Apples and ABC's

Kindergarten Crafts

08 December 2021

Teachers know that students LOVE to create adorable classroom decorations. Whether they are snowman in the winter, hearts in February, or pumpkins in October, the options are endless. However, the goal of teachers is to inspire students to love learning. Therefore, it is imperative to implement crafts with intended purposes in the classroom. By doing this, kindergarten crafts are educational while being highly engaging and exciting!

Educational Benefits of Kindergarten Crafts

Every minute is so valuable in the classroom. Due to this, it is vital to ensure that every lesson and activity has an academic focus. However, students need engaging aspects to stay focused on the material. Thankfully, kindergarten crafts create the perfect solution.

Teachers can plan crafts that focus on practicing a variety of skills, including:

Following Directions: Often, crafts have a step-by-step process to follow. Thus, students practice the always important skill of following directions. Honestly, this skill is essential in life, so it is crucial to practice.

Fine Motor Skills: There is a TON of fine motor practice in any type of craft! Students can practice cutting, pasting, pencil grasp, tracing, and staying inside the lines all in one activity.

Collaborative Conversations: While students are working, it is the perfect time to build and foster a classroom community. Students can work while getting to know their classrooms. Even better, as seats are changed throughout the year, students can get to know every single person in their class!

Foster Creativity: While there are directions to follow on a craft, there is much flexibility in the design process. This means that students can use the provided materials in the way they want. For instance, it may be using specific colors, glitter, or stickers!

Academic Focus: All of my kindergarten crafts have an additional academic skill attached. For instance, it may be writing about the theme of the craft. Or, it may be about counting a certain number of items. Additionally, it may be about practicing names. Honestly, there are many ways to add in an academic focus while working on fun kindergarten crafts.

Kindergarten Craft Options

Since time is limited each day, my crafts include exciting projects with multiple ways to practice different skills.

Rainbow Counting Math Craft

Counting to 5 is a huge accomplishment! Therefore, this rainbow craft will display your students’ ability to count to 5. However, it also means students are placing numbers correctly and cutting/pasting! This simple craft will make students so proud as they get to showcase their learning.

Christmas Craft Bundle

This bundle is filled with FUN ways to practice essential skills! Whether cutting or learning how to clean up, every kindergarten craft is exciting and educational. This bundle includes eight different crafts students will love. For instance, students will practice their name with a Bubble Gum craft. Additionally, they will complete an ice cream craft with a writing reflection and count to 5 focus. Furthermore, each one makes the perfect bulletin board craft! Thus, students can show off their incredible learning and fine motor practice.

Truly, kindergarten crafts cannot just be about creating something cute. There is too much to get through in the course of one year to do this. However, students love crafts and art! Therefore, they need to have intended purposes. Since there are so many crafts to use, it is essential to analyze each one. By doing this, it will ensure that students are working on improving their academic skills while having the best time!

Grab this amazing craft for FREE today!

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Bulletin Boards

14 November 2021

While the goal of teachers is to educate students, there is so much to this goal. First, it involves planning high-quality lessons and assessments that students enjoy. Second, it consists of forming relationships with students for them to feel comfortable in the classroom. Third, it means following all IEP’s to ensure lessons are differentiated and meet the needs of students. To do all this, students need to be excited about the classroom. Many times, this involves creating a warm, welcoming classroom! Ultimately, this looks different in every school. For instance, it may be flexible seating, hanging up student work, colorful signs, or creative bulletin boards. Thankfully, the FREE Reach for the Stars and Mega Bulletin Board Bundle have so many options!

The Benefits of Bulletin Boards

A classroom bulletin board is more than just a decoration. Honestly, there are so many benefits to creating and updating bulletin boards for the classroom!

Build Excitement

Bulletin boards are a great way to excite students! By using them as hallway or classroom decor, students see fun colors, symbols, and details. For instance, if teachers decorate a bulletin board before starting a new unit or a special holiday, students will already be intrigued!

Classroom Community

Bulletin boards are the perfect way to build classroom community! By working together to create a board, students have a common goal. Even better, this means students can support each other. For example, the FREE Reach for the Stars allows students to have their names and writing all hung up on the wall. Students will be so excited when they see everyone’s names together representing their special class family.

Interactive

Bulletin boards are more than just decorations! An interactive bulletin board allows students to see their work hanging up each day. For instance, the FREE Reach for the Stars bulletin board has a craft for students to complete! Each student can complete a shooting star with a goal or hope they have. Thus, this is perfect as students enter the New Year! Additionally, it is great for the start of a new unit or quarter. Thankfully, the template is prepared for quick and easy printing to save teachers time. Students will be so excited to fill our their shooting star!

Versatility

The Mega Bulletin Board Bundle is constantly growing with new options to put up! For instance, there are ones for different class themes, seasonal favorites, and content-based ones. Additionally, they can all be used in classrooms, hallways, or on doors. To accommodate teachers' busy schedules, each bulletin board has templates for quick and easy printing!

Furthermore, many come with a writing craft that allows students to cut out a seasonal image and write under it. For example, a kindergarten craft will be within some of the kindergarten bulletin boards. Then, students can decorate the seasonal image and write about the selected topic. There are so many options for different grades and themes!

Bulletin boards are such an exciting feature of the classroom! Between individual bulletin boards to the Mega Bulletin Board Bundle, there are options for the entire year! Students will be so excited to have a teacher who is constantly adding in new decorations.

Morning Work

06 November 2021

Every elementary teacher knows that the morning can be incredibly overwhelming. Between all of the students coming in and so many tasks to handle, developing a strong morning routine is essential. Thus, when taking attendance, lunch counts and collecting folders, all students can be getting into a school mindset. Truly, the Kindergarten Morning Work Bundle will ensure students are ready to have a positive, engaging day of school!

Implementing the Kindergarten Morning Work Bundle

Since every classroom is different, there is no single right way to implement morning work. When developing a schedule, it is important to do what is best for students. Thankfully, the kindergarten morning work bundle has several ways it can be successfully implemented!

Seat Work in the Morning: As students first enter the class, they can have morning work ready on their desks. Hence, they will know exactly what to do when entering the classroom. Honestly, having this work-ready will greatly reduce students running around the classroom and going wild. Seatwork in the morning is the perfect way to create a calm start.
Homework: Some schools may have a set morning routine. Or, a purchased series including worksheets that must be used. Understandably, teachers have to follow set guidelines. Thus, the bundle can also be used as kindergarten homework! At this age, it is important to create engaging assignments in order to help students love school. Additionally, this bundle will allow parents to work with their children on important skills.
Extra Practice: Oftentimes, students love extra worksheets! Whether the extra practice is truly needed or students just like to do it, it is always helpful to have options ready. Thankfully, the morning work bundle is ready to go! Copies can be printed in order to ensure students have all the practice they need.

Click here to get one free week of morning work!

The benefit of the Kindergarten Morning Work Bundle

Whenever teachers are selecting new material or resources, it is important to analyze how the selections benefit the classroom. Since every minute matters, it is essential to pick the best resources for the students. Luckily, this morning's work bundle is filled with benefits!

Consistency: There is a set of morning work for each month! Specifically, there are 50 Math and ELA pages for every month of the school year! Therefore, teachers will be able to establish a clear, consistent routine every day of the year. Furthermore, all of the kindergarten printables follow a consistent format. Each week starts out with 6 different skills and repeats. Hence, the hope is that students learn how to complete the worksheet independently after teacher instruction.
Content Review: Implementing this morning's work will ensure that kindergarten review is happening all year. Each month focuses on specific aspects in order to ensure students are practicing important content all year. For instance, a few skills in September include tracing lines and shapes. Then, April involves editing a sentence and counting by 5s to 50. Hence, the content review builds as the year progresses and students learn more complex information.
Teacher Time: There is so much to get done each day! Finding teacher time to handle tasks is nearly impossible. However, morning work gives teachers an opportunity to check homework and get ready for the day. Truly, once students know how to complete the task, they will be able to complete it independently as each page is a review. Hence, teachers will be able to breathe easier as they check off what they need to do.
Options: Since every classroom has different needs, there are multiple options for morning work. First, there is a paper option for morning work. This includes the 50 Math and ELA pages per month. Second, there is a Boom Card Digital option. Each month has 6 Boom Card decks to review basic kindergarten skills. They can be played at home or in the classroom. Students will just need the internet. Third, there is also a Mega Bundle option Here, there are the 50 Math and ELA pages AND 6 different Boom Card decks.

Teachers are so busy every single day. Additionally, students are so busy learning content and enjoying the lessons teachers create. In order to create a routine, review content, and provide time to independently work, morning work is the answer! Truly, the day will start on the right track when students have something waiting for them as they enter the classroom.

If you do not want to miss any of the upcoming lessons, join my email list to be notified of all the interactive lessons coming up! By joining the email list, you will also receive 1 Week of Morning Work for FREE for blog exclusive subscribers!

centers, playdough, sensory bins

Playdough in the Classroom

28 October 2021

Engagement. Creativity. Interactive. These are three words that all educators strive to achieve while lesson planning. Additionally, these adjectives are essential for some of our littlest learners. Between missing home and learning acceptable school behavior, our littlest students deserve lessons they love. Furthermore, high-quality lessons are the best way for students to truly absorb the information. Therefore, teachers need to incorporate items that students love. For instance, incorporating playdough in the classroom is a key way to ensure our learners are engaged with the content. To combine engagement and academics, the Playdough Activities/Centers will be one's students always remember!

Reasons to Incorporate Playdough into the Classroom

Some may be unsure on the benefits of implementing playdough-based activities. For instance, some may be worried students will become too silly and not focus on the academics behind the lesson. Or, some may be concerned with the setup and clean-up of these activities. However, the benefits of working with playdough far outweigh any concerns there may be.

Fine Motor Focus

When children are using play-dough activities, they are naturally improving their strength. For instance, children love to mold play dough into different shapes and designs. When they do this, they are increasing the muscle strengths in their hands. Furthermore, playdough requires children to flatten it, roll it, form it, and smash it. Whenever children do this, they are working the muscles in their bodies. Thankfully, these are the same muscles that children will use with pencil grasp, using scissors, and applying glue! Thus, play dough activities help children gain the strength that is needed for other academic skills.

Hands-On & Interactive

Playdough is fun for any age! Children love working with their hands, so playdough is always exciting. For instance, students can mold it into different letters and numbers. Furthermore, students can also use play dough to form different shapes. They can even practice colors and counting! Ultimately, playdough allows all children to stay engaged and active in the lesson.

Centers

Playdough is so versatile. Hence, it can be used in so many ways! For example, it can be used with centers. Here, students are working on a specific skill at each spot. For instance, one center may have an academic focus where students spell their names with play dough. Then, at another center, students may focus on creativity and design something fun. Ultimately, this is a great way to build cooperation skills as students are sharing tools and ideas!

If you are looking for some great ideas, be sure to check out Playdough Activities/Centers! It is a growing bundle filled with activities students will love. Specifically, it includes prep, set up, and directions for students to practice letters, CVC words, and Sight Words. Numbers will even be added soon! It even includes printable mats for each student to use. Even better, with lamination or a protective sheet, the mats can be used year to year!

Independent Work or Early Finisher

Since every child is different, they finish work at different rates. Additionally, some may need more help while others need less help. Therefore, play dough is the perfect activity to have set up for independent work or for early finishers. To do this, have a table ready that students can go to and work with a playdough mat. Thankfully, there are so many options in the Playdough Activities/Centers resource! This is a great way to keep the classroom quiet while everyone is focused!

Playdough should not only be something students love to use at home. Truly, it offers so many benefits to children in the classroom! Whether looking for fun centers or independent work, there are so many ways to incorporate playdough into activities. Ultimately, playing with playdough helps ensure students are engaged while being super focused!