phonics tool box labels
–> An alphabet chart
–> A digraph and blend chart
–> 2 consonant and vowel sound walls (one with mouth shapes and one without)
–> A reusable sound map
Plus a list of additional hands-on supplies you can add from the dollar store, Target or Walmart for even more fun!
Groundhog Day is just around the corner and this pack makes it easy to add some motivating, groundhog-themed math and literacy centers to your lesson plans. Students will practice letter sounds, sight words, ten frames, graphing, 2D shapes and so much more. The set is perfect for pre-k, kindergarten or first grade.
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
–> 1-20 Counting Clip Cards. Work on ten frames and counting from 1 to 20.
–> Roll and Colors. Practice immediately recognizing the numbers 1 to 6.
–> Roll, ADD and Color. Easily differentiate for kids who are ready to start working on addition.
–> This or That. Compare two numbers and color the one that’s bigger. 3 levels for easy differentiation.
–> Groundhog Shapes. Learn 2D shape names and practice graphing.
–> Groundhog Predictions. Make predictions and work on graphing.
–> Alphabet Groundhogs. Practice upper and lowercase pairs.
–> Alphabet Puzzles. Match up each letter with a word that starts with it.
–> Alphabet Spin. Spin a letter and color a word that starts with it.
–> EDITABLE Don’t Wake the Groundhog Sight Word Game. Work on reading and writing any words under the sun.
–> Groundhog Day Magic. Make your sight words magically appear.
–> 2 Story Starters. Build students’ creativity as you work on writing.
–> If I Were a Groundhog… Stretch kids’ imaginations while they practice writing.
Just like last week, I’m excited to give you just-right activities for your students to complete at home so that they hit the ground running when school starts back up again.
By popular request, I added a sheet of reading comprehension questions parents can use during read alouds PLUS an engaging science experiment kids can complete using just a Ziploc bag, a couple drops of food coloring and a Sharpie!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND…
–> A teacher letter you can copy and paste in an email to quickly explain your plan to families.
–> A weekly checklist giving kids 25 simple (and fun!) ways to stay engaged and learning.
–> 4 print-and-play activities practicing letter sounds and CVC words, sight words, adding to 12, doubling + 1 and two-dimensional shapes.
–> 1 sheet of reading comprehension questions parents can print off and use during read alouds.
–> 1 easy-to-follow science experiment teaching kids about the water cycle.
Just like last week, I’m excited to give you just-right activities for your students to complete at home so that they hit the ground running when school starts back up again.
By popular request, I added an editable sight word game this week so you can have kids practice any words under the sun!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND…
–> A teacher letter you can copy and paste in an email to quickly explain your plan to families.
–> A weekly checklist giving kids 25 simple (and fun!) ways to stay engaged and learning.
–> 6 print-and-play activities families can print off at home. This week works on beginning letter sounds and CVC words, sight words, addition to 10, subtraction within 10, patterns, units of time and weather.
Get ready to save TONS of planning time!
This mega pack of October math and literacy centers practices letter sounds, word families, sight words, shapes, graphing and so much more.
All 16 centers are perfect for kindergarten and first grade!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY CENTERS
–> Rhyming Puzzles
–> Uppercase ABC Game
–> Uppercase-Lowercase ABC Game
–> 5 CVC Word Family Spin and Color Sheets
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Board Game
–> EDITABLE Spin & Write Sight Word Games
–> EDITABLE Cover Up Sight Word Game
–> EDITABLE Flip & Write Sight Word Game
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Graph
–> 3 Story Starters + Word Cards for Your Writing Center
MATH CENTERS
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including numbers, graphing, addition and subtraction.
–> 3 Sets of Number Puzzles (1-20, Making Ten, Adding to 12)
–> 1-10 Number Dominoes
–> 3 Sets of Build and Compare Challenge Cards (0-20, 0-50, 0-120)
–> One More – One Less Game
–> Subtracting from 10 Write and Wipe Cards
–> 2 Subtraction Mats
–> EDITABLE Math Puzzles
–> 2D Shape Clip Cards
–> 3D Shape Clip Cards
THAT’S 16 OCTOBER MATH AND LITERACY CENTERS IN ALL!
Get ready for some serious inspiration! This mega pack of September math and literacy centers practices letter sounds, word families, sight words, shapes, graphing and so much more.
All 15 centers are perfect for kindergarten and first grade!
Check out the product description below to see what’s included.
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY CENTERS
–> Rhyming Puzzles
–> Rhyming Sort
–> Uppercase ABC Game
–> Uppercase-Lowercase ABC Game
–> Beginning Sound Puzzles
–> CVC Word Family Puzzles
–> CVC Word Family Sort
–> EDITABLE I Spy Game
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Game Board
–> EDITABLE Hide & Seek Sight Word Pocket Chart Game
–> EDITABLE Flip & Write Sight Word Game
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Graph
–> 3 Story Starters + Word Cards for Your Writing Center
MATH CENTERS
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including numbers, graphing, addition and subtraction.
–> Ten Frame Clip Cards
–> 1-120 Base Ten Block Clip Cards
–> Tractor Hide & Seek Number Game
–> One More – One Less Game
–> Addition to 10 Write and Wipe Cards
–> Roll & Subtract Subtraction Game
–> Shape Graph Game
–> EDITABLE Word Graph
THAT’S 15 SEPTEMBER MATH AND LITERACY CENTERS IN ALL!
August math and literacy centers just got a whole lot easier to plan! These 19 print-and-play stations practice letter sounds, word families, sight words, shapes, graphing and so much more.
They are perfect for kindergarten and first grade!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY CENTERS
–> Rhyming Puzzles
–> Uppercase ABC Pencil Match Up
–> Uppercase-Lowercase ABC Pencil Match Up
–> Beginning Sound Clip Strips
–> EDITABLE Lunch Rush Sight Word Game Board
–> EDITABLE Hide & Seek Sight Word Pocket Chart Game
–> EDITABLE Flip & Write Sight Word Game
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Graph
–> CVC Word Family Puzzles
–> 3 Story Starters + Word Cards
MATH CENTERS
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including numbers, graphing, addition and subtraction.
–> 2 Roll & Cover Pattern Block Mats
–> 2 Roll, ADD, Cover Pattern Block Mats
–> Roll & Color Number Game
–> Roll & Add Addition Game
–> Roll & Subtract Subtraction Game
–> Shape Graph Game
–> 4 Graphs of the Week
–> EDITABLE Word Graph
–> 2D Shape Clip Cards (2 versions: read the word + read the shape)
THAT’S 19 AUGUST MATH AND LITERACY CENTERS IN ALL!
End of year centers your students will LOVE! Finish the year stronger than ever with 21 math and literacy centers practicing word families, sight words, telling time, skip counting, number bonds and so much more.
The end of year centers are easy to differentiate, making them perfect for kindergarten and first grade!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY CENTERS
The mega pack makes it so easy to differentiate. Stretch activities for your strong readers and break down the activities for your struggling kiddos.
–> Color Up. Work on letter sounds, digraphs or blends! Simply grab a card, say the word out loud and color the beginning sound.
–> Spin a Word Family. Spin a word, read it and color it on your sheet. There are 5 versions so you can practice every vowel.
–> Word Clip Cards. Have students read and clip CVC words or, if they’re ready for a challenge, give them the Magic E version instead.
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Game. Race to the finish line as you read and write sight words along the way!
–> EDITABLE Roll and Write. Roll a die and write the matching word. Because the game is editable, you can practice any words under the sun!
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Puzzles. Match each sight word with its twin! When you’ve finished, write your pairs on your record sheet to practice spelling.
–> EDITABLE Hide and Seek. Play a pocket chart sight word game with the class!
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Card Game. Have students practice their sight words with a friend!
–> 4 Story Starters. Get kids writing with creative story prompts and end of year word cards.
MATH CENTERS
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including numbers, telling time, addition and subtraction.
–> Mystery Numbers. Practice counting in numerical order from 1-120.
–> Skip Counting. For students who are ready to be stretched, practice skip counting by 2, 5 or 10 instead.
–> Shape Graph. Work on 2D or 3D shapes AND build graphing skills at the same time. Just spin a shape and add it to the graph!
–> Number Bonds. Figure out the missing number and write it on your number bond!
–> Telling Time 4 in a Row. Read the analog clock and then find the digital time that matches! There are two versions included so that you can easily differentiate for a variety of learners: telling time to the nearest hour and quarter hour.
THERE ARE 21 END OF YEAR MATH AND LITERACY CENTERS IN ALL!
Looking for fall activities your students will beg to play over and over again?!
This print and play pack includes 14 math and literacy centers practicing letter sounds, word families, sight words, number concept, 2D shapes and so much more.
The fall activities are easy to differentiate, making them perfect for kindergarten and first grade!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY CENTERS:
The mega pack also includes literacy centers that make it so easy to differentiate. Stretch activities for your strong readers and break down the activities for your struggling kiddos.
–> Alphabet Acorns. Such a motivating way to work on letter recognition and upper and lowercase pairing.
–> Letter Sound Puzzles. Find the letter that starts each word. The set even includes digraphs!
–> Rhyming Sort. Find the words that sound the same.
–> Word Family Sort. Sound out 24 CVC words.
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Game. Race to the tree as you read and write sight words along the way.
–> EDITABLE I Spy. Find the sight words hidden around the room. Then write the words in the right spot on your sheet!
–> EDITABLE Color by Sight Word. A fun literacy craftivity!
–> 3 Story Starters. Get kids writing with fun story prompts.\
MATH CENTERS:
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including counting, number writing, patterns and 2D shapes.
–> 1-12 Number Sort. Build number sense as you sort four different ways to write the numbers 1 to 12.
–> Base Ten Puzzles. Count the base ten blocks and find the matching number. It’s a fun way to work on 1 to 120!
–> Roll and Cover. Practice quickly recognizing 1 to 6 OR, for kids who are ready for a stretch, work on adding up to 12.
–> Leaf Patterns. Create AB, ABB, ABCD, AABB, AAB and ABC patterns. Then invite students who are ready for a challenge to create patterns of their own.
–> Write and Wipe Making 10 Cards. Write and solve fall-themed making ten addition problems.
–> Write and Wipe Subtraction Cards. Then invite students to write and solve subtraction within 10!
THERE ARE 14 FALL ACTIVITIES IN ALL!
Looking for St. Patrick’s Day activities your students will beg to play over and over again?!
This print and play pack includes 13 motivating ways to teach alphabet letters, word families, sight words, number concept, graphing, making ten and so much more.
The St. Patrick’s Day activities are easy to differentiate, making them perfect for pre-K and kindergarten!
Check out all the fun details below.
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY
–> Alphabet Puzzles. A playful way to work on letter sounds.
–> Rhyming Puzzles. Find the matching words.
–> Perfect Pairs. Sound out 16 pairs of CVC words.
–> EDITABLE Gold Rush Sight Word Game. Race to the gold as you read and write sight words along the way.
–> EDITABLE Leprechaun Words. Write your word list in a St. Patrick’s Day tray!
–> 3 Story Starters. Get kids writing with fun story prompts.
MATH
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including counting, number writing, patterns, shapes and graphing.
–> 1-20 Ten Frame Dab. Read the number and then fill your ten frame with that many dots.
–> Shamrock Ten Frames. Spin a number and color the shamrock ten frame to match.
–> Making 10 Challenge Cards and Review Sheet. How many more do you need to make 10?
–> Cut and Paste Patterns. Solve AB, AAB and ABC patterns.
–> Leprechaun Shapes. Spin a shape, name it and graph it. What shape reaches the top first?
–> Counting Clip Cards. Count the St. Patrick’s Day objects and clip the matching number from 1-12.
These bright and colorful playdough mats give kids hands-on practice with fine motor skills, upper and lowercase letter formation, letter sounds, 2D shapes, counting and writing the numbers 1 to 10.
It’s a mega pack of playdough activities in one easy download.
Print and laminate the mats, grab a batch of playdough, and you’re all set!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
–> 26 uppercase ABC mats
–> 26 lowercase ABC mats
–> 8 two-dimensional shape mats for circle, triangle, rectangle, square, rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon and oval
–> 11 counting mats for 0-10
Imagine the hands-on fun and learning in store!
If you’re looking for motivating bug and butterfly activities for Pre-K or kindergarten, this set is for you!
The bug and butterfly set includes plenty of variety so that you can easily differentiate for different learners. Work on alphabet letters, word families, sight words, counting, adding, life cycles and so much more!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
–> Rainbow butterflies practicing upper and lowercase pairs
–> Alphabet puzzles working on letter sounds
–> 2 EDITABLE sight word games
–> Rhyming clip cards
–> Word family clip cards and writing activity
–> 0-20 counting clip cards
–> Ten frame coloring sheets
–> Roll and cover pattern block mats practicing counting and adding
–> Ladybug addition sheets
–> Butterfly life cycle hats
–> Butterfly life cycle posters
–> Ladybug life cycle wheels
–> Ladybug life cycle posters
–> 4 story starters
These NO PREP handwriting activity sheets make it fun for kids to practice letter names, letter formation and letter sounds!
BIG UPDATE–> The pack now includes D’Nealian handwriting pages and British English versions that ask kids to “colour” instead of “color”.
Use the covers to bind them together as an engaging handwriting book or have kids work on the sheets one at a time!
The handwriting activity sheets are great to use as morning work, word work stations, supplemental handwriting practice or alphabet activity in kindergarten or preschool.
STUDENTS WILL:
–> Write upper and lowercase letters with highlighters,
–> Rainbow write them with six colors of crayons (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple),
–> Write them in boxes
–> Trace them on a line
–> And color a word that starts with the sound
These handwriting activity sheets are so motivating! Just print and play.
Gobble, gobble! Get into the Thanksgiving spirit with a math and literacy pack that’s perfect for preschool and kindergarten.
The 16 motivating math and literacy activities include ABC games, counting activities, sight word games, little reader books, graphing sheets, rhyming clip cards and more.
Check out all the fun details below!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY
–> Rhyming Clip Cards. Build rhyming skills.
–> Handwriting Pages. Practice letter formation and letter sounds.
–> Alphabet Dab. Work on letter recognition and upper-lowercase pairs.
–> Mayflower Race. Race around the game board reading and writing sight words!
–> Roll and Write. Roll the die and write the word that matches.
–> 5 Story Starters. Get kids writing with fun story prompts.
–> Little Reader Books. Practice early reading skills with two emergent readers: Five Little Turkeys and I Love My Family.
MATH
–> 1 to 20 Clip Cards. A fun counting, number recognition and fine motor activity in one.
–> Ten Frame Dab. Practice the numbers 1 to 20 with a playful ten frame game.
–> Color by Ten Frame. A motivating way to build number concept.
–> Feather Patterns. Practice AB, AAB, ABB, ABC and AABB patterns with a Thanksgiving twist.
–> Cut and Paste Patterns. Find the missing Thanksgiving picture!
–> Roll and Graph. Roll the dice, add the dots together and graph the matching number.
–> Adding to Ten. How many more wishbones do you need to make ten?
–> Subtracting Sheets. Roll the die and take away that many pies. How many are left?
NOTE: All of our products are instant downloads.
BUNDLE AND SAVE! Add HUNDREDS of motivating word work stations to your collection so you can easily differentiate your literacy centers for a variety of reading levels. Print one center for students who are practice letter sounds, pull another center for kids who are working on blends…
The Word Work Bundle includes ALL of my phonics and sight word packs… including all of the EDITABLE ones… so you have everything you need in one spot.
It’s tailor-made for preschool, kindergarten and first grade teachers.
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
The MEGA bundle includes 450+ centers practicing sight words and phonics skills:
–> Rhyming
–> Syllable segmenting
–> Names
–> Alphabet letter names and sounds
–> Beginning sounds
–> Short vowels
–> CVC words
–> Beginning digraphs
–> Ending digraphs
–> Beginning blends
–> Ending blends
–> Vowel teams
–> Magic E words
–> Diphthongs
–> R-controlled vowels
–> Compound words
–> Sight Words
–> Reading fluency
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LETTER RECOGNITION
–> Alphabet Stamping
–> Letter in My Name Sort
–> Curvy, Straight Letter Shape Sort
–> Alphabet Clip Cards
–> Alphabet Memory
–> Little Mouse Alphabet House Game
LETTER FORMATION
–> Handwriting Activity Sheets (in standard AND D’nealian fonts)
–> Alphabet Tic Tac Toe
–> ABC Hide and Seek
–> Race to the Top
–> Matchbox Car Tracing
LETTER SOUND
–> Alphabet Chant
–> Alphabet Charts (in color AND black and white)
–> Alphabet Match Up
–> Phonics Clip Cards
–> Phonics Match Up
ABC SEQUENCING
–> Paperclip Letters
–> Missing Letters Game
–> Missing Letters Clip Cards
Bundle with our fine motor and preschool math pack and save here!
Need an easier way to teach phonics in Pre-K, Kindergarten, or First Grade? Your teaching dream is coming true because the Phonics Toolkit gives you *everything* you need in one simple download:
→ Step-by-step lesson plans for 39 different phonics skills that make it easy to teach students everything from the very first letter sound /m/ through digraphs. Just flip to the page and read through each step!
→ 88 ready-to-use literacy centers that make it fun for kids to practice each of the phonics skills. Hit “print,” and you’re ready to play.
→ Print-and-go reading passages that align with each lesson so you can stop time-sucking hunts for follow up practice material.
→ Quick phonics assessments that make it easy to pinpoint the skills each student needs to learn next. (They come in print AND digital so you can pick your favorite!)
→ Sound maps that help children memorize words that include each phonics skill in as little as 5 exposures.
→ Playful handwriting activity sheets that make it fun to work on letter formation.
…. And more!
Teaching phonics skills is a lot like baking a cake. Skipping ahead or missing a step, almost always makes your lessons flop. Students are either too confused, or too overwhelmed, or too bored… And you’re unsure what to try next. But when you know the best order to teach phonics, it’s like getting your hands…
Get ready to fall in love! Word chains are an easy but powerful way to build important literacy skills including phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, AND blending at the exact same time. Because you swap just one sound each time you move to a new box in the sequence, children are able to make connections between…
Need an easier way to teach phonics in Pre-K, Kindergarten, First, or Second Grade? The Phonics Toolkit is your teaching dream come true because it gives you *everything* you need in one simple download:
→ Step-by-step lesson plans for 128 different phonics skills that make it easy to teach students everything from the very first letter sound /m/ through complicated spelling patterns like the trigraph -TCH. Just flip to the page and read through each step!
→ 267 ready-to-use literacy centers that make it fun for kids to practice each of the phonics skills. Hit “print,” and you’re ready to play.
→ Print-and-go reading passages that align with each lesson so you can stop time-sucking hunts for follow up practice material.
→ Quick phonics assessments that make it easy to pinpoint the skills each student needs to learn next. (They come in print AND digital so you can pick your favorite!)
→ Sound maps that help children memorize words that include each phonics skill in as little as 5 exposures.
→ Playful handwriting activity sheets that make it fun to work on letter formation.
…. And more!
Spoiler alert: Teaching vowels in the traditional order A, E, I, O, and U can actually be confusing to new readers. Several of the sounds are so similar that learning them back-to-back is a real struggle. For instance, new readers’ brains strain to hear the difference between the short A in BAD and the short E…
If you’ve ever had a student who could sound out each letter in a CVC word but, when it came time to blend those sounds together, they said something else instead like “D-O-G. Drop?” then this phonemic awareness game is for you. Grab a slinky and get ready to s-t-r-e-t-c-h students’ phonemic awareness. Kids will…
The science of reading has been ALL the buzz lately, but if you’re secretly scratching your head and thinking that you don’t REALLY understand what it means yet, don’t worry. You’re not alone! And I promise this rundown will help break it all down for you. The Reading Wars Before we dive into the science…
Do you have any students who know ALL of the letter sounds but, when it comes time to blend those sounds together to read a word, they STILL struggle? This will help! A lot of times readers just need to practice something called phonemic awareness. Luckily, this playful pop it center is a super fun…
Learning letter sounds is important for both reading and writing, but some letters of the alphabet are trickier than others and make not one but TWO sounds! G is one of those letters. These free little reader books and rhyme help kids learn more about soft G sounds (as in giraffe) and hard G sounds (as in goat). For more little…
Just when kids have finally mastered letter sounds, along come tricky digraphs like CH-, TH- and SH- to trip them up again. Thankfully, these ten digraph activities make it fun to master all of the most common digraphs in words: CH, CK, KN, NG, PH, QU, SH, TH, and WH. Grab your set in our…
Clip cards are a quick and easy way for kids to practice reading skills. That’s one of the reasons we love them so much! Rhyming, alphabet letters, blends, digraphs… you name it, we’ve clipped it! These CVC clip cards are a motivating way to help students identify middle vowel sounds. They are a perfect addition to…
Once kids learn stand alone letter sounds, they’re ready to tackle digraphs – two letter combinations that make just one sound like the pairs CH, SH and TH. Just like our digraph cards, this simple sort and find digraph activity is a motivating, hands-on way to make learning them fun for kids. When you’re done…
Mastering letter sounds can be a tricky thing, and learning digraphs can be even more challenging. After all, now kids need to remember not only what letters say on their own, but what certain combinations say when put together! Since we are all about making learning fun, this cookie jar beginning digraph sort was the perfect…
Digraphs and blends tend to trip up new readers. Just when kids finally have their letter sounds down, out pop tricky letter combinations that change those sounds. Oy! This digraph and blend chart is a helpful way for students to keep letter clusters straight once and for all. Grab your copy below and then hop over and…
Looking for a quick prep Veteran’s Day activity for preschool or kindergarten? These free handwriting sheets give kids practice writing and sounding out the letters V and P. Grab the printable below and then hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all of the tools, strategies and support you…
Alphabet recognition is an important skill for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. This School and Bus Alphabet Match is a fun way to work with uppercase and lowercase letters when heading back to school this fall. Grab your copy below and then hop over and snag our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop! Getting Ready…
Learning letter sounds is no easy task, but there are few things more exciting than when kids start down the path of learning to read. Letters and sounds are a huge part of that journey so we love playing fun games to help us practice! These beginning sound match cards are the perfect addition to…
As kids learn letter sounds they can start putting those sounds together to read words. This super simple word slider is an awesome visual showing them how to do just that. It’s one of those teaching tricks you’ll never want to forget. For more reading fun for your beginning reader, check out our Emergent Readers Bundle in our shop! Getting…
Looking for a motivating alphabet activity as we head into summer?! This Pool and Beach Ball Alphabet Match is a super fun way to work with uppercase and lowercase letters during the summer so pre-k and kindergarten students are ready to hit the ground running in the fall. Grab your copy below and then hop…
For many kids, the hardest letter sounds to learn are those tricky vowels: A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y. Every word in English has at least one, so tackling them is uber important but, MASTERING them…. well, that can be a long road for some. This vowel activity is here to help! These…
This list of 10 ways to help struggling readers is a great one to bookmark or pin so you can quickly find it again! Since every child’s brain is different, every solution can be slightly different too. Having this list handy will make it easier to find a just right solution for ALL of the…
An important first step in teaching kids how to read is figuring out what they already know. This simple reading assessment makes it easy to see the letter names, sounds and sight words students have mastered so that you can determine what to teach next. It’s the perfect jumpstart to our 4 week teacher training…
Did you know that there are two kinds of readers sitting in your classroom right now? It’s true! And if you’ve ever felt unsure about how to help a struggling reader, than you’ll want to stick around, because knowing how to spot each type will help you get bigger, faster teaching results. This is just…
When you think of teaching kids to read, you probably picture alphabet letters, little reader books and sight words…. lots and LOTS of sight words. But the truth is that what happens before you dive into phonics and sight words is key to skyrocketing students’ reading progress later. Let’s dive into the 4 pre-reading skills…
If you’re wondering how to teach reading, you’re in the right spot! This step-by-step guide covers everything from pre-reading skills to phonics, sight words and reading comprehension so that you can take kids from NON-readers to STRONG readers. Check out the step-by-step below and then request an invite to my 4 week course, The Reading…
Do your kids love bugs and butterflies?! These 14 must-have activities will keep preschoolers and kindergarteners learning and engaged for weeks. Practice alphabet letters, sight words, numbers, addition, writing, learn about the butterfly life cycle and so. much. more. Grab your Bug and Butterfly Activity Pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. For more…
I don’t know about you, but after a long and gray winter, I’m always excited to see flowers start to grow. You too? From working on phonics and letter sounds to science experiments and ten frames, these flower activities are perfect for kindergarten and first grade. There are even some gorgeous flower art projects that…
Sound boxes are a great way to build phonemic awareness with new readers because they encourage children to focus on one sound at a time and then blend those sounds together to make a word. Snag your sound boxes below and then grab our Phonological Awareness Warm Ups so you have everything you need to…
Looking for St. Patrick’s Day activities your students will beg to play over and over again?!
Looking for a spring-themed word family activity your kids will LOVE?! This flower CVC match up is a playful way to practice sounding out three letter words. CVC word games are fun and engaging way to introduce reading to kiddos! Snag your free activity below and then hop over and grab 14 more board games…
If you’re looking for kindergarten centers your students will beg to repeat, you’ve come to the right spot! Playdough to Plato is all-in on helping you save time, stay inspired and get bigger teaching results so we pulled together some of our favorite kindergarten centers in one spot right here. Just click one of the…
If you’re looking for pre-kindergarten centers your students will beg to repeat, you’ve come to the right spot! Playdough to Plato is all-in on helping you save time, stay inspired and get bigger teaching results so we pulled together some of our favorite pre-kindergarten centers in one spot right here. Your students will love switching…
ABC games are a fun, hands-on way to teach kids the names and sounds of letters. This roundup of 50 ABC games includes favorite finds from across the web. Whether you’re looking for a super-active game or you’d like an easy download you can print and play, this list has you covered. Then, hop over to become a…
These must-try playdough mats are a squishy, hands-on way to develop kids’ fine motor skills while they practice upper and lowercase letter formation, letter sounds, 2D shapes, counting and writing the numbers 1 to 10. They’re the perfect combination of fun and learning! Grab your pack in our shop! And for more fun, snag our Ultimate…
Kids love rainbows (and I do too!) so I couldn’t wait to create a set of colorful rainbow puzzles that would give new readers plenty of practice matching alphabet letters with their beginning sounds. These beginning sound rainbows are perfect to use as a literacy center, guided reading activity… even a St. Patrick’s Day game! …
Looking for easy prep math and literacy activities for Valentine’s Day?! This pack is jam-packed.
Playdough mats are an easy way to grow kids’ imaginations, develop fine motor skills and teach important skills like counting and the ABCs. This roundup of 100 free playdough mats includes some of our favorite finds from across the web. Get inspired below then hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so you…
‘Tis the season for Santa Claus, jingle bells and sweet treats. I love it! This go-to Christmas Activity Pack includes 23 elf-approved math and literacy activities bundled together in one easy instant download. It’s perfect for Pre-K and Kindergarten. Grab the printable below and then hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all…
Get ready for some serious fun! These 18 engaging print-and-play centers motivate kids to practice reading and writing the 8 most common diphthongs: -AU, -AW, -EW, -OI, -OO, -OU, -OW, -OY If you’re looking for more just like this, become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all of the tools, strategies and support you…
Teaching kids to read is one of the most important things on your daily to-do list. But making that learning FUN can feel daunting – it’s hard to know where to start. Enter: phonics games! When learning feels more like play than work, even reluctant readers will ask to practice it. And this roundup of…
Whether you’re prepping a farm unit or just need motivating ways to teach STEM, math, science, reading and writing skills, this farm MEGA pack is a must-try. These activities are yours when you become a VIP Plato Pack member. Just join, print, and play! SO EASY TO DIFFERENTIATE As always, the activities are designed for…
Groundhog Day is just around the corner and this pack makes it easy to add some motivating, groundhog-themed math and literacy centers to your lesson plans. Students will practice letter sounds, sight words, ten frames, graphing, 2D shapes and so much more. The set is perfect for pre-k, kindergarten or first grade. Snag your pack in our…
Our super popular alphabet, fine motor and preschool math packs bundled together for an easy (and DISCOUNTED!) bundle.
Get ready to add a huge dose of fun to your alphabet centers! These 23 fun, motivating alphabet games teach kids critical skills including letter names, letter sounds, ABC sequencing, letter formation and uppercase-lowercase pairing. Use them as literacy centers, small group activities, morning work or homeschool activities. There are so many possibilities! Grab your…
Do you spend countless hours hunting down “good fit” word work activities and literacy centers for each of your reading groups? Word work is an amazing way to take students’ reading to the next level because it gives kids a chance to play with words – breaking them apart, putting them back together, reading and writing them, sorting…
These eight beginning sound games are the perfect combination of fun and effective for kids! As children learn how to read, the part of words they are able to isolate and spell first are beginning sounds. It is as though their brain works so hard to pull apart that first sound that the rest of the letters just melt away.
Each game comes in color and black and white versions, and they are perfect for centers or small reading groups. Grab them now to help your students move on to ending sounds in no time!
BEGINNING SOUND GAMES INCLUDED:
–> Clip cards
–> Alphabet match up puzzles
–> 5 game boards
–> Color by sound no prep sheets
–> Sound sort
–> Mystery beginning sound no prep sheets
–> Beginning sound cover up mats
–> Match & cover consonants and vowels
NOTE: All of our activities are instant downloads.
The 2D Shape Activity Pack is bursting with motivating ways to learn about circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, ovals, rhombuses, trapezoids, hexagons, stars and hearts!! Clip 2D shape sandwiches, make interactive shape flap books, play dice games and so much more… Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! Peek Inside Middle Brother (age…
I always think the pumpkin season is our favorite classroom theme… until it is time for gingerbread! This Gingerbread ABC Game is a simple way to incorporate some seasonal fun into mastering letters and sounds, ABC order and even CVC words! When you’re dong matching, snag our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop for access to all of our…
Absolutely everything you need to teach kids how to read in one spot. So easy for grown ups and motivating for kids!
This bundle is a Pre-K game changer!
The 63 alphabet, math and fine motor activities save you so. much. time planning and prepping centers, morning work or stations.
The set bundles three activity packs into one easy download:
20 fun, motivating games that teach kids letter names, ABC sequencing, letter formation and uppercase-lowercase pairing. Read more.
Kindergarten games, science experiments and math.
ABC games, preschool math activities and crafts.
Grab our comprehensive set of 17 spelling rule posters – the must-have tool for supercharging your students’ learning. The eye-catching posters make spelling rules easier to grasp and remember for kids. The bundle is perfect to use with whole groups, small groups, or 1:1 tutoring.
EASILY TEACH:
Are you curious if your curriculum is science of reading aligned so you can ensure your students are receiving the best reading instruction possible? If so, this list is for you. The Science of Reading is a research-based approach that continues gaining traction because of its effectiveness in teaching children to read. It emphasizes phonemic…
When students are first learning to read, written letters look like meaningless shapes on a piece of paper. They might as well be squiggles or scribbles – letters don’t have any rhyme or reason. But this fun little alphabet chant changes all of that because it helps students connect each funky shape we call a…
Fun fact: The 26 letters in English actually make FORTY-TWO different sounds called phonemes! (Experts adjust the list from 42 to 45, but we will stick with 42 phonemes here.) The letter G, for instance, can say /g/ as in EGG, /j/ like in GYM, /zh/ as in CHALLENGE, or it can fall silent like…
Excellence-driven Pre-K, Kindergarten, & First Grade Teachers Your search for ALL the training & tools for playful Science of Reading instruction stops here. Ready to fill your teacher bag with everything you need to help EVERY student learn to read? HAVE YOU BEEN… Left to fend for yourself? And border-line panicking over the growing complexity…
You don’t need to be a reading specialist to be an exceptional reading teacher. All you need are the scientifically proven tools & training that make learning to read inevitable for every child. If you’re a pre-K, kindergarten, or first grade teacher who wants to finally feel confident about your reading instruction, you’ve come to…
If you’re like so many teachers and homeschoolers I’ve talked to, somewhere along the way, you have probably been told that learning to read is like learning to talk – children can teach themselves how to do it without much adult intervention. But if you follow me on Instagram, you already know that’s simply not…
The science of reading has proven that students need to be able to hear the individual sounds in words called phonemes and focusing on beginning sounds is the best place to start because it’s the first phoneme their brains will be able to identify. These 100 beginning sound task cards make it fun and easy…
These word chain lists are a huge time and sanity saver! Instead of getting stuck trying to come up with complete word chains on your own, just print these done-for-you lists. There are 7 different varieties of word chains you can use with daily warm ups, centers, whole-class practice, or small groups.
Snag your set and then hit “print” to get 112 ready-to-go word chains!
Educators in kindergarten, first and second grade face the unique challenge of being responsible for their students having a solid foundation in reading, which will in large part determine their academic success, as all aspects of their future learning and careers need to build upon it. The pressure is enormous, and with large classroom sizes…
So you’re interested in teaching first grade? Good for you! It’s a crucial time to help students build a strong foundation that will help prepare them for their future academic and career endeavors. Beyond a strong dedication to each student’s success, here are some soft skills and practical matters that you’ll need to consider. For…
When students are struggling to hear the individual sounds in words they’re trying to spell, they often need to build a skill called phonemic awareness. And sound mapping is a simple but powerful way to boost it! Add in a fun gumball theme and some squishy playdough balls and it’s a literacy match made in…
No batch of chicken soup could ever be strong enough to cure the sub planning blues… Especially when you already feel lousy! This makes it easy for you to pull together sub plans that’ll last you for DAYS. And when you spend 15 minutes setting everything up NOW, it’ll be ready to go *whenever* you…
Does your little one get confused when trying to read the letter C in a word? Children are so used to spelling words like c-a-t that when they come to one like c-i-t-y they pronounce it as “kitty.” The hard and soft C can be difficult to master. These hard and soft C little books…
Back to school season is right around the corner, and with it comes all things apples. Add some seasonal fun to your reading centers this fall with these hands-on medial vowel clip cards. Scroll below to grab your freebie and then jump over and grab our Vowel Team Centers for more fun! Getting Ready To…
If your students have learned their beginning sounds, practiced their end sounds, chances are they are ready to dive into those tricky vowels sounds. Giving kids a strong foundation for this important skill is a must which is why I LOVE our new word family centers pack. It’s a great way to compare and contrast…
These free alphabet printables are perfect for young learners! Help children identify beginning sounds, lowercase letters and uppercase letters with a colorful alphabet chart, clip it cards and letter matching puzzles. Snag your set below and then hop over to our shop and grab the Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack for more alphabet and learning fun! Alphabet Printables The…
These bright, hands-on alphabet puzzles are a must-grab. Kids will love that they’re fun and YOU’LL love that they’re so easy to prep. Snag your set below and then hop over to grab our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop! Getting Ready To prep for the alphabet puzzles, I began by printing the puzzles…
Are you looking for a fun way for kids to practice reading and spelling CVC words?! These free CVC word puzzles are easy to prep and your students will love the fun and bright pictures. Grab your copy below and then hop over and snag our awesome Editable Word Work Games in our shop! Getting…
Rhymes for kids help children notice that words are clumps of sounds with a similar pattern. When they begin spelling and reading words later, they’ll notice that rhyming words often end with the same letters. For instance, cat, bat, sat and hat all end with the letters –AT. When you think of classic rhymes for kids,…
Wondering what your soon-to-be kindergartener needs to know before the first day? As a kindergarten teacher, I spent many days leading up to the start of school calming parents’ anxiety about their child’s transition. Not knowing what their child REALLY needed to know was unnerving. What does kindergarten readiness mean anyway? To ease their uncertainty, I…
This seashell vowel team sort is a motivating way for students to practice their long vowel sounds this summer! Scroll below to grab the freebie and then jump over and snag our Vowel Team Centers in our shop! Getting Ready The prep for this vowel team sort was very simple. I printed the vowel team pails…
If you’re after a simple way to teach beginning blends like FR-, CL-, DR- and SK-, you’ll love these 10 free picture sorts. Simply print, color, cut, sort and paste! Grab your set below and then hop over and grab a copy of our blend clip cards, too. For more fun with words, snag our…
Just like we’re never 100% sure when kids will take their first step, we also can’t name the time and place when students will read their first word. But there ARE four signs kids are ready read… Dive into the 4 signs below and then request an invite to my 4 week course, The Reading…
Vowel sounds (A, E, I, O and U) are often the most difficult for children to master. These hands-on puzzles and word cards give kids plenty of practice sounding out short CVC words and identifying the missing middle vowel sound. They’re great to use as literacy centers, guided reading activities or word family games with new readers. …
These beginning sound clip cards are a hands-on way to make learning fun and engaging for young learners! Students simply look at the picture on the sunflower and clip the letter that starts the word. They are a great addition to your small reading groups or literacy centers. For more literacy fun, check out our…
These free blend posters and dice are a great visual way to teach blends like CR-, GL- and SK-. The posters are great as a classroom display or flashcards, and the dice provide an engaging way for children to think of words that begin with each blend. Also included is a chart of blend examples!…
“Rain, Rain, Go Away…” Are you having some rainy days this spring, too? Even if you aren’t, this raindrop beginning sound match is a great alphabet activity to add to your spring literacy centers! Scroll below to grab your freebie and then make sure to hop over and snag our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack for…
Being able to identify beginning sounds in words is an important skill, especially for learning to read and write. This St. Patrick’s Day beginning sound match is a great game for early readers! Kids will love connecting initial sounds to their written letters in a fun, playful way. For more preschool activities, check out our best-selling Ultimate Preschool…
Are you working on beginning sounds with kids this February?! These playful beginning sound Valentine’s Day puzzles will be the perfect addition to your literacy centers. Your students are sure to L-O-V-E this center! For more learning fun, hop over and grab our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop! Getting Ready To prep, I printed…
Teaching kids to cut with scissors is an important life skill and helps build fine motor strength and hand-eye coordination they’ll need for writing alphabet letters and words later. Paper cutting stations are here to help! Handing over a pair of blades to young kids sounds intimidating, but you’ve come to the right spot! Find out…
Looking for some fun St. Patrick’s Day activities with a math, science and literacy focus? You’ve come to the right spot. We’ve pulled together 25 of our favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities for kids in one spot. We hope your little leprechauns love them too! For more activities, join The Plato Pack and get unlimited…
These 20 motivating winter activities are perfect for pre-K and kindergarten! Use them as math and literacy centers, early finisher activities, morning tubs… the sky’s the limit. Whether you’re putting together a winter unit, or just want to step up math and literacy learning, this Winter Activity Pack is a must. Grab your set in our shop…
Tis’ the season for all things orange! There are SO MANY super fun pumpkin activities and we’re excited to pass along our favorites from across the web. This fall-themed roundup includes pumpkin-themed math, literacy and science projects your kids will LOVE. If you’re looking for more, hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so…
Nothing screams fall quite like apples, am I right? These 16 motivating apple activities make it fun to practice literacy, math, science and STEM. And the best part is that your kindergarten and first grade students will LOVE every single one of them! Snag your jumbo-sized apple pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay…
I’ve heard from so many kindergarten teachers like you whose schools are closing indefinitely because of the coronavirus and they need an easy way to keep kids engaged and learning at home.
Rather than scrambling to pull together just-right activities for your students each week, I’m excited to give you a simple solution: a pack of school at home activities your students can complete on their own.
And since we know that some families won’t have access to printers, I made sure to include plenty of printable-free learning options so that every child can participate.
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
–> A teacher letter you can copy and paste in an email to quickly explain your plan to families.
–> A weekly checklist giving kids 25 simple (and fun!) ways to stay engaged and learning.
–> 5 print-and-play activities families can print off at home. This week works on beginning letter and digraph sounds, sight words, addition to 10, subtraction within 10, 2-dimensional shapes, 3-dimensional shapes and fine motor skills.
These Earth Day centers make it so easy to plan your math and literacy activities for the week of April 22nd! Just hit print.
This print-and-play pack includes 18 math and literacy centers practicing word families, sight words, telling time, number bonds and so much more.
The Earth Day centers are easy to differentiate, making them perfect for kindergarten and first grade!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
LITERACY CENTERS
The mega pack makes it so easy to differentiate. Stretch activities for your strong readers and break down the activities for your struggling kiddos.
–> Beginning Sounds Color Up. Pick a card from the pile and color the letter that starts with the word shown.
–> Digraph Color Up. For students who are ready to be stretched, practice digraph words instead.
–> Blends Color Up. And for children who need even more of a push, pull out the blends version of the game.
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Game. Race to the finish line as you read and write sight words along the way!
–> EDITABLE I Spy Game. Have fun and burn off a little extra energy as kids search the room for sight words and then practice spelling them on their record sheet.
–> EDITABLE Sight Word Puzzles. Match each sight word with its twin!
–> 3 Story Starters. Get kids writing with creative story prompts and Earth Day word cards.
MATH CENTERS
The set also includes math activities teaching critical skills including numbers, telling time, addition and subtraction.
–> What’s Next? Easily differentiate by having kids focus on the numbers 1-20, 1-50 or 1-120.
–> Roll and Cover. Challenge students to roll two dice, add the numbers together, and then cover up the sum on their pattern block mat.
–> Subtraction Mats. Spin two numbers, write the subtraction problem and solve it!
–> Number Bonds. Have kids complete Earth Day number bonds.
–> Telling Time Puzzles. Read the analog clock and then find the digital time that matches! There are three versions included so that you can easily differentiate for a variety of learners: telling time to the hour, half hour and quarter hour.
–> Color by Shape. Practice naming and recognizing 2D or 3D shapes with a playful game of chance.
–> Shape Graph. Spin a shape and add it to the graph. What shape reaches the top first?
THERE ARE 18 EARTH DAY MATH AND LITERACY CENTERS IN ALL!
Helping kids notice differences between short vowel sounds can be tricky but, thankfully, these ten short vowel emergent readers are a huge help! The ten emergent reader books are a motivating and easy prep way to help kids build critical pre-reading skills. Each set even includes pocket chart cards and follow up practice sheets so you can easily…
These bright and colorful alphabet posters are the perfect addition to your classroom or homeschool!
They’re a helpful tool for Pre-K, kindergarten and first grade students who are learning beginning sounds because they can easily match the upper and lowercase alphabet letter to a familiar word that starts with it.
You can even print multiple sheets on a page to make flashcards students can take home for review.
Get ready to add a fun pop of color to your walls!
INSIDE YOU’LL FIND:
–> 26 alphabet posters featuring uppercase and lowercase letters and an image to go along with the letter
We’ve all heard it a million times. In an increasingly techy world, computer coding is “the wave of the future.” But what does “coding” really mean and how in the world are we supposed to actually TEACH it?! Thankfully, teaching kids computer code has never been easier! This STEM challenge pack explains what “binary code” means…
As children learn how to read, the part of words they are able to isolate and spell first are beginning sounds. It is as though their brain works so hard to pull apart that first sound that the rest of the letters just melt away. These eleven beginning sound games are the perfect combination of fun and effective…
Welcome Instagram friends! This is the place to find all of our latest posts in one spot. Simply scroll down and click on the activity you’re searching for – our newest posts are on top. Spring STEM Challenges in our shop // on Teachers Pay Teachers 3D Shape Puzzles Sticky Ice Rainbow Digraph Puzzles Egg…
The hardest part of teaching is the thing they don’t cover in teachers’ education programs – classroom management! It’s what makes a day turn from jump-to-the-sky-amazing to don’t-want-to-ever-come-back-again-AWFUL. Classroom management is undoubtedly one of the hardest teaching skills to learn, but these tried and true tips and tricks will help you focus students’ attention, manage behavior issues…
ABC games are a motivating way to teach kids the names and sounds of letters. This superhero-themed alphabet match up takes the fun to a whole new level. As kids pair upper and lowercase letters together, they magically build an awesome superhero. This ABC game is a low-prep, must-try activity kids will beg to play again and again. For more alphabet fun, snag…
ABC games are a great way to teach kids the names and sounds of letters. What makes this roundup of 20 ABC games a little different is that it’s filled with boy-tested and strongly approved activities that are about the things boys love most. No worksheets allowed. So roll up your sleeves, pull on your fireman hat and get ready to…
Sight word games, science experiments, first grade math and more.
Learning word families is a fast way to help children recognize a lot of new words quickly because they are groups of words that share the same sound and spelling. By learning the ending {-og} for instance, your child quickly understands how to read and write {dog, log, frog, fog}. This fun, hands-on word family game will have…
With three kids who are 4 and under in our house, we play ABC games nearly every day. There are so many fun ways to practice letter names and sounds and Alphabet Ball is one of our favorites. It’s a low prep, active way to help kids practice the ABCs. Want more ABC fun? Check out our best-selling…
