When young readers gain confidence with sight words it gives them a tremendous boost. The trick, of course, is getting them to practice without making them feel like they’re working. Making it FUN is the key here! Learning, and being able to remember the words later on, is all about being fully engaged in the […]
Halloween Spooky Sounds Poster
It’s October and that means…. HALLOWEEN! I will admit that being Australian meant I was quite oblivious to the enormity of Halloween until I moved overseas and was ‘enlightened’. After 20 years abroad working in international schools in Asia and watching the amazing lengths Americans (and others) went to in celebrating this event I admit […]
Talking about Feelings with Five Little Ducks
Learning to recognise and understand feelings is an important skill to develop in early childhood as anyone living or working with little ones will know! We want to encourage children to: Recognise and label their own emotions Learn how to manage their feelings productively Understand that other children and adults have feelings too Activities that can […]
Let’s Unearth CVC Words
There are many wonderful (and super fun) ways for our little ones to practice putting letters together into CVC words. This activity is for budding archeologists and explorers who must not only uncover letters, but guess what each word might be in advance. One of the benefits of guessing, and hopefully writing, CVC words is […]
10 Research-Based Tips for Reading With Your Child
Research has shown that the level of a child’s vocabulary in the home before heading off to school is an important indicator for school-readiness as well as predicting later academic achievement. Of course, this is not set in stone BUT, if we as parents want to ensure the best start possible we can’t go past […]
CVC Transport Mats for Play Dough and Driving!
Kids LOVE play dough. Kids LOVE transport toys. So why not create a learning activity that can use both? That was my thinking when I was mulling over a new activity for learning CVCs (3-letter words such as dog and cat). Since I was focused on transport I decided I’d use ‘go’ and ‘stop’ signs to […]
Interactive Bulletin Boards to Promote Literacy: 3 Little Pigs
Children LOVE visual aids when learning about fairy tales. Have you tried an interactive bulletin board? It’s a great way to extend learning beyond simple re-telling and to see stories in a new light. You can also use felt boards. This process can help Create a deeper understanding of the story Challenge children to think […]
Make an Interactive Picture Book: Virtual Book Club for Kids
Eric Carle’s books are famous for inspiring art projects for children. His book, The Very Lonely Firefly, is set at night and lends itself beautifully to oil pastels on black. My students LOVED this book and related well to feelings of loneliness and the need to find friends. The Very Lonely Firefly is born at sunset […]
Creating Night Noises: Virtual Book Club for Kids
I love sharing Mem Fox books with my students and for this hands-on, experimental activity we used her book Night Noises. In this story Lily Laceby and her dog, Butch Aggie, are resting at home by the fire on a cold, stormy evening. A series of noises from outside have Butch Aggie worried but Lily […]