I am so happy for this vacation to relax. Prior to us getting out of school, we had been testing our Kinders for two weeks. Add that to the report card assessments, unit tests, and chapter tests. Needless to say. I was all tested out, not to mention how our Kinders felt.
Despite all of this, we made it through! We completed testing and enter our spring vacation with nothing on our mind but vacation...right?! Of course not! I am sure, like others who are on spring break, we are working on our next projects and lessons.
I started with my spring themed Clip 'N Learn Alphabet activities. You can find these in my TPT store (TPT store icon located in sidebar). The mega pack includes 4 products in 1. The ABC matching cards are easy to use. I use clothes pins for the cards. It is a way for me to get more fine motor skills incorporated into activities for students who still need the practice. I make booklets with the letter identification printables. Students work at their own pace identifying and "highlighting" the focus letters of each page. I also include concentration cards. My students love seeing who can find the most matches. When they finish, they practice saying the letter names. I check their result page based on the amount of letters they can name correctly.
I plan to include these in my Daily 5/Literacy Stations. My students get excited when they have new stations. I try to make sure that the are easy to use and that it promotes independence. But I don't use these as my exclusive stations.
Caitlin Clabby of Kindergarten Smiles is one of my favorite TPT sellers. She creates Word Work activities for Kinders. I like the product because she not only creates I CAN posters so the students have a visual cue of expectations while working with the stations; she include response pages so that students can show what they know/learned. They are responsible for their learning while working on each station. My students have been working with her Word Work stations since November. They have really become very independent each month that they use them. I highly recommend this product if you are looking for an easy to manage station for your students. Thanks to Caitlin for such a great product!!
Another shout out goes to Annie Moffatt of The Moffatt Girls. She is another one of my favorite TPT sellers. She creates NO PREP activities. They are a life saver. I use them for many different things: Sub Tubs, morning work, concept review, assessments, etc. They are very user friendly and include lots of fine motor skill activities. Her latest one is the Spring Math and Literacy Packet. I will be using this packet for both April and May.
Danielle Kroger of Kroger's Kindergaten is another great TPT seller. She creates homework and morning work packet for Kinders. The skills used in her packets cover skills that are taught in my lessons for both reading and math. I have been using them for two years now. I feel that if we were ever in a time crunch for anything, if we did morning work, my students were okay until we had a full day in class without major interruptions. She also creates emergent readers to go with her morning work, too. I use these for my read to self Daily 5 stations.
I hope everyone who is on their spring vacation enjoys themselves as much as they can. If you are nearing your vacation, I hope your plans are include plenty of things to keep you relaxed and joyful.
Stay Inspired!!
Renaada
