Are you or your "kids" (students or your actual children) anticipating or wishing for a snow day? If so, this post is for you!
My kids and I read The Night Before the Snow Day by Natasha Wing. We talked about superstitions like putting pajamas on backwards, doing snow dances, and even putting ice cubes in the toilet.
I decided to make some activities that I could see being used by:
homeschoolers with kids at different levels
classroom teachers
substitutes
teacher candidates for reading demo lessons that showcase differentiation
These lessons can also be done:
during virtual learning - independently while asynchronous or as a class or with partners
on paper - options for writing or cutting
Like all of my Google Doc lessons, there is a linked table of contents that makes navigation easy as well as an answer key and differentiated pages!
The International Day of Peace (or World Peace Day) is celebrated annually on September 21. It is devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.
The book Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz teaches kids a few ways to say the word "peace" in a few different languages. Because it's pretty basic, we took it up a notch and created a Google Earth project to show the countries mentioned in the book.
Click here for the Google Earth project. Get exploring! Want a challenge for your students? Have them add other countries as well as the languages and recordings of their pronunciations.
You probably came across this post because you have a child or student named Austin. It has become a very popular name over the past few years. In fact, it was at #80 in the U.S. in 2017, when my son was born. Today is his birthday, and coincidentally also Thanksgiving. We know at least 3 boys with the name in our town! We consider our son to be someone we are definitely thankful for! Anyway, I didn't have the most common name growing up and it definitely wasn't spelled like many others with the same pronunciation. Speaking of spelling, here's a freebie for you!
A few weeks before my daughters were born, we had Austin Day. I had purchased a puzzle and name train from a local mom who wanted to pass them on from her ton to another little boy with the same name. This led to me trying to find books with a character with his name, and then shirts and other things. We pulled all of these things out and had a blast that day before it all became about the babies.
Below, find some of the activities we've done and personalized items we've loved. Whenever I see something on Amazon, I grab it fast because I know it may not last!
We are really into geography and travel over here. My husband was in the military in Texas among other places, and the state is one our son can spot easily on a map, despite him never being there or living in the state.
Good Night, Austin by Adam Gamble is one of two books listed here where Austin is a place and not a person. Our son knows he is partly named after a Texas city, and he thinks it's fun to learn about landmarks there.
Speaking of landmarks, Austin, Lost in America is a book by Jef Czekaj. It is a "geography adventure" that helps Austin, a lost dog, find the best place for him to live in the United States. He gets through 49 states before deciding on the perfect home state. Can you guess which one it is?
Like other books of its type, this one is created for a major city (some are for states) and it includes landmarks as well as other towns near Austin, Texas. I thought it was fun for my son to learn about the area he's named for. I wouldn't say this book is a must have, but it was a cute Easter basket add.
Written by husband - wife pair and former NFL coach tony & Lauren Dungy, the book Austin Plays Fairis one of my son's favorites. It poses the question to kids whether it's more important to win or be honest and follow the rules. Many professional athletes and coaches have gotten caught in scandals, so it's an important lesson to learn young.
This book us definitely cute. It has rhymes and some kid-friendly information about space included throughout. It's enough to teach kids with some astronomy knowledge something without overwhelming newbies, and we liked the rhymes.
This book was fun for my son, who likes the idea of a pet, but not actually having one. Unlike his sister, he's not really a fan of furry things. He's really into funny stories, and this Austin's kind of silly.
This one is another one of those personalized books that isn't really personalized. I got this same one for my daughter and the main difference is the name in it. Still, it's good for learning adjectives for each letter of the alphabet and wasn't outrageously expensive like some other "name" books.
Another cute personalized book here, also available for the name Emma. The pictures are adorable and it has a heartwarming message to make kids feel loved.
This Austin has allergies. He has to advocate for himself and let others know what foods he is allergic to in Austin Goes to a Birthday Party and Austin's Allergies. These books are great social stories to help others navigate this situation and help advocate for others, too. It covers concepts such as epi-pens, cross-contaminations, and symptoms of exposure to allergens in a kid-friendly way. My Austin has seasonal allergies, so he can kind of relate to these concepts, but it's great for him to understand food allergies so he can support friends and family members who have them.
This book is a great example of why you should snap up books with your kid's name as soon as you see them. It's no longer available even though I wrote his post about two weeks ago! If you can find it, snag it. This story has a great theme about helping others (the homeless in this case).
If your child doesn't watch The Backyardigans, here's Austin! We printed this out and stuck it in a page protector. My son uses a dry erase marker to practice fine motor skills while also counting!
Today's post is all about colors, and more specifically books with bears and colors! Hope you don't mind my post title sounding like a Wheel of Fortune Before and After puzzle, haha.
Being able to read color words really helps kids with following directions in school and reading many early readers, as well as spelling and writing the words to add description to their stories.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle is an all-time favorite of many kids and parents. It teaches colors and animals and it's a quick, easy read. A quick Google search reveals tons of free activities and printables to do. Click "view web version" at the bottom of this post or here to view the read aloud video!
Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is another must-read. We love the recipe this author has for books. The same group of friends, some rhyming and repetition, cute pictures, and a nice theme (message) that kids can relate to. Click "view web version" at the bottom of this post or here to view the read aloud video!
We are all about play and experience-based hands-on learning here, but sometimes my son does worksheets when I'm putting the girls down for naps. These free fall color words worksheets were so fun for him to do with his Do-a-Dot markers. I did have to trace the outline a couple of times for him to figure out what the picture was, but he loved them and wanted to do more than one at a time.
When my son was younger, he learned his colors very early. "The Colors Song" from Cocomelon not only helped him learn them, but it also helped him associate foods with their colors. Click "view web version" at the bottom of this post or here to view the video!
Snag a free printable here. Kids can trace and color!
Learning about Frog Life Cycles with A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
We are big Karma Wilson book fans over here. We love the repetition and rhyme as well as the pictures. This one was great because we were able to tie in learning about biomes and life cycles in science while reading as well as practice our number words.
It's Hispanic Heritage Month. Have you read about any notable people of Hispanic heritage? One such celebrated person of Puerto Rican descent is Rita Moreno, an actress born as Rosa Dolores AlverÃo. This book chronicles her struggles to be treated fairly as a Spanish speaker who faced stereotypes and discrimination in roles available to her throughout her career.
A very talented woman, Rita won many awards, including an Emmy, a Tony, a Grammy Award, and an Oscar. as well as a Presidental Medal of Freedom.
This book is part of what inspired me to create several Donors Choose projects to diversify my classrom. I came across a book called Always Anjali and thought, "Wow! I don't have many books with my students' names in them... let me see what I can find!" I wasn't super successful at finding their exact names, but I did find some from their varying cultures and religions.
Alma is embarrassed by her long name, but she quickly learns her culture's naming tradition of being named after Spanish speaking family members. She hears stories about each person and identifies with their best traits. Then she learns that "Alma" belongs to her and the story it will tell to her future family members. Check out the read aloud above, which is read by an Argentinean legislator.
This one is a biography. JosédelaLuzSáenz (1888-1953)--or Luz--believed in fighting for what was right. Although he was born in the United States, he and his family experienced prejudice because of their Mexican heritage. When World War I broke out, Luz volunteered to join the fight. Because of his ability to quickly learn languages, he became part of the Intelligence Office in Europe. However, despite his hard work and intellect, Luz often didn't receive credit for his contributions.
Here is another non-fiction biography, Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez. This book is included in the Journeys and Making Meaning reading programs, and for good reason. An advocate for migrant farm workers, Chavez became well-known in an industry that was, and still is, notorious for exploiting workers. He helped them unionize and fight for better conditions.
This is a story you've probably never heard. Seven years before Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Mendez family fought segregation in California. An American by birth, but a member of a bilingual Mexican family, Sylvia was forced to attend a different school than her white counterparts. A lawsuit changed that, and within a decade schools all over the country were being desegregated.
Want more Women's History Month resources? Click here.
Today is Monday. That's both a true fact and the name of an Eric Carle book about the days of the week and food. If only getting toddlers to eat was as easy as getting them to sing along with this book!
Snag this free tracing printable here or by clicking the image above.
We are learning to read and write numbers and days of the week, so this book was perfect for that. We see what Annabelle goes through on one week of interesting weather at her home. If you can't grab a copy of the book, here is the read aloud.
We also spent some time last week learning about biomes, including mountains and rainforest, so I added a drawing page for this story's setting, a farm.
My son has had a good grasp of "real and make believe" for quite some time now, but I want him to start using the words "reality and fantasy," so I created an activity for that using events in the story (which can be a bit confusing in the book, so I used slightly more clear words here).
Grab a free printable here, or click the images above.
We'd love to know... What did you think would happen the next Monday? Please leave us a comment below!
This book is an all-time children's favorite. Despite the idea of a caterpillar actually eating the foods listed in the book, the days of the week format is a winner for kids. There are so many printables!
When is Saturday?by Deborah Kovacs features the Sesame Street Muppets.
This is another oldie, but goodie that you may have to buy used or check out the read aloud here. Grover is very impatient when he hears from his mother that Uncle Georgie will be coming to visit in a week. She helps him create a calendar countdown and keep busy until his uncle arrives.
Here is the poem that Grover writes to recite the days of the week.
Listen to a few of our favorite days of the week songs!
Have you ever used Live Worksheets? Kids can do this cool live days of the week word search and send their results to their teacher. If your classroom is paperless, this is a great resource. What's great about it is that some of the already created activities can be done in different languages.
Told in verse, the story of Max's Happy Halloween Day unfolds as he dresses in his scary green costume, goes to a party at school, carves pumpkins at home, and finally gets to walk around the neighborhood saying "Trick or Treat" and collecting candy.
What makes it great for a read aloud is that every couple of pages, it repeats lines and adds to it.*** What makes it a great lap book is that a new reader can start each set of lines by reading, "This is...."
is pretty awesome if you like the book it parodies, Good Night Moon. It's got claws and jaws and hats and bats! You can watch it on video, but your child may want a copy of their own. We read it year round, and my son is a scaredy cat who still loves it!
What a surprise we had when we saw this book included twin sisters Delia and Ophelia! The two sneaky sisters perform a spell with the help of stolen stinky socks, and the neighborhood kids are denied their precious trick-or-treat candy when all they can say is, "Smell my feet!" Read the book yourself or watch the read aloud video to see if Halloween is saved!
This story has a heartwarming ending! Charley's mom is sick on Halloween, so he has to spend his first Halloween in his new house in an unfamiliar neighborhood with his embarrassing stepdad. He wishes he had friends nearby to trick-or-treat with because he imagines the old people in his neighborhood wanting to carve green peppers, losing their dentures while bobbing for apples, and giving out vegetables as treats. Charley notices some familiar voices in the costumed adults he visits, and ends up with a nice surprise at the end. His only question is why Dave didn't dress up, aside from his goofy hat. His response? "It's the same one my dad wore when he took me out to trick-or-treat on Milton Street. I thought the best costume I could wear tonight was to dress up like a dad." <3
We own the paperback version of this book and love it, but the board book one with flaps to lift is even more fun! We are big fans of Pete the Cat in our house, and we even have a daughter named Callie. She loves hearing her name in stories, so she loved this one. Our son Austin is a big Halloween fan, but also a bit nervous about the scary side of it. This book helps him remember that there are people wearing the costumes, and usually it's someone he knows! Here is is in read-aloud form.
