Sight Words Archives - Teacher's Brain

5 Reasons to Use Morning Work in Kindergarten

September 1, 2023 teachersbrain Back to School, education, kindergarten survival, Sight Words, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Picture this: It’s a bright, bustling morning in your kindergarten classroom. The tiny tots are shuffling in with sleepy eyes and contagious energy. As a teacher, you know that the first moments of the day set the tone for everything that follows.

That’s where the magic of kindergarten morning work comes into play. It’s like the secret ingredient in your morning routine that can transform chaos into calm, hesitation into confidence, and groggy minds into eager learners.

If you’re looking for morning work ideas for kindergarten or morning work worksheets, you’re in the right place!

But first, let’s discuss the advantages of having morning work in your kindergarten classroom.

Smooth Morning Transitions

Morning work is like the secret sauce that makes our mornings smoother than a fresh jar of peanut butter. It gives our little ones a structured start to the day, helping them transition from home to the classroom routine with ease. Less chaos, more focus!

Independence Boost

You know that feeling when a kindergartener proudly completes a task on their own? It’s like a warm cup of coffee for our teacher hearts! Morning work encourages independence. They’re tackling challenges right away, building confidence as they go.

Skill Reinforcement

Think of morning work as a daily dose of learning vitamins. It reinforces the skills we’ve been teaching. Whether it’s reviewing letters, numbers, or shapes, these quick exercises keep their growing brains engaged and active.

Time Management Skills

In the real world, time management is a superpower, right? Well, morning work helps our little ones develop those skills early on. They learn to manage their time by completing tasks within a set period. It’s like a mini time-management boot camp!

Teacher Prep Time

Last but not least, morning work can be a lifesaver for us teachers. While the kiddos are busy, we can take a moment to assess their progress, prepare for the day, or have a quick chat with parents. It’s like a small gift of time in a busy morning schedule.

You may be wondering what to do for kindergarten morning work?

This resource is all you need!

This engaging morning work for kindergarten covers reading and math skills and is super easy to implement. These no prep packets are perfect. They will help keep your class calm while reviewing skills at their own pace for the entire school year.

You’ll never find yourself scrambling for morning activities again!

This resource covers:

❀ Handwriting Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

❀ Sight Word Practice

❀ Beginning Letter Sounds

❀ Months of the Year

❀ Days of the Week

❀ Handwriting Sentences

❀ Word Families

❀ Silent /e/

❀ Digraphs

❀ Number Sense

❀ Ten Frames

❀ Counting

❀ Number Lines

❀ Writing Numbers

❀ Counting On

❀ Shapes

❀ More and Less Than

❀ 3D Shapes

❀ Graphs

❀ Place Value

What’s included?

Pg 1-42 – Aug. and Sept. (Handwriting, Letters, Numbers, Colors, Sight Words, Counting)

Pg. 43-84 – Oct. and Nov. (Handwriting, Letters, Numbers, Ten Frame, Counting, What Comes Next)

Pg. 85-126 Dec. Jan. (Word Families, Vowels, Counting, Greater than, Less Than, Handwriting)

Pg. 127-168 – Feb. and March (capital letters, lowercase letters, word families, shapes, counting on, less than)

Pg. 169-210 April and May (digraphs, tens and ones, 3D shapes, graphs, and silent /e/)

Each page has an extended activity for students to do on the back of the page for early finishers. It is designed to model once to the whole group, and students should be working independently for each set (4 Weeks.)

There are only mild changes in this packet each month to make it easy for students to follow the pattern each morning. I provide different fonts, so students get used to seeing letters that look different.

The number and the number word is used so students get familiar with number word recognition. I tell students to look at their crayons to find the color word to help them figure out the color on their own to create independence.

I print my pages out to create a journal to easily store papers, leaving the back blank for the extended activity. My students could move on to the next page if they finished. You can just give one individual sheet, if you like to ensure students don’t move on to the next page.

Check it out here!

For more kindergarten morning work activities, check out my post here!

Summer Packets To Prevent The Summer Slide

May 13, 2022 teachersbrain education, Math, Reading, Sight Words, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Summer is just around the corner! This is one of the best times of the year because not only do you get a much-needed break, but you get to see all of the progress your students have made throughout the year and celebrate them for it. Seeing how far they have come in their reading levels or math skills is just wonderful. Even better, it’s amazing to see how their confidence has grown throughout the year!

With the long relaxing break, however, comes one not-so-fun thing. The summer slide.

What is the summer slide?

This is the tendency of students to lose some of the achievement gains that they made during the school year and regress academically. This is especially prevalent in low-income areas.

How do you beat the summer slide?

I know, the last thing you want is for your students to go backward. But what can you do? One of the best ways to keep that knowledge fresh is to assign some educational activities for students to complete during summer break. Another idea is to keep them reading with some fun reading summer challenges. You could send home a reading log for students to fill in with everything they read on their own during the summer and if they bring it back completed they get to go to an ice cream party.

For more reasons to keep students learning during summer break, check out my post here!

How do you engage students over the summer?

You’ll want activities that are engaging enough that they will stick to it and be excited to do. Need summer activities for students? Don’t worry, I have you covered!

These summer packets for 1st grade are all you need!

I love these packets because they are completely digital. This means that you don’t need to print out a bunch of packets and spend time putting them together. Students can complete it all online!

This is designed with Google Slides. It includes a parent letter, physical and oral suggestions, a reading log, and a review of math and language arts activities. Students do not need to have Google Classroom to participate.

Here’s what’s included:

How to use this packet and Parent Tips
Oral and physical activity suggestions
Reading Log
Sight Word List
Sight Word Sort Review Activities
Word Families
ABC Order Printables
Correcting Sentences
(Nouns, Verbs, Proper Nouns, Long and Short Vowels)
WRITING – Narrative, Opinion, Creative (Some printable to encourage handwriting)
Comprehension & Fluency
MATH Number Bonds, Addition, Subtraction, Shapes, measurement, 10 More 10 Less

Check out the summer packets for 1st grade video tutorial here!

If you love this summer packet, make sure to check out the packet for each grade in elementary school!

These are perfect no matter what grade you teach. The activities can be explained by the adult, but on most pages, it should not be necessary since it is a review. Children should be able to complete most activities independently.

I recommend setting a 20 to 30-minute block of time for the student daily to work on these activities. They should enhance their vacation! Each packet includes a summer journal, sight words, reading logs, math, and LA printables.

Do you assign summer activity packets? Let me know in the comments!

Digital Sight Word Puzzles for Practice

February 4, 2022 teachersbrain Distance Learning, education, kindergarten survival, Sight Words

We know how important sight words are in those early grades. They are crucial to developing reading fluency and expanding reading comprehension. It’s also a nice little confidence boost for beginning readers when they come across words they know!

To do this, we generally work on them in class and hand out our sight word lists for students to practice at home and they get them checked off as they master them. This is a simple and effective way to make sure your students are getting the practice they need! However, it’s not the most engaging or fun thing to do.

How can we make sight word practice fun and engaging?

I have lots of ideas on this topic including this cute and fun sight word teacher dress, sight word escape rooms, plus all of these fun, hands-on activities listed here.

You could say making sight word practice fun is a passion of mine!

Today I wanted to share another sight word practice activity that is a unique and engaging way for kindergarten and first grade students to master those sight words.

These digital Sight Word Puzzles are guaranteed to get your students excited to practice!

Created using interactive Google Slides, students will get to solve a puzzle using picture clues. They’ll locate the sight words and write them in the text box.

Two types are included 3×3 and 5×5 so you can differentiate and choose the difficulty level appropriate for your students.

This resource comes with 11 unique puzzles for students to work through at once or spread out. Plus, it comes with a fun bonus puzzle for those who need a little extra work for a real challenge.

I love this activity because it is completely digital. This means that it is perfect for students in the classroom or who are doing virtual school. So no matter the status of the pandemic or the weather, you can reach for these digital puzzles.

Here’s what’s included

Eleven total puzzles. Ten puzzles are 3×3 (easy version) and ten are 5×5 (more difficult to put together.) One puzzle is the bonus challenge. It is 5×5 and has 12 sight words instead of 6.

Students drag the puzzle pieces over the image area (picture cue) to solve the puzzle and see the sight words. Then, they will type the sight words into the corresponding area. When they are done you can have them send them back to you to check.

Wondering what sight words are used in this resource?

I, like, the, and, see, we, a, to come, me, with, my, you, what, are, now, is, how, of, so, many, where find, this, from, came, on, will, be, into, that, your, who, go, for, here, they, soon, up, make, play, them, give, say, new, said, good, was, then, ate, could, she, all, over, her, when, some he, no, must, saw, down, there, day, too, take, off, put, saw, their, very, look, ask every, one, walk

Learn more about these sight word puzzles in my video here!

What are your favorite ways to practice sight words? Let me know in the comments!

Beginner Sight Words | DRESS or T-Shirt Idea

September 17, 2021 teachersbrain Sight Words, Teaching Tips

Wearable Sight Words? Why not! Sight word and shape templates can easily be used to create your own sight word dress or t-shirt. Buy a white dress or t-shirt. I found mine at Amazon. Use the templates to plan how you want your dress to look. Place the templates under the dress or shirt to trace the words and/or shapes.

Some ideas for students:

Let them pick a sight word to color.
Give verbal directions to students color the word to improve listening skills.
Play the Go Fish game to build a sight word. That word is theirs to color on the dress.
Design their own dress.
Design their own t-shirt.
Get a fly swatter. Place the words on the floor. Call out a word and have students swat the word.
Use the Sight Word Journals to write about the daily or weekly sight words.

Last, wear the dress or shirt to school on a special day. See if students remember which words they colored. You will impress the principal as well as remind students of valuable sight words.

I decided not to place any words on the back or top so I could call out a sight word or shape and have students try to find it without touching inappropriate places.