Simple KindergartenReadiness Checklist and the At Home Pre-School Boot camp

One day, I was talking with a friend of mine.   She told me that she was thinking of buying a pre-school curriculum to use with her son.  I quickly pointed her to a few of my favorite free on-line resources, and followed up by sending the links.  When we talked again, I was slightly horrified to hear that she had not found my suggestions helpful, and in fact, had bought a curriculum. "You are a teacher.  I am not." was her explanation.  We talked about it some more, and she convinced me that although I don't have any special training in early child hood, my background as a teacher does make accessing on-line resources written by the professionals easier.  The result of that conversation was an At Home, Pre-school Boot Camp.

Here are the six areas of growth that I try to promote in my own pre-schoolers.

Independence

Can he take care of himself?  At the kindergarten level this is about things like using the bathroom and eating lunch out of a lunch box without help.

Social interaction

Can he play well with his peers? Kindergartners are expected to be able to communicate verbally with one another and resolve minor altercations.

Function within my culture's social structure

Can she behave well in a formal situation? If she is a  North American, can she to sit and listen, raise her hand, and line up?

Language

Can she understand, be understood?  Kindergartners are expected to enjoy listening to stories of some length, follow instructions and know their alphabet.

Math

Is he organizing his world by patterns?  A well prepared kindergartner can count to ten and name shapes and colors, and work puzzles.

Writing

Can she use a pencil? At the beginning of kindergarten, the teacher will expect her to be able to write her name and copy letters.


This is a highly simplified list.  If you want a more detailed list of what children should know at the beginning of kindergarten, check out School Sparks by Renee Abronowitz or this list from the Measured Mom.

If you are working on these areas and your child is not making progress, I recommend consulting with your local school district or another trusted expert.  Some times children need special help, and getting it early is best.

 If you would like to work on these areas with your child,  and could use some hints to get started, my upcoming At Home, Pre-school Bootcamp series is for you!  

Pre-school should be a dynamic learning experience.  Whether your child attends a formal program, or spends all day with you, the At Home Pre-school Bootcamp will help you set up the activities needed to help help your child develop at home.  Each week, I will post a summary of activities that help you begin to cover the major areas that should be addressed with every child, with links to easy to follow instructions, and introductions to some of my favorite on-line experts. It's free, you'll only have to pay for your materials.  I have written your shopping list, which you can directly order from Amazon (Click here to Sign up for Amazon Prime and get free shipping), or use to find great deals around town.  Best of all, you will have fun connecting with your child while preparing him not only for kindergarten, but for life. 

If you have a resource that I should check out, leave it in the comments. I am always looking for great ideas for my own littles, and may share it as well.  Double check that you have some plain old paper and a pencil on hand and make sure that you are following this blog either by e-mail or in your reader. The first set of posts is coming Monday!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.  Click here for more information.   Thanks for your support!  The post,  At Home Pre-school Bootcamp originally appeared on WisdomKnowledgeJoy@blogspot.com.

Fry's First Fifty Sight Words by Part of Speech

I have been working on a little project.  I wanted to make phrases of the first fifty Fry Sight words.  I did find a great list of phrases from the first one hundred, but our kindergarten goal is only the first fifty.  My purpose is to make readable phrases to review words that my child already knows, not introduce new words.

First, I categorized the words by part of speech, then I wrote some phrases.  My children already enjoy making nonsense words from their sight words, and I plan to let them make some more.

Please help yourself to these free printables.

Printable  of Fry's first fifty words by part of speech

Printable of Fry's first fifty words in phrases.

I am going to use these lists to make a version of these Spinners from Still Playing School.  How will you be reviewing sight words this summer?

Deer mask made from a paper towel tube

With Mommy busy taking care of a new baby, T-Rex has been making some fun of his own.  This morning, he came up with a new project which conveniently fits with our theme of card board tubes at Project: Recycle Create.  It was probably also inspired by the raccoon mask he made as part of our mini-nature museum several weeks ago.

Supplies: Paper plate

               Two pieces of yarn about 1 foot      (30 cm) long

                Paper towel roll

                Packing tape (Glue would be another option, I think.)

1. Cut off part of the plate to make space for your nose and mouth.  Cut eye holes. Cut tabs just above the ears to tie on the string.

2.  Cut your paper towel tube in half, and tape the two halves to the paper plate to look like antlers.

3.  Tie the yarn onto the tabs.

There you have it, a nice two-prong buck!  

Morning Reflection

"Look Mom!"  I just love hearing that phrase.  " I can see myself. Why?" He continued.

I think part of the intrigue was that this was a plastic lid, not a glass mirror.  However, it works in just the same way.  The light waves hit the smooth surface and then bounce back off.  If you look very closely, a smooth surface is the same all over.  Each individual ray of light bounces off at the same angle at which came to the object. The part of the lid that is not smooth, has little bumps on it.  As the rays of light hit the little bumps in different places they bounce back in all different directions, and the picture is lost.

Stuffed Animal Bumper Cars

One of my goals for the rest of this school year is to do more fun projects with my kids.  Participating in the Virtual Book Club for Kids is a great way to motivate myself. This month the club featured books by Laura Numeroff. We read, "If you Give a Pig a Party."

My children were curious about the bumper cars, since they have never ridden any. I don't expect that we'll have the opportunity to enjoy bumper cars any time soon, so we made some bumper cars, for their stuffed animals.

I told them each to pick 3 animals, then design a car for them.  They had a great time searching through the project materials saved from our clean trash to design their cars.  

When each of the stuffed annals had a car, I demonstrated how bumper cars ram into one another. 

I think this activity connects nicely to the Next Generation Science Standard:

K-PS2-2.	Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.*

I tried to ask some questions about different sizes of cars impacting each other differently and collisions with different speeds. They tried out a few different kinds of collisions,  but were not interested in pausing the fun to reflect.  Maybe next time, they made me promise to save the cars for another day.

Click here to check out more great activities to go with Laura Numeroff's books.

Color Word Printable and Activities

Recently, we hit a bit of a wall with reading. When I asked my son what we needed to read, he said, "Real books." Fortunately there are plenty of great easy readers at our local library.  These books use lots of basic sight words, and repeat the tricky words and sounds, so that my child can master them within the context of that book.   Several of these books center around colors, so I developed a lesson around color words that emphasizes vowel combinations.

An activity we have loved for some time is acting out Hap Palmer's "Parade of Colors" from "Learning in Two Languages" with colored scarves from the craft store, so we started our lesson with some music.  

Next, I instructed my children to lay the scarves out all over the floor.  I handed them the black and white color word cards one at a time, and instructed them to put the correct word on the correct scarf.  A few of the vowel combinations needed some review, so we did that along the way.

When they had finished, I told them to check their work.  They matched the colored word cards to the right scarf, and double checked that the letters on each card matched.

We have done this activity twice so far, and I expect it to be useful at least once more.    Some of the books we are reading with this unit are Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes,  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish,  Alice in Wonderland, A Colors primer.

If you would like to give this or a similar activity a try, you are welcome to download theses simple, free color word cards.

Color Word Cards

What to do with a box: Nature Museum

  We were living on an island up in Washington a couple years ago, when my sister gave my son a copy of  Animal Habitats by Judy Press.  This book information and some crafts to go with each of the common North American habitats.  I consider myself craft challenged, so this was a great gift, especially since she sent quite a few of the materials with it.    We worked with water habitats right away, and as we moved around the country have made a collages featuring our local habitats in each new home.

Read more at Thriving STEM.

Egg Carton Skip Counting with Printables

This activity addresses several different skills.   For kindergarten purposes, it most directly addresses the Common Core objective CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4 ,  Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities;connect counting to cardinality.   However, it is also preparation for multiplication, and a fine motor exercise.

Read more at Thriving STEM.

Skip counting by 2's: A visual kinesthetic activity

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!  Ours was full and happy.  Today, we jumped back into school, even though I felt a little under-prepared.  Within the next two months, we are planning to move (again, just a couple of miles this time) and welcome a new family member!  Obviously, I am on the look out for ways to make learning fun and easy for all of us.  Please post in the comments if you have a great resource to share.

One of my friends gave us a copy of Life of Fred Apples,  by Stanley Schimdt which we enjoyed twice, and just before Christmas, Life of Fred Butterflies arrived in the mail.  My kids find the books hilarious, and my son is really motivated to do the exercises at the end, in order to earn the right to progress to the next chapter.  The Schimdt jumps right in with counting by fives in Life of Fred Apples.  Now in Life of Fred Butterflies, he is asking for counting by twos.  This is a second grade  skill according to Common Core, and a little tricky for my five-year-old.  I came up with this exercise to make it more concrete.  

The only materials needed are a measuring tape and a bunch of clothespins.  Before we got started I read, Penguin Pairs:Counting by 2's  by Amanda Doering Tourville which we had borrowed from our local library.  After we finished, I directed my son to begin with two and put a clothes pin on every second number.   He went to work eagerly.  As he worked, I asked, "What's that number?"  If he was not sure, I helped him get the correct name which helps us work toward our kindergarten level objective of being able to name all the numbers up to one hundred. (CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.A.1).

When he finished, he was so proud he insisted on taking a photo of his own.  

Later, when we came to the related question in Life of Fred, he referred back to his number line.

You may also like this post:        

     Egg Carton Skip Counting

Decomposing numbers into pairs, Duplo activity

This week, we're working on decomposing numbers into their pairs.  For example, three and seven make ten. 

Our materials are pretty simple.  We are using the same box of magnetic numbers that I showed you in my post, Addition at the Fridge, a metal board that allowed us to have our lesson on the front porch rather than in the kitchen, and several Duplos.

Finish reading at Thriving STEM.

Non-writing Kindergarten Math Assessment

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Addition at the Fridge we have been using to practice math.  Once my son was showing a reasonable level of mastery, I put together this simple assessment.  I wanted to have something that I could file to showcase the level of achievement he has obtained.

The assessment itself was printed from Handwriting For Kids. Yes, that is a little ironic.  I will definitely be using this site again in the future.  It took only a few minutes to choose the number of problems, and the range of difficulty and hit print,easiest assessment writing of my life.  I picked up some number stickers at the dollar store, which he could use to record his answers.  Since I wanted to know what he could do from memory, the abacus was not part of this activity.

I was pleased with the results, and my son is hoping for a quiz again soon!

Toy Car Distance Investigation

The final activity in my Toy Car Physics! unit is an experiment involving force and resulting distance on a toy car.  To be frank, this was a little bit of stretch for my three and five-year-olds.  They did enjoy it though, and got some great practice with numbers.

We tried out two apparatuses.  My son used his hotwheels launcher.  This approach requires that the student basically understand the force of gravity. Many kids do by kindergarten, but for those who do not, it would create an unnecessary hassle.  The key is to understand that by launching the cars from lesser heights, you are limiting the time that gravity has to exert the force, therefore there is "less force" on the car. To be precise, you would say that there is less work done by the force.

My daughter used a rubber band powered launcher created by my husband.   It consists of two screws in a board.  We were able to add more and more rubber bands in order to exert more and more force on the car. The results were nicely quantifiable.

However, before we started anything, they had to make their predictions.  I wrote down their verbal hypothesis, and they drew pictures of the effects of little and big pushes.

Each child had the opportunity to launch the cars with three different sized forces.  Then, we measured the distance between the launch point and the point where the car stopped.  For us, this was a fun way to practice reading numbers larger than twenty.

As we worked, we recorded data in the pre-made data table.  When we were finished, we moved it to a graph. 

 We obtained very nice results with both set ups.  By nice, we I mean that when more force was used, more distance was achieved.  That was the standard result and the physics concept I was hoping to reinforce.

This wraps up my Toy Car Physics!  unit.   I hope it gives you some ideas about what can be done to meet some of these science objectives.  If you would like access to these hand outs or more detailed information about how these activities line up with Next Generation Science Standards or Common Core, please click here to download the file from my TpT store.

Learning science is naturally fun for most kids, because it requires them to do the same things they would naturally do when playing with toys.  As a mom, I love to enjoy life with my kids.  As a physics teacher, I appreciated every bit of groundwork that was laid before students walked into my classroom.   Admittedly, my experience in teaching science to large groups of elementary students is limited, so if you are an experienced classroom teacher with observations or concerns about how the activities in this unit would work in a standard class, I would love to have your input.

Toy Car Negative Acceleration Investigation Demonstration (Slowing down cars and showing my students how to do an experiment.)

This activity has two goals.  First, to demonstrate the idea of a force that causes negative acceleration, also known as deceleration or slowing down.   The second purpose was to model the concept of how to do a data chart with numbers, and how to graph numeric data. My children's response startled me.

The set up calls for markers, arranged in a line, and a toy car.  I rolled the car into the row of markers slowly, so that only one marker fell down.  It took one marker to stop a slow car. 

On my data sheet I wrote "slow and "1".  Next I rolled the car at a medium speed, about what I expected to knock down half of the markers.  It took three markers to stop a car from medium speed.  I wrote "medium" and "3". on my data sheet.  I repeated with a fast car.

Next, I hand drew a simple graph representing my data.  I thought that was the end of the lesson.  My intention was to have my kids apply these skills on our final experiment.  I set them free to enjoy knocking down the markers with the car.

A few minutes later my graph had new data.

A few minutes more passed, and I was asked to assist in numbering this master piece.

Real data tables and graphs are done either freehand, or later, on computer.  After seeing my children's enthusiastic response, I am convinced that this is a better way to introduce graphing than through graphing on a pre-done graph.  My final experiment does use a pre-fabricated graph, and my children compliantly followed directions, and where then happy to move on.   

This combination of demonstrating the experiment, with data table and graph, then setting my children free to re-create what I had done worked astonishingly well.  I would love to see how it would work in a standard classroom.  Would you use it as a station activity?  If anyone has the class and the will to try it, please let me know how it goes!

This lesson is part of my new unit Toy Car Physics!  Click here to check out the other activities.

Covering Kindergarten Common Core with Questions

My son loves to listen to books, and looks forward to our daily reading time.  Now that we are working on kindergarten, I am using questions during reading time to cover Common Core objectives.  Tonight I need to figure out what we have done and what we need to to do.  Here is the list of questions we have used or will use to finish covering Reading and Literature objectives.

Read more about this book by clicking here.

Reading: Literature

Tell me about [key details in the text]. (RL. K.1 )
Now that I have read this story to you, you tell it to me. (RL. K.2)
Who is the most important character in this story/poem?
Who else is in this story/poem?
Where did this story happen?
What happened in this story/poem ? (RL.K.3)
What do you think the word [unknown word from book] means? (RL.K.4)
What words from this story/poem are new to you?  (RL.K.4)
What kind of book is this?  (RL.K.5)
Who is the author of this book?
What does it mean to be the author?
Who is the illustrator of this book?
What does the illustrator do? (RL.K.6)
What is happening in this picture?  (RL.K.7)
How is this story like [another story read recently]?
How is this story different from [another story read recently]?

(Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding,  RL.K.10)

Read mroe about this book by clicking here.

Reading:Informational Text

Tell me about [key details in the text]. (RI. K.1 )
What is this book about?
What are the most important things to know about [main subject of the book] (RI.K.2)
What does [person, event, idea, fact] have to do with [second person, event, idea, or fact]? (RI.K.3)
What do you think the word [unknown word from book] means? (RI.K.4)
Show me the front cover of this book.
Show me the  back cover of this book.
Show me the title page of this book. (RI.K.5)
Who is the author of this book?
What does it mean to be the author?
Who is the illustrator of this book?
What does the illustrator do? (RI.K.6)
What is happening in this picture?  (RI.K.7)
Why does the author say [point made in the text]?  Note:  The reasons should be derived from the text. (RI.K.8)
What other book have read recently on this topic?
How are [two books on the same topic] the same?
How are [two books on the same topic] different? (RI.K.9)

(Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding, RI.K.10)

Italics mean that this question is the same for both literature and informational texts.

In addition to our reading times at home, my children participate in a reading time at our local library our home school co-operative.  These extra activities give them some opportunity to engage in group reading activities  as per RL.K.10, and RI.K.10.

Now that I have made my list, I will choose six or so of the questions that we have not thoroughly covered, and write them on an index card and place the card on the kids' bookshelf to remind me what I need to be asking during Monday's reading time.


Are there other questions you would use during reading time with a five-year-old?

Measuring Length

This week, I have been posting about my new physics unit for kindergarten through second grade.  Before we jumped into the final investigation, we needed to learn a new skill, measuring length!

I prepared a simple presentation that demonstrates how to measure correctly.  You can access it along with the other free materials that support this unit by accessing my Teachers Pay Teacher page.  I kept my explanation to a simple, three-step process.  Line up the zero with one edge of the object, read the number on the other edge of the object, add the appropriate units.  

This is a great time for tactile practice.  My son entertained himself for over twenty minutes measuring objects around the house.  He was still working on nomenclature, so that was the skill we reinforced.  Older students could work on fractions or decimals as they find left over halves or 0.5's.  We made verbal notations of the measurements, but students who are comfortable writing could easily make a list of objects and their lengths.

The opportunity to work with a real tool is the key to student engagement in this lesson.  If I was a working with a classroom, I would keep my eyes peeled at yard sales for interesting measuring implements.  For a faster solution, you might consider some little tape measures like these. 

  As a high school physics teacher, one of my favorite amusements was watching students who had believed themselves to be less intelligent than their peers discover that they were good at one of the most difficult sciences.  This activity is a similar opportunity for younger students who may struggle with paper and pencil style work.  Hopefully, the motivation spills over to other subjects.

Toy Car Story Play

We followed our toy car direction investigation with a simple story telling activity.  Each child got a piece of poster paper and access to markers.  They were instructed to draw a scene that they could use to tell a story with a car.  After the restrictions of the previous activity, they welcomed the creative freedom. Since neither of my children is writing independently yet, they narrated the story while driving the car around their scene, and I wrote it down. 

 The process of them telling, me repeating back, and them telling some more, will hopefully turn into creative writing one of these days.  In the mean time we got some fine motor practice and some speech practice.

My idea was that older students could write down their own stories.  Perhaps small groups could perform their stories in the form of skits.  

Two activities were enough for us to call it a day, but we did pick up with measuring a few days later, and finish with one more major investigation.

Kindergarten Math: Addition at the Fridge

  This has been my son's favorite kindergarten activity so far.   I think this particular method works well for us because it uses manipulatives, and requires little writing.  

We use clothespins with magnets attached to post flash cards on the refrigerator.  He answers the equation by placing the correct number magnet at the bottom of the equation.  If he knows the answer from memory, he can skip to checking his work.

Finish reading at Thriving STEM.

Matchbox Math: Counting to twenty

 My son is really into his matchbox cars right now.  My mother-in-law says my husband was the same way at this age, and she has generously supplied most of his fleet.  We have been using the cars to practice counting, and he actually asks if we can count cars.  To help him understand the symmetry between one through ten and eleven through twenty, I drew this quick parking lot one day last week.  My son has seen plenty of numbered parking spaces so it was an instant hit.

Over the weekend, I finally buckled down and made some roads from old jeans.  I found the project from LilMopTop on Pinterest.  Click here to check it out.  While I was having fun with glow in the dark paint, I decided to make a more permanent parking lot.   It is seeing some heavy use!

 I ask him to say the numbers while looking at the empty parking lot, then add a couple of cars and do it again.   He is showing great progress.  

Next, I am working on putting together a science unit involving matchbox cars.  I'm really excited to practice  with my kids. Hopefully, it will be ready share sometime next week.

Do you have any fun projects that you like to do with matchbox cars?