The United States turns 250 years old!

This summer on July 4th the United States will turn 250 years old. There will be so many colorful parades, barbeques and fireworks you won’t know which ones to attend! A fun (and almost unbelievable fact) is Americans will eat over 150 million hotdogs on this 4th of July! Because of this milestone birthday we’ve created a few products that introduce information about our country. There is even a song!

Fourth of July Red, White, and Blue Packet

This packet is an innovation of the familiar “1-2 Buckle My Shoe”. There is a Shared Reading book, pocket chart cards, Beginning readers, several themed writing papers, and a Vocabulary Word Chart. Included are 3 Math BUMP games, math interactive worksheets, math manipulatives. The colorful Photographs will help build background information and spark discussions about the activities that take place on and around the 4th of July. 4th of July Red, White, and Blue

BUMP Games

These BUMP games are a hit with any age student and can be customized to just about any skill level. Players roll a die and place their cube on that number. When a player rolls a number that has their opponent’s cube on it they can “BUMP” it off and replace it with their own. Placing a second cube on top of a number a player has already placed their cube “locks” that space. Now they can not be bumped off. Play continues until one player places all their cubes. Sooooo fun! Our versions always come with EDITABLE versions so ANY skill can be inputted.

Happy Birthday USA! Song and Packet

This song is easily sung to the tune….wait for it…..Happy Birthday! We wrote original lyrics that celebrate our country. A Shared reading book, some interactive printables, and photographs of some American symbols like the flag, Liberty bell, parades, fireworks, and a US map will engage your PreK and Kindergarten students and introduce them to the concept of our nation’s birthday. Happy Birthday USA

FREE Game

This easy to prep and play game will assist your students in practicing these L blends: BL, CL, FL, GL, PL and SL. There are 36 cards with blends on them. Players turn over a card, say the picture, and move to that space that has that BLEND on it. Go ahead and go back cards keep the play exciting! L Blends Game

We hope you have a great start to your summer vacation and enjoy celebrating our country’s birthday this year! P.S. Want more patriotic resources? Click HERE

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Leaves Are Falling Song and Activities

Don’t you just LOVE all the fall colors? The Northeastern states are always packed with visitors looking to catch the peak color of the changing trees. I grew up in Michigan and have to admit I miss seeing the trees turn those brilliant colors…but hated the bare limbed trees….Don’t miss all the raking though!

We wrote a song about falling leaves. Easily sung to the tune Are You Sleeping? AKA Frere Jacques, it comes loaded with Beginning readers and a path games with word cards (with EDITABLE cards so any words can be added). Themed writing paper, Math BUMP games and math practice sheets are also provided. Check out this wonderful addition to your Fall-themed studies! Leaves Are Falling

Fun BUMPER Game…played just like Math BUMP but with words!

This MOST popular game is one our students LOVE to play! Choose one of the 4 mats and either the cards or the Word Spinner. A player places one of their 10 Unifix cubes on the mat matching the word they just turned over. Play passes to the next player. They turn over a card (or spin the word spinner) and place their cube on their word. Once a player turns over a word that has the opponent’s cube on it they get to BUMP that cube off and place their cube there. Students LOVE to BUMP…..all in good fun, of course! When a player gets a word that has THEIR cube on it, they add a second cube and “Lock” that space. It can never be bumped off. Play continues until one player has placed all of their 10 cubes on the game mat. Children beg to play this again and again. FALL FRIENDS BUMPER

Non-fiction Beginning Reader- Leaves

Can you EVER have enough reading books for your students at that “just right” level? Our readers come in two levels of difficulty AND have supportive Interactive printables to extend the learning. Teaching charts and informational text is included to build background knowledge before or after reading the text. FInd these Leaves Readers HERE. A COMPLETE set of readers focus on 4 additional fall themes: Apples, Crows, Pumpkins, and Scarecrows. FALL Beginning Readers

How about a FREEBIE? Here’s a No Prep Reader about LEAVES!

This is an BONUS packet of 2 No Prep Readers that goes with the complete set of Fall-themed No Prep Readers. Find this FREEBIE HERE.

Here is the COMPLETE set of 10 more Fall themed NO Prep Readers.

Here’s to a Happy colorful fall!

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February is the month to celebrate Presidents’ Day. For a long time only George Washington’s birthday was recognized on February 22. In 1968, the holiday was adapted to also honor Abraham Lincoln. This Federal holiday was moved to the third Monday in February and sometimes Presidents’ Day considered to be a celebration of all U.S. Presidents!

Two Presidents Singable

We like to use this time of year to teach about the 2 most famous presidents, Washington and Lincoln. Because we LOVE to sing with our students we had to create a song. It is sung to the tune Three Blind Mice. Of course there is a mini movie included to help you and your students sing this song. Two Presidents covers many facts about these 2 famous men. There are writing papers and Sorting cards with photos to help students learn their differences. Many other activities are included in this 71-page packet.

There is a FREEBIE that has two short songs, one about George and one about Abe! This freebie has song charts in color and b/w, and some money activities. The George Washington song is easily sung to the tune Itsy, Bitsy, Spider while the Lincoln poem is sung to Yankee Doodle.

Here’s some meaningful ways to revisit the poems over several days in the pocket chart or with the student copy. (The pictures for the pocket chart for Washington is included in the FREEBIE. Those for Lincoln are found in the FULL product) Glue the clipart images of Washington to the end of a short dowel and use it to track across the poem as you sing together.

One day look for high frequency words such as the, and,he, we, and go, another day search for one, two, or three syllable words, a third day hunt for rhyming words such as name and fame. Use Magic Windows or colored pieces of a plastic folder to highlight features on the song. Plastic clothespins can also be used to clip above the words as they are “spotted” by the students. After looking for words on the big pocket chart you can have students circle words with different colored crayons on their Take-Home poem pages. (We usually include these pages in a year-long Poetry Notebook.) Activities such as these provide multiple readings of texts but with different purposes. Repeated readings help develop fluency.

Money

We honor some of our U.S. presidents by putting their pictures on bills and coins.  These two men get BOTH a coin AND a bill! Since recognizing money is part of our curriculum we have created some math activities with pennies  and dollars.  These provide a great way to count by ones and tens to 100. There are several recording sheets to go along with these counting activities. All  of this is in our February FREEBIE for you to use and enjoy in your classroom!

George Washington Craftivity

Here is a sample of a craftivity this is easy to make. Including print on the back of art work connects the art work with literacy. Glue the Washington Song page on the back of the craftivity.

American Symbols

This 80-page packet, 1-2 American Symbols for You, is an excellent way to introduce American symbols to your students. The Shared Reading non-fiction book uses real photos to support the text. This packet works well with any Presidents’ Day, Fourth of July, or American history units. It is LOADED with photos, math worksheets, BUMP Math games, Beginning Readers, Interactive booklets, themed writing papers, and much much more! (This is one of my favorite packets to teach!)

Favorite Books to teach about these Presidents

Here are some of our favorite books to build background knowledge. Most likely many can be found in your school library but they are also available at Amazon.

Happy February! It is flying by quickly! Enjoy the day off to celebrate Presidents’ Day!

The post Celebrate Presidents’ Day in Kindergarten and 1st Grade appeared first on JK Curriculum Connection.

Do you want to build a snowman?

I don’t know about you but I really enjoyed the movie Frozen! Anna singing Do You Want to Build a Snowman? outside Elsa’s door was one of my favorite scenes. It was sooooo cute but yet so poignant because she didn’t get a response from her sister, Elsa! Anna’s desire to connect with her sister was touching.

I grew up in Michigan making snowmen. What a fun but often difficult task! Sometimes the snow just wasn’t the right consistency to stick together to make those big balls! Often after all that effort, the sun would melt our hard work in a day!! Sometimes our snowman would last until early spring looking pretty dismal day after day as he melted slowly into the ground. Building virtual snowmen can be a lot of fun and a whole lot more long lasting! Here are some of our products that will help you and your students build a snowman!

Building on a variation of the familiar 1-2 Buckle My Shoe this product has a large book, pocket chart cards, word and picture cards, 3 Math Bump games (these are SOOOOO fun and have EDITABLE versions too!) and some math printables. Click 1-2 A Snowman for You to see this at our TPT store. It is just what you need to add to your thematic Winter theme!

A Snowman SONG

Everyone knows Frosty the Snowman but have you met Stanley the Snowman? Our song is easily sung to the tune Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush. It comes with a mini-movie where we sing the lyrics as the pages of the book turn. Soon your students will be singing along! Included are Take-Home Readers in color & b/w, A Snowman Dress-Up project, pocket chart cards and words for building sentences, teaching charts, and writing papers. Stanley the Snowman will be a great addition to learning about snowmen!

How about a High Frequency Word Game?

We LOVE playing learning games with our students and this game is one of our more popular formats. Snowman SWIPE has word cards with Vowel Digraphs (words with vowel pairs like ay. ai, ea, ee, and oa). There are also EDITABLE cards so ANY words can be added. Your students will read and reread words and not even realize they are learning while having fun! Want some MORE winter-themed learning games? Click our WINTER category to see all the resources we have to offer.

What….. Another song? Of course!

Five Dancing Snowmen is sung to the tune Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. There are Stick Puppets so the class can perform the song for their classmates and groups of students. Take-home readers, pocket chart cards and photographs of the animals the snowmen meet in the song are part of this packet.

Wait? A 3rd song? Meet Buddy

Do you know the old song She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain? This fun song introduces Buddy the Snowman and some of his friends. Included are a mini-movie, a Path Game with S-blend words and EDITABLE cards so any words needed can be added.

Here’s a FREE product for you!

We created a free song/poem about a building a snowman. The tune is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. See below all the goodies included here. Find Let’s Build a Snowman at our JK Singables store at TPT.

Stay cosy and watch the snow fall…from inside your home! I’m think I’m going to watch Frozen again and sing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” at the top of my lungs!!

The post Building a Snowman appeared first on JK Curriculum Connection.

Fascinating Facts about Turkeys

I’ll confess! I am not a turkey expert. Although I eat a lot of turkey, especially on Thanksgiving, there is not a lot I know about them. I did a little Internet search to discover some facts I think students might find fascinating! Did you know turkeys are skilled swimmers! Really?? How far can they swim exactly?? During the mating season, turkeys will strut around each other and perform a little dance. Maybe that’s where the idea of a turkey trot came from! Boy turkeys are called Toms or gobblers while girl turkeys are simply called hens. That’s not too exciting! It’s hard to believe that a gobbling turkey can be heard up to a mile away but only on a very quiet day! There has always been a myth that Ben Franklin wanted our national bird to be a turkey but he really just thought the first eagle design they came up with looked like a turkey.  Thank goodness they went back to the drawing board on that one! Turkeys are fun to learn about but even more delicious to eat! Here are some of our best selling Turkey-themed products to add to your classroom November studies!

Turkey Reader

This Beginning Reader is perfect for adding to your students’ studies of turkeys. It comes in 2 levels of difficulty and color and black and white. Also included is Resource page of facts to read to them before and/or after they read their practice book. Several Interactive printables will extend their learning. Find it HERE at our TPT store.

Thanksgiving Song

This is one of our best-selling products as it tells a brief story of how the Pilgrims came to America, made friends with Native Americans, and had a big feast! It is easily sung to the tune Do You Know the Muffin Man! If you aren’t familiar with that tune, don’t worry! We have included a mini-movie where the pages of the book turn while we sing the lyrics! There are also lot of additional goodies like Beginning Readers, writing papers and take-home papers to trace and color. Click THANKSGIVING SONG to link to it!

Writing Activity – The Art of Persuasion

This is a fun writing project that introduces the concept of Persuasive Writing. Students must try to convince their readers to eat anything BUT turkey on Thanksgiving! There are some teaching activities to clarify the ideas of one’s Opinion and how to persuade someone to side with your opinion. It is so much fun to read what your students come up with as alternatives to turkey and their reasons of persuasion! Display their writing on a Bulletin Board with our Sign or use it as a class book cover with their writing inside! Click Persuasive Writing to find this fun product.

A Thanksgiving Packet of Resources

Here is a packet that would make a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving study. It is loaded with pocket chart cards, Beginning Readers, a poetry page to teach with under a document camera or from a computer as well as a Take-home version. Themed writing papers come in color & b/w to inspire lots of holiday writing! Click 1-2 A Land So New to see it at our TPT store.

Here’s a FREE Song that will be a hit in your classroom!

This song is all about a turkey that DOESN’T get eaten BUT gets invited to the feast! When my brother was little he never ate turkey. Rather than fight with him about it with family and guests, she indulged him by letting him just eat rolls! That inspired us to write this fun song. Turkey Feast comes with Beginning Readers and writing papers! Be sure to grab this FREEBIE and start singing!

How about a BONUS Freebie?

Here is a Free Game to add to your November classroom learning! It is a path game using lots of “ip” words. Simply print either the colored or B/w version and glue it into a file folder. Players roll the dice and move along the path reading the word when they land on a space.! Find it on our FREE Resources page here at our website!

Hope you have a great November and a Happy Thanksgiving!

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History of Scarecrows

Scarecrows have been around since ancient Greek times! Their version of a scarecrow was a wooden frame covered with nets to protect their huge wheat fields that grew along the Nile River. Farmers would hide among the wheat in hopes of catching the quails that were feasting in their fields. About 2500 B.C, Greek farmers carved wooden poles into the image of one of their many gods who they thought would scare birds away and protect their vineyards. Scarecrow images evolved over time until farmers in the Middle Ages started using old clothing and stuffed shirts and pants into something that resembled a man. Birds figured it was a real person so they stayed out of the fields. BUT, the trick is to move the scarecrow every few days or the birds will soon figure out it’s not a real person and they won’t be scared any longer! Nowadays many farmers use sparkly strips of colored ribbon that blow in the wind and reflect sunlight to deter birds from eating their crops.

Scarecrows have become a Symbol of Fall

Somewhere along the line scarecrows became associated with fall and the harvest. Decorations fill homes and stores and there are often Scarecrow making contests held all over. Scarecrows can be menacing or even pretty cute! The birds don’t know the difference! We love to incorporate scarecrows as one of our classroom learning themes and have created several products based on this symbol of fall.

How about a Song about Scarecrows?

My Colorful Scarecrow uses color words in the song so it fits right in at the beginning of the school year. It is sung to the tune “The Itsy, Bitsy Spider” and comes with a mini-movie that has the pages of the book turning as we sing the lyrics. Show this on a big screen and your students will be happily singing along in no time! Lots of “colorful” activities are included in this packet. View the song right now! Click MY COLORFUL SCARECROW to find it at our TPT store.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

You may be lucky enough to have a Pumpkin Patch close enough to take a field trip to and pick up those cute child-sized pumpkins! If you can’t get to one you can take a “virtual” trip with this fun product. It has a song, easily sung to the tune Here We Go “Round the Mulberry Bush. If you can’t sing it comes with a mini-movie where the pages of the book turn while we sing the lyrics. Show it on a big screen and your students will see the lyrics as they sing along. It is another exposure to print! Click PUMPKIN PATCH to link to it.

How about about some Math practice with 10-frames?

Ten-frames are very useful tools for students developing number sense and place value. Ten-frames provide a strong visual representation of number and how numbers work and relate to each other. This packet provides colorful ten-frames using acorns, pumpkins, and leaves with mats, number cards, recording sheets and much more. There are 3 BUMP games that are so much fun to play. EDITABLE versions are included so you can change the numbers to meet the learning levels of your students. Full instructions explain how to play this popular skill-building game. Click 10-FRAMES to see it at our store.

Here’s a FREEBIE

Our No Prep Readers are popular with Kindergarten teachers. Simply print, fold, and your students will be reading these one-page practice readers. This Scarecrow reader is part of a bigger set of 10 readers. Click SCARECROW FREEBIE and Set of 10 READERS to see these beginning readers perfect for fall.

The post Scarecrows – A Great Learning Theme for Fall appeared first on JK Curriculum Connection.

St. Patrick’s Day Learning Games and Songs

Top ‘o the mornin’ to ye! It’s time for some St. Patrick’s Day learning games and songs! St. Patrick’s Day and leprechauns go hand in hand. Those little guys sure are mischievous! Since our wee little lads and lassies love them so much we just had to create learning games and songs that use these crazy guys! (Did you know that traditionally there are NO girl leprechauns? Whatttt????? Ye must be jokin’!!)

Classroom Fun on St. Patrick’s Day

It is so much fun to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with our Kindergarten and First Grade classes. Every year we “toss” our classrooms and blame “Lucky the Leprechaun” of course! We throw lots of green items on the floor like green Unifix cubes, green blocks, green math manipulatives, etc. because of course, Lucky only plays with green stuff! It’s always fun to turn all the classroom posters upside down, mix up the alphabet letters and calendar number cards, and rearrange the Word Wall Words (if they are not stapled to the wall and can be easily mixed around!) The kiddos go CRAZY when they see these things and it is good practice getting everything “back into its proper place”!

We turn the 2 classroom toilets green (why not!!) by putting a few drops of green paint in them and stirring them around with a small branch (we immediately throw in the garbage!) Be sure to do this AFTER your janitor has cleaned those toilets so he doesn’t freak out and/or undo your handiwork! We also dip our fingers into some green tempera paint and “walk” them around on the desks, cupboards, doorframes, DVD player, and the sidewalk outside leaving little leprechaun footprints! Be sure that whatever you put the paint on can be easily cleaned…..a fact I did NOT take into consideration the first year I did this with the cement outside our classroom door. The green paint could STILL be seen at least 6 years later although it faded a bit every year! Whew!

Lucky the Leprechaun always leaves us some gold-covered chocolate pieces like gold-foil chocolate coins or Rolos or those Hersheys’ Gold Nuggets to pay for his mischievous ways! If you can find your black cauldron from Halloween you can hide the candy in that and position the “pot of gold” somewhere visible but out of an obvious line of sight. Your students will have fun looking for the pot of gold! Have Lucky leave a note that apologizes for messing up the classroom AND gives clues to where to find his pot of GOLD! Yum!!

For a quick and easy treat make some Shamrock Shakes!

You’ll need some a blender, serving cups, mint chocolate chip ice cream or vanilla ice cream, some milk and green food coloring. Mix some ice cream with a little bit of milk to achieve the right milkshake consistency. Mix in a few drops of green food coloring until it is a lovely shade of Leprechaun green! Pour into small serving cups. This makes 2-3 cups. If your students don’t like to flavor of mint, use the vanilla ice cream instead. Delicious!!

St. Patrick’s Day Learning Song

As always, we have a fun St. Patrick’s Day Learning Song about Five Little Leprechauns that leap into a pot of gold at the end. The songbook comes with a mini-movie and printable activities. Click (HERE) to find it at our JK Singables TPT store!

St. Patrick’s Day Learning Games

In addition, we have a FREE Learning Game with High-Frequency Words. It comes in color and black/white and also has an EDITABLE version so you can add ANY words your students are learning at this time of year. It is so easy to prep and play! Place the word mat in front of 2-3 players and give each player about 12-15 Unifix cubes of their own color. The first player rolls a dice and goes to the ‘column’ under that number. He reads the bottom word and places his colored Unifix cube on that word. The next player rolls the die and finds her ‘column’, reads the word and places her colored cube on that word. When a player rolls the same number previously rolled, they read the next word going up the column. The first player to place their colored cube on the top row of any ‘column’ is declared the winner! Clear the board and play again!

Click (HERE) to find the Freebie at our TPT Store. There are also 6 ADDITIONAL game mats that go along with this Freebie! They also have B/W and EDITABLE versions and a Take-Home Directions Letter for parents. Click (HERE) to see this full product.

We have several other Learning Games that practice High-frequency words or C-V-C and C-V-Ce Word Families. Three of the 4 games come in EDITABLE versions. Click (HERE) to link to all our St. Patrick’s Day Themed products.

And one more thing….Did you know that leprechauns are a protected ‘species’ in Europe? Check out this sign that proves just that!

Faith and begorra! May the luck of the Irish be with you this fine month! We hope ye find that pot of gold at the end of your teaching rainbow!

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