Ten Early Learning Games

Practice early learning skills and have kids begging for more!

This set of ten fun, fast-paced learning games features five early learning skills and is strategically linked to Common Core Standards.

A special algorithm allows for a match to be made every time!

Contents include:

Dinosaur Alphabet Match Up: Matching and identifying lowercase letters.

Circus Time: Matching and identifying uppercase letters.

Yee Haw Sight Word Match: Matching and identifying sight words. (The words in this set correlates with the Wonders Reading Program.

Pool Party Match Up: Matching and identifying sight words. 

Garden Party Sight Words: Matching and identifying sight words. 

2D Shape Match Up: Matching and identifying 2-D shapes. 

3-D Match Up: Matching and identifying 3-D shapes.

Number Match Up Level 1: Matching and identifying numbers.

Number Match Up Level 2: Matching and identifying numbers.

Lil’ Artist:  Matching and naming colors.

Ants: Keeping Kids Motivated to Learn

When my children were young, during the summer months, I would always pick with my children a topic for the summer. One summer we chose Bees. We did everything bees. We studied about them, read about them, wrote about them, and constructed art and cooking projects about them. It was a great way to keep my kids engaged during the summer months. Ants would make a great summer topic!

While none of us appreciates ants in our homes, they can be a welcome sight in the classroom or home...under the right circumstances. Ant farms keep these small insects contained, yet visible. 

Traditional sand ant farms or “space age” gel farms will captivate your students or children! Check them out at Amazon or Steve Spangler.com.

Circus Theme for Early Learners

A great theme for anytime of the year, and especially for Summer School is Circus! We have a great thematic unit that covers all areas of the curriculum and is strategically linked to important learning standards. It is written specifically for kindergarten, but can be easily used in Pre-K and 1st.

I will be guest blogging next week at Hameray Publishing. Look for the link on June 15. I will be doing a Four-Part "How-to" of sorts on Shared Reading as it links to the Common Core Standards.  As part of the upcoming post, I will be offering this free song poster. It is in jpeg formant, so simply click on it, drag it onto your desktop and print it in any size you want, including poster size. Enjoy! 

Letter Buddies Books

Hameray has thought of about everything when it comes to their “Letter Buddies.” 

These books are great for small hands as they are the perfect size. Each book has tactile letters on the cover, and an adjective the accompanies each letter on the back cover such as “Meet Happy H.”

Inside the book, you will find seven pages that each contain a picture that begins with the letter and the label for the picture written in nice large font. The last page of the book  is a search for the picture the does not begin with the letter. 

If you love the “Old” books of Rigby and Wright Group of the past, or if you are new to teaching, you will LOVE these Letter Buddies books.

And here is the best thing, you can enter to win a classroom teaching kit valued at $370. 
Enter today!

Summer Vacation To Do List

One of my favorite songs of all time from my own childhood is "Oh What do you do in the Summertime?" To me, this is summer in a nutshell! A Time to slow down, relax, enjoy, and create!

I am linking up with Deanna Jump's Top 10 Things I Want To Do This Summer, and adding my list of ten things I want to do during my summer break.


1. Go to Hawaii and RELAX for a bit!

2. Enjoy my wonderful family.

3. Cross off  the 163 things that are currently on my "Must-Do" list.

4. Enjoy some of the local beauty: Hike Negro Bill and Moonflower Canyon,  take our Jeep out on some of the great trails that are minutes from my house.

5. Take a midnight trip into the desert and look at the beautiful Night Time sky.

6. Clean up and organize my house so that it can last through yet another school year.

7. Do Water Aerobics and/or swim laps each day that I can.

8. Work on my genealogy and family histories.

9. Attend two great summer conferences!

10. Clean, organize and prepare my classroom for a new crop of kindergartners!

What is everyone else doing? Check out other plans here:

Kindergarten Has A Fairy Tale Ending

I have ended the kindergarten year many different ways, but probably my most favorite is to end the year with fairy tales. Besides being a lot of fun, fairy tales are filled with great examples of bravery, persistence, problem solving, ways to react to adversity, and much much more! We then list what we have learned from fairy tales to help us find our "Happily Ever Afters."

We sell a great unit filled with fun and learning that is, as all of our units are, strategically linked to the Common Core Standards.

Parent Volunteers

I never can say enough about parent volunteers! Parent involvement in school benefits everyone. I had two parents each day ALL YEAR LONG, volunteering during our 1 1/4 hour learning center block, can you believe it!!

And look at these great parents! I am so lucky to work in a community that is so completely supportive of not only their own child's education, but the education of all children!

Dinosaurs at Kindergarten

We are digging for dinosaurs in our kindergarten classroom! Our playhouse has turned into a dinosaur museum and our science center has become a paleontologist dinosaur dig. 

Today we studied illustrations of dinosaurs by researching books that have been written by experts. Then we created our own illustrations that will accompany our "research paper" on dinosaurs that we will write tomorrow.

If you are looking to add some dinosaur fun to your classroom, check out this cross-curricular thematic unit that is strategically linked to the common core standards.

Note: This unit will have an update posted this weekend, 

so if you have previously purchased it, look for the update! It will be packed with new offerings!

If you are looking for a FREE option for summer homework or a monthly homework packet, check out our free offering this month!