Teaching the ABC’s…

ABC…it’s easy as 1,2,3…you know you’re singing along. Oh but wait a minute, for some students it’s just not that easy. It takes multiple exposures to the letters of the alphabet to gain mastery. And yet learning the alphabet and the corresponding letter sounds is the foundation for reading. It’s SO important for kids to learn their letters and sounds early on.

I’ll be sharing a few ideas about how I teach the alphabet in my class and what types of activities I use for a variety of learners.

My students complete lots of visual discrimination activities…

Make sure students are really looking at the letters. How are they the same? How are they different? This is crucial at the beginning of the school year.

I teach the letters in their names first…

Students always seem to learn the letters in their names first, followed by the letters o and x. I think it’s because they have ownership over those letters! This is a great start to teaching letters. At the beginning of the year I write students names on sentence strips and then cut them up to create puzzles.

I teach the letter names and sounds simultaneously…

My students do practice a letter a week as review and to practice letter formation, but I do teach ALL letters and sounds from day one in class.

Students need to be exposed to letters in multiple ways…

At the beginning of the year we do tons of letter matching activities.

I also feel that it’s important to incorporate movement into our daily activities. I’ve used Zoophonics with my students for many years and have had great success with that. If you are not familiar with Zoophonics, there is an animal assigned to each letter of the alphabet along with a movement. I also teach students the ASL sign for each letter, just so they can get their bodies moving.

I try to make learning interactive and fun!

After all they are five year olds! I try to incorporate as many games as possible.

Or use a variety of hands on materials.

You can find most of the materials pictured in my newly revised A to Z Letter Recognition unit.

I just added these fun and FREE letter matching mats to my TpT store.

Click the picture above to be taken to my store to download.

November Arrival Bins…Part Two!

I posted these arrival bins earlier this week and I’m so excited for you to see them! They are the perfect addition to your morning tubs!

Here is a closer look at the reading and language arts items. You can check out the math items in this blog post: November Arrival Bins Math.

I loved all of your suggestions last month. These letter/sound/sign match-up cards are perfect for your students!

I’m excited for my intervention students to use these acorn onset and rime puzzles. Picture clues are included to assist your emergent readers. Twelve different puzzle cards are included.

We have been busy clapping our syllables in our classroom. These fall syllable clip cards will be perfect for my students. Twelve different cards are included.

Now that many of my students have learned their letter sounds, we are planning on moving on to digraphs. These digraph punch cards can be used all year.

There are two different levels of the November word cards. Twelve different words are included. The picture below features the cards where students fill in the missing beginning letter. The other version simply features the word that students can practice building on their own with magnet letters.

And last, but not least, are the letter tracing cards! There is also an editable version. This would be great activity for practicing sight words as well!

I forgot to tell you that there are color and black and white versions of all of the activities, AND editable student direction cards.

You can purchase this ELA arrival bin separately here: November Arrival Bins ELA Version or you can purchase the bundle with all of the math and literacy activities here: November Arrival Bins–the bundle.

Thanks for checking out this post! I’m excited to start working on the December Bins this month!

November Arrival Bins

Thank you so much for all of your feedback earlier this month–I’m so excited to say that the November arrival bins are DONE and posted!!!! They will be on sale for a special introductory price of $4 through Wednesday, November 1st. That’s 50% off of the regular price! You can check out the bins here: November Arrival Bins

Here is a closer look at what’s inside…

Let’s start with the math goods!

I’m so excited about this non-standard measurement activity! You could use unifix cubes, like the picture below OR Pom-poms or erasers, really it can be whatever you want! Ooh, and think of the great conversations you could have with your kids if you measure with different types of objects!

Next up is 3-D shape puzzles!

These fall ten frame mats are perfect for practicing number recognition and creating sets! You can have students use play dough or erasers.

Fall comparing sets clip cards. There are three different kinds. Students can clip to identify more, then less & use symbols (< = >) to complete the number sentence.

Fall addition mats–students count the leaves and match according to their sums.

Number puzzles for the numbers 1-10 and 1-20.

And there are skip counting puzzles too! Students can practice counting by 5’s and 10’s to 100.

Students will be able to practice their counting skills and number recognition with these punch cards.

The last activity includes an editable version of number writing cards.

Both color and black and white versions are available for each activity. Simply print which version you prefer! There are also editable student direction cards.

Come back tomorrow to check out what’s inside of the ELA Arrival Bins!!!

The winners are…

Congratulations to:

I loved reading all of your comments and I’m excited to start working on November’s arrival bins! Thank you so much for entering! Now I’m off to finish watching the Monday night football game! Football is another one of my favorite fall things!

 

 

 

October is here!!!!

Yay!  It’s FINALLY fall!!!  I’m so excited!  This is one of my favorite times of the year! October is off to a crazy busy start, but I’m having a TON of fun in the process! My students are loving our new additions to our arrival bins. I added these to my TpT store a few weeks ago.

There is a total of 12 activities that focus on the following skills:

• 2D shapes
• Counting
• Number recognition
• Number sequencing
• Number formation
• Rhyming
• CVC patterned words
• Ending sounds
• Letter formation
• Sight words

AND there are editable items!!! I tried to create activities that require fine motor activities as well. I try to sneak in any fine motor practice where I can! Here are a few of the ELA items:

And here is a closer look at the math items:

Would you like to win a FREE copy of this bundle?  I will be giving away 3 sets of my October bins!  Click the link to below to enter.  All you need to do is answer one of the following questions (or answer both for more entries).

• What is your favorite fall activity?
• Leave a comment about what types of activities you would like to see in the November arrival bins.

Please make sure that in addition to your comments that you enter on Rafflecopter as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone!!!

 

 

Arrival Bins Winners and Back to School fun!

Thanks to all who entered the contest!!!  I meant to post this earlier today, but I’ve been sick with a horrible head cold!  Jennifer McAdoo and Amy Braswell are the winnners!!!  I’ve emailed your prize!!!

I’ve been busy with all things school lately!  I’m so happy to say that I am teaching a straight TK this year!!!  I absolutely love my sweet students and we are off to a great start!!! Here are a few things we’ve been working on:

These shape busses are always a favorite activity!

I’ve also been busy updating my Back to School pack! Here are a few pictures of some of the included.

This is a close-up of the shapes on the bus activity that’s included in my Back to School pack.

Lunchbox syllable activity. Both color and black and white versions are available for all activities! Simply print what you need!

Click any of the images above to be taken to my TpT store for more information in this packet. I hope that all of you have a great week!

Arrival Bins…

Last year I had students complete fine motor tubs during the first 15 minutes of the school day. I absolutely loved it!!! My students were engaged and smoothly transitioned to being at school. I teach afternoon kindergarten, so naturally I did not call these tubs “morning” bins.

I’m so excited to share 10 different math and literacy centers that you can easily implement during your tub time.

Each activity is designed to assist students with their fine motor and visual motor coordination. Here is a little peek into the included contents:

2-D shape punch cards

Letter sound punch cards

Uppercase and lowercase letter clip cards

Count and clip cards for numbers 0-15

Pom-Pom letter formation

Number sequencing puzzles for numerals 1-10 & 1-20. Both color and black and white versions are available.

There are also sand writing cards for numbers and letters. Both color and white versions are available and an EDITABLE version of the cards!!!

All of the materials were purchased at Dollar Tree too!

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Would you like a chance to win this set!!! All you have to do is visit and like Mrs. Kilburn’s Kiddos on Facebook! Follow the link below to enter!!!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners will be announced on Monday, September 4, 2017.  Good luck everyone and I hope that you have a great start to your school year!!!

Character education…

Hi everyone!  Happy summer!  Do you teach the six pillars of character (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship) in your classrooms?  It is a big part of our social studies curriculum on my campus, in fact we have a pillar to focus upon monthly.  Finding materials for each pillar can be a difficult task, and it is especially difficult when you are trying to find resources for your even younger students.
Character Kids

Supplemental materials are a must for me!  I just finished updating my old character kids pack and added a ton of new materials!

I’ve added a full color emergent reader big book and student mini-books for each pillar.  This is a great addition to your classroom libraries!  I love when my kiddos are so excited that they can READ the text on their own!  I’ll admit too, that the full color big books are great examples for how students should color their pictures too!

I also added certificates for each pillar and brag tags!  An editable version of the certificates are also available in the pack.  This is a great way to reward your kiddos when you “catch” them being good!

The writing pages have also been updated as well as the posters.  I’ve designed the posters as a discussion piece for when you are introducing each pillar to your whole class.  The other updated posters are to add to a bulletin board.

Here is a freebie to add to your lesson plans, I created an editable template to keep track of what books you would like to read during your lessons.  Click on the picture below to be taken to my TpT store where you can download.

 

For more information check out my Character Kids pack in my TpT store here.

Thanks for checking out this post and I hope you have a great day!

FREEBIE Friday…

Hi everyone!  I’m so happy to say that I am on vacation the next couple of weeks with my family at the beach!  I am just loving our stay here along the Northern CA coast.  It’s so beautiful and COLD!  It is much nicer than the 100-degree plus weather in the central valley.  

Sooooo….enough of my rambling and on to this week’s freebie!

I think it’s because I’m on vacation, but I have cookies on the brain!  At the beginning of the year we complete a cookie week and I thought this would be a fun activity for my kiddos.  You simply cut out the cookie cards and laminate.  Students use clothespins to clip to the correct corresponding lower case letter.  A student recording sheet is also included.  

Click on the picture to below to download this activity from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.  

Have a great weekend!  
 

July Pinterest Pick 3 Linky

June is over….and July is here!  This summer is flying by!  I see that stores are already preparing their back to school sections, but then again–craft stores are also starting to put our their Halloween and Christmas sections as well.  However, school is never to far from my thoughts!  I can’t wait to meet my new batch of kiddos in the fall!

I’m linking up with my blogging friends, Lisa from Pawsitively Teaching , Ashley from Just Reed, and Marissa at Inspired Owl’s Corner to share my top three Pinterest pins for the month of July.  Feel free to join in on the fun!

Here are some of my favorite teaching related pins for the month.

Do you do question of the day in your class?  I do this as an opening activity in my classroom.  I have students work with a partner and ask the question of the day.  Then as a class we graph our answers and write  a corresponding number sentence where we compare the numbers.  Later in the school year we work on creating tally marks for this activity.  I like this activity because it allows a daily opportunity for students to ask and answer questions in a complete sentence.    I love the idea of creating a designated question of the day area like the one above–such a time saver!

I have a ton of clothespins and popsicles sticks laying around my craft stash and my kiddos LOVE to build things!  This activity is absolutely perfect for them!  I also thought this would be the absolute perfect activity for my students at the beginning of the school year.  I love how students would be using their imaginations to build and they are developing their fine motor skills at the same time!

Another great idea for Popsicle sticks!  Have your kiddos explore and create shapes!  This is a perfect math station activity for my kiddos at the beginning of the school year!

Those are my top three pins for the month of July! I would love to see your pins as well!  Feel free to link up below:

An InLinkz Link-up