Fun and Practical Ideas for Primary Classrooms
Strong phonics instruction is one of the most important parts of helping young readers become confident and successful. If you’re looking for phonics activities for kindergarten and first grade, simple routines that reinforce letter sounds, blending, and word building can make a big difference. These easy phonics activities for K–1 classrooms are perfect for literacy centers, small group instruction, or… Read More
Teaching friendship skills is an important part of helping young students build a positive classroom community. These friendship activities for primary students are designed to help children learn how to be kind, work together, and solve problems with their classmates. This friendship activities booklet for kindergarten and first grade includes simple lessons, reflection pages, and engaging activities that encourage students… Read More
Alphabet poems are a fun way to help young learners practice letters and sounds! These alphabet poems for each letter A–Z are perfect for building letter recognition, phonics skills, and fluency through shared reading in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Plus, they’re funny and kids love them! How I Use Alphabet Poems for Shared Reading These Alphabet Poems are fantastic… Read More
After 20+ years of teaching, I’ve done a lot of different things for reading homework. I stopped doing reading logs several years ago because I didn’t feel it was meaningful. Sometimes, families were just rushing to write down book titles to get “credit” for homework, instead of focusing on the fun and important work of enjoying books together. Another reading… Read More
Decodable readers are a great way to help beginning readers put their phonics skills into practice. With simple, targeted text, students can practice decoding words, build fluency, and gain confidence as readers. In this post, I’ll share easy and effective ways to use decodable readers in your first grade classroom. I’ve used my short vowel decodable readers in reading groups,… Read More
I love using spring-themed activities to keep my first grade students engaged during this exciting time of the year! Here is a roundup of some of my favorites that I think you’ll love! Spring-Themed Reading Passages I’ve used these passages for leveled homework, reading groups, and more! Each week has three levels (emerging, growing, established) that cover the same topic… Read More
I love making and sharing great resources for teachers to use. Here is a roundup of some of my FAVORITE FREEBIES from my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my blog! Click the pictures to get your free resources! This pack has 17 passages for first grade Reading Literature (RL) and Reading Informational (RI) passages. Perfect for practice, review, and assessment… Read More
Primary teachers know we have students who come to us writing up a storm and others who are very reluctant to write anything! How do I get my first graders writing from day one? The short answer is…we write ALL THE TIME! (Me included!) We don’t just write at “writing time”. We write on whiteboards, sticky notes, anchor charts, and… Read More
If you’re a primary teacher, you know that we not only have to help little ones learn HOW to read, we also have to tackle some pretty challenging comprehension standards on top of that! It’s a BIG job! Teaching the first grade reading standards doesn’t have to be complicated, though. These simple activities and reading passages give students plenty of… Read More
Learning to read is tough, so making it fun and inviting for our young students is a must! What activities can you do with Kindergartners or 1st graders who are working on letter names and letter sounds? Here are some of my favorite alphabet activities and resources for letter recognition and letter sounds that I’ve used with my emerging readers… Read More
