This was an easy activity for my kids to practice sight words and letters. It was inspired by Playdough to Plato’s Sight Word Pancakes Game that I saw on Pinterest.

We decided to pretend they were flipping hamburgers. It’s great because this game can be differentiated. My Kindergartener flipped sight words while my 3 year-old flipped letters. You can write the letters or words yourself or your child(ren) can write them before you begin, if that’s something they’d enjoy. I also like the fact that you will most likely have the materials to make this game on hand.

Materials:

• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Marker
• Pan
• Spatula
• Words or Letters that your child needs to practice

Use a circular stencil like a cup to draw circles on the cardboard. Cut out the circles and write words or letters on them.

To play: They can talk about the words or letters they’re flipping. You can also ask them to flip different words to help them learn the words.

My kids wanted to keep playing with the burgers after they were done flipping them in the pan. Fun!

~Carrie

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My Book Boost is a leveled list of books that children can read in a specific order.  Levels 1-3 are approximately Kindergarten level and levels 4-15 are approximately 1st grade level.  It is ideal for tutors, homeschooling families, parents who want to give their child a jump start in reading before Kindergarten, or as a supplement to what Preschoolers, Kindergarten or 1st graders are doing in traditional schools.

But, how can preschool, K, 1st grade, or other teachers use the My Book Boost list?

Since teachers most likely won’t have multiple copies of these books, here are some ideas of how classroom teachers, in particular, could incorporate these high quality, easy books into their day.  I think it would also work well for struggling readers in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms.

Volunteers or Teaching Associates

If you have parent volunteers, community volunteers, or teaching associates that regularly meet one-on-one with kids, these books would be a great for them to read with your kids. There are also comprehension questions for levels 1-3 for those who are meeting with the kids to ask.

As a Center

While you’re doing reading groups or other activities with other kids in the class, you could bring together a group of readers who are reading at a similar level.  Assign them to read the books, with each of them taking turns reading different books. They could spend time discussing the books.

The first few books on the list are very, very easy.  So they won’t need a lot of support.  This would be a great activity for the most struggling readers in your class.  It will give them confidence to have books they can read by themselves.

Here is an example of the first two books on the list and their comprehension questions:

Hug by Jez Alborough

Questions to ask:

25 Mammals Every Child Should Know by Jim Arnosky

Questions to ask:

Below are links to the My Book Boost products in my TpT store. If you use Teachers Notebook, they’re also available there.

Levels 1-3 with Comprehension Questions

Levels 1-15

If you end up trying it, I hope you find it as useful as I have!

-Carrie

How can we go from this:

to this?

Picking up is something that has to be done so often, it’s nice to spice it up sometimes! Here are some games you can try with your family:

Train Game

You take an imaginary train to different rooms in the house. Someone is in front and everyone else holds onto the hips of the person in front of them. Make sound effects like “chugga chugga choo choo!” etc. When you get to the room, everyone picks up one thing (or however many things you decide).

Name Game

Say “if your name is Bubba, please pick up that paper” and keep going with names until you say your child’s name. Also, “if you’re 100 years old, can you put that cup in the kitchen” or  “if you have purple hair, put that ball in the toy box” etc. until you say their age or hair color.

Deck of Cards

Take a deck of cards and use the lower numbers. Kids pick a card and have to pick up that many things. Keep going with more cards until the room is clean. I got this idea from the book  How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Faber and Mazlish (great book, by the way).

Beat Mom

Everyone goes in their bedrooms and they try to get their room clean before mom can complete hers…of course the kids always win! Thanks to Savannah from http://hammocktracks.com for this brilliant idea!

And, in case you missed it, here are the games I highlighted in my first post about Cleaning Games for Kids:

Take Turns Game

Pick a room and take turns telling each other one thing to pick up or a task. The kids like choosing what you will have to do. Keep going until the room is clean.

Incentive

If they request to watch t.v. or a movie, give them a small job to do before they can watch. Sometimes I say “okay, but why don’t you _______ while I’m getting the show started.”

Every Room Game

Tell them you want to play a game with them. Here is the game: go to each room in the house and you each pick something up in that room. Quality time and getting a few random things picked up — win/win.

Pay Them

Pay them coins to do extra jobs above and beyond what they are expected to do. Bonus: they learn about counting and managing money. They can save up to buy something.

Joke Around

“Where does your coat go? In the bathroom?”
“Where does this car belong? In the dishwasher?” It gets them smiling at the very least.

Good luck as you try to make picking up as painless as possible!
-Carrie

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Peanut butter jars make fun storage! They’re sturdy, see-through, and have colorful lids. Plus, they’re free!

Back in the year 2000, when I was working with a great, organized teacher, Deb Bittle, she introduced me to the idea of reusing peanut butter jars in the classroom. Since then, I’ve continued to wash out and use these handy containers in a variety of ways:

• store math manipulatives or office supplies in the classroom
• store little things at home like Barbie shoes, shells, coins, craft supplies, etc.
• put snacks in them when you’re in the car

Get as much peanut butter out of the jar as possible. Remove the label. Then, wash in the dishwasher. If you’re a teacher, send a parent note home asking for clean, empty peanut butter jars. I did this whenever I needed more for my classroom and the parents were great about sending them in. Just make sure they’ve been washed completely since severe nut allergies are common. Or ask your friends and family to save them for you. As for what to put in them, the possibilities are endless!

-Carrie

Follow My Book Boost on Facebook to hear about more organizing ideas in the future!

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Do you like to keep track of things with charts? Personally, I love charts of all kinds. It’s fun for me to see growth and appreciate improvement. 

One day, I decided to make a chart to assess how many uppercase letters my 3 year old daughter could identify. I had assumed she knew more that she actually did, so I’m glad I did this quick little check. Now I know which letters I should be practicing more with her. 

Back when I was a full-time teacher, I enjoyed using colored markers or highlighters to keep track of student’s sight words, etc. So I took that idea and used it with my letter assessment for Josie. Here is an example of the way I mark the sheet.

My daughter seems to enjoy the use of color. I could also see circling the letters they know as a different way to keep track as well. One tip is that I only mark it down if they know it easily and quickly. If I had to give them any clues, I tell them that I’ll check again tomorrow and see if they still know it.

 If you’re curious as to how many uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet your child can identify, you can create your own way of keeping track of it. If you want to save time, the one I made is available here in my TpT Store and here in my Teacher’s Notebook store. The download also includes a list of a few ways to practice identifying the letters. In any case, charts rule!

Also, these sites welcome parents and homeschoolers, as well as teachers. Here are some other resources I recommend:

• Alphabet Activities for PreK- 2 ($3.25)
• It’s Okay to Make Mistakes lessons for Grades 2-6 ($2)
• My Book Boost Levels 1-3 ($3) from my store
• Inferring from Single Sentences for K-2  ($2)
• Grammarics– store that has cool grammar resources

These are just some of the products on my wishlist. If you do some browsing, you’ll find so many great products!

-Carrie

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