Move Mountains in Kindergarten

If you teach kindergarten, you’ve probably seen this happen. A student looks at a word, glances at the picture, and then takes a guess. Sometimes they get it right. A lot of the time they don’t. For years, early reading instruction encouraged students to rely heavily on pictures and memorization. Now we know that strong readers need something more dependable. […]

When students are guessing at words, struggling to blend smoothly, or spelling CVC words inconsistently, the root issue is often weak phonemic awareness. Before phonics can stick, students have to clearly hear the sounds in words. Elkonin Boxes give them a concrete way to slow down language, isolate each sound, and connect it to print. When used intentionally, they become […]

Small group time is easily one of my favorite parts of the kindergarten day. It’s where I get to slow down, meet kids exactly where they are, and watch all those little reading “clicks” happen in real time. Over the years I’ve built up a small collection of materials that I pull out every single day these are the things […]

Sound walls are an effective tool to use in the kindergarten classroom. Learn how to set-up and use a sound wall with your students.

After getting our new curriculum, the first thing my Kindergarten team did was making an ABC letter song to go along with it. We’ve seen the benefits in having the students learn the letters and letter sounds with hand motions for each letter. We also wanted the hand motions to match the animals and objects that are in the curriculum. […]

Learning beginning sounds is one of the most important things students will be taught in kindergarten. Kindergarten beginning sounds worksheets should be fun and engaging which is why I created my Crack the Code Task Cards. These Crack the Code Task Cards are perfectly paired with Target Dollar Spot mini letter erasers. My Crack the Code Bundle is now complete […]