|
Early Childhood Educator
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Welcome to our sample Member Resource Pack!
We hope you enjoy the resources, and of course, we do hope you will also explore all of our Resource Packs!
1. EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR
CAN THE RIGHT KIND OF PLAY TEACH SELF-CONTROL?
"Executive function" and "self-regulation"... Pretty big terms to kick around in a kindergarten class. But the notions are having impact across the nation, where students are learning to control their focus and avoid distractions, process information, and increase their memory function. These self-regulation skills turn out to be key indicators or a student's later scholastic success, and the big question now is, are these skills fixed early in life, or can intervention in the classroom and repeated practice help to modify and even replace unwanted behaviors? Sound like a program you'd like to introduce in your own school, in kindergarten? Grade 4? Grade 8? Read more about this new wave of thinking.
FARM ANIMAL CLIPART:
[LINK2] [LINK3]
Choose either black and white for coloring and worksheets, or color for stickers in this selection of farm animal clipart.
ADAPTING CURRICULUM FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS:
If you're experiencing any problems adapting content to meet the needs of all the learners in your classroom, you will probably find this article helpful. Find some tips on how to differentiate instruction without having to overhaul your curriculum.
CLASSROOM GRAPHING IDEAS:
Would you live in a pumpkin shell? Would you jump over a candlestick? How about making a fruit loop graph? These are just a few of the many suggestions here for creating graphs with your PreK groups on a regular basis, and making those important math connections.
USING SCRIBBLE ART:
Here's a great idea to refine those fine motor skills while encouraging creativity and focus at the same time. Note the examples used here for various themes; you can adapt this project to virtually any holiday or themed unit during the school year, even creating a book to collect all of your individual pages.
2. LEARNING FOCUS
TEACHING IDEAS FOR FARM ANIMALS:
Need some snazzy new ideas for teaching all about farm animals? You'll find some great suggestions here to use with your early education classes. Try shaking up some butter, examining eggs, closely observing feathers, making graphs, and much more.
FIVE DAY FARM THEME UNIT:
Farm words, A to Z, graphing favorite farm animals, making a farm collage . . . You can either use this extensive unit as is for a five day learning theme, or pick and choose the activities and resources to compile your own unit. Numerous printables are included.
DOWN ON THE FARM/OLD MACDONALD COLORING BOOK:
[LINK2] [LINK3]
Compile a coloring book while you're working on your farm units, simply by printing out and collecting these "Down on the Farm" selections. Short poems and text accompany each of the pages. Access the 2nd link above for more activity pages, generally geared to kindergarten and grade one, and for a more folksy option, try the 3rd link for Old MacDonald pages.
FARM PHONICS:
Students will click on a letter for each of these farm animals to correctly identify the beginning sounds.
FARM SONGS AND POEMS:
There's always "Old MacDonald", a perennial favorite, but also try these assorted farm poems and songs.
FARM FELT BOARD TEMPLATES:
There are loads of wonderful suggestions to use these farm templates in your classroom (available in black in white, or in color), with recommended reading lists as well to accompany your farm unit.
FARM MINI BOOK:
[LINK2]
Kids seem to love making animal sounds, but in this printable mini book, they will have to recognize the accompanying word to the sound as well, circling or underlining it in each case. Cut out the barn shape to create a shape booklet, stapling the pages together on the silo side.
ANIMAL MOTHERS AND THEIR BABIES:
[LINK2]
Want even more mini books on farm animals? Try this six page booklet matching farm animal mothers to their babies, and use the farm animal word flash cards below to have students practice writing down the animal names in their mini books. Finally, access the 2nd link above for printable mother/baby cards for a matching game of concentration.
FARM OR ZOO?
[LINK2] [LINK3]
Use the animal word flash cards to print and cut out, then have students organize them into two different categories, according to the type of animal. They must decide whether each selection belongs on a farm, or in the zoo. When finished this activity, use the cards and magazine pictures to create a labeled poster of farm animals.
3. PRE-K EXPLORATIONS
JACK-O-FACES MINI BOOK:
You can download and print out this mini October-themed book for your students, where the jack-o-lantern has several faces. Discuss all of the emotions he is showing as your students color the pages and assemble their books.
HALLOWEEN COLORING PAGES:
Click on numerous pages here to download various Halloween-themed coloring pages for your students this month, including princess and hero costumes, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, and bobbing for apples.
THREE PUMPKIN PIRATES:
Read this story online, where three pumpkin pirates wind up at a Halloween costume party -- and win the prize! Ask students to illustrate their favorite part of the story.
ITSY BITSY SPIDER STORY:
[LINK2]
Here's a story to go along with the nursery rhyme and song; print it out for your students, ask them to act it out, then try the itsy spider counting worksheet, below. (Use the 1st link above for preschool, and the 2nd for kindergarten.)
4. LEARNING FUN
PUMPKIN NUMBER ORDERING:
You can cut out these mini pumpkin cards and have your students take turns putting them in order. For older students, ask them to arrange them by odd and even numerals, then to use them for counting by 2s and 5s.
KINDERGARTEN MATH ESSENTIALS:
[LINK2] [LINK3] [LINK4] [LINK5]
Blackline masters are included at the last link above, for these week-by-week activities to develop math skills and connections in kindergarten. Find some excellent ideas here to use throughout your school year.
NUMBER STENCILS:
[LINK2] [LINK3] [LINK4] [LINK5] [LINK6] [LINK7] [LINK8] [LINK9] [LINK10]
You can use these stencil numbers in a variety of ways -- for large flash cards, for counting and matching exercises, for labeling or charts... But the exercise we like best for these numbers is to print some out onto card stock, let each student choose a favorite number, and then paint, color, and decorate that number as his or her personal favorite -- a great way to encourage an early enjoyment of mathematics.
COUNT THE ITSY BITSY SPIDERS:
How many spiders are in each row? Students will need to count them, then write the corresponding numeral. After completing the worksheet, cut out the spider squares and use them as counters in your math centers.
5. INTERACTIVITIES
WHAT SOUND DOES THE ANIMAL MAKE?
Click on any of the animals in this barnyard scene, and you'll get answered by a cow mooing, a horse whinnying, a goose honking, and more. Ask students to predict what they'll hear before they click.
ANIMAL SOUNDS ABCS:
Students will not only connect letters to animals, they will also need to locate those letters on the keyboard for this delightful ABC game. Each letter will bring up one animal, along with its sound.
PUMPKIN FACES:
Shall it be a happy pumpkin? A fierce looking pumpkin? Or perhaps a sad pumpkin... Preschool students can drag and drop faces onto the pumpkin to come up with their own preferences for emotional expressions.
6. PRINTABLES
MAKE A FARM:
You'll want to print out each of the buildings for these print, cut, color, and assemble projects, where students can build an entire farm for your classroom unit on farms, farm products, and farm animals. A chicken coop, a pig sty, a shed, a silo, farm animals, and of course a barn are all included, along with other must-haves for your wonderful farm.
FARM ANIMAL CARDS:
Students will practice word recognition with these printable farm animal cards, where they will need to circle (or underline) the correct term for each animal. Help them sound out all options.
FIND THE DIFFERENCES:
Enhance observation and critical thinking skills with these colorful and printable PreK activity handouts from Nick Junior.
SHAPES RECOGNITION PRACTICE:
Print out some wonderfully appealing worksheets here to have your students recognize and practice different shapes. Several options are available for each shape.
7. SUBSCRIPTION & CONTACT INFORMATION
This Resource Pack is offered only to our members on a subscriber basis. We always appreciate your recommendations to your colleagues.
Our Resource Packs choices include:
MON: Early Education,
TUE: Primary 1-3,
WED: Upper Elementary 3-6,
THU: Middle-High School 6-12,
FRI: Art, Holidays, & Events
To subscribe to these Everyday Teaching Resource Packs, please select your grade and interest level by visiting our Resource Pack Page.
|
![[LINK2]](http://kiddyhouse.com/Farm/farmclips/barnbk2.gif){kind=link}