Do you ever feel overwhelmed trying to plan reading activities for kindergarten that meet all the standards and yet are fun and engaging? I’ll be the first one raising my hand! That’s why I designed my Little Readers Kindergarten Reading units.
August is out now and I wanted to give you a closer look at all the fun back to school reading activities I have planned for you!
Every unit in this curriculum contains 4 weeks focusing on 4 books. August features books that will help your students transition into kindergarten:
* The Pigeon HAS To Go To School
* Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM
* We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
* Tiny T. rex and the Impossible Hug
I provide all the lesson plans, activities, and crafts – you just have to provide the books!
Lesson Plans
Every week comes with lesson plans already written for you. They tell you all the standards met, the “I Can” statements, and the focuses for the week.
Each day has five parts: Basic Skills, Shared Reading (poetry), a Close Read Lesson, Independent Practice, and Vocabulary.
Basic Skills
The basic skills in the August reading unit will cover setting expectations and routines, name activities, and concepts of print.
All of the name activities that are included are editable. You just type in your class list and the worksheets are automatically created!
Week four focuses on concepts of print. Students will learn about the parts of a book, the parts of a front cover, how to handle a book, and how to point one-to-one.
Shared Reading Activities
Every week has an original poem written by me for shared reading. There is a poem poster, poetry notebook pages, and a paper reader included.
Each poem has a paper reader version included. These can then be put in students’ book boxes to read again.
Close Reading Activities
This curriculum uses the close reward model, which means that you will use the same text all week as you work on different skills.
Those skills and strategies will build off each other to give students a strong foundation in reading.
Some units will ask students to explore nonfiction topics that relate to the mentor text. Those nonfiction books will always be included as they are written by me!
In the August reading unit, this Dinosaurs nonfiction book is included. Students will learn all about dinosaurs and make a fun dinosaur writing craft!
Independent Practice
Every day, students will do a Turn and Talk about a topic and then complete at independent activity.
Right now, most of those activities ask students to illustrate their response instead of write so that they can focus on the main idea without getting overwhelmed. If you want to bring in writing, I suggest doing shared writing together and then letting students write or draw.
Crafts and Directed Drawings
Every week has a book craft you can do! These back to school crafts are a great way to practice fine motor skills and listening and following directions.
There are also directed drawings included each week:
These directed drawings contain step by step directions so you can show your students how to draw the picture.
When I am done with the directions, I like to put them in a folder at our writing center So students can then draw them again!
Vocabulary Activities for Kindergarten
Teaching vocabulary in kindergarten can be tricky! Each week has four focus words. I have included real photo picture cards and hand motion cards to help your students remember the words.
Each week, they will then complete a variety of activities to help them remember those words. However, you can also pick and choose what will work best for your class and your time limits.
What if I don’t start in August? Do I have to use the books in order?
You an start these units whenever you begin school! We start in September so I will begin the August books then. You can switch weeks around, but some activities build off each other so I would check to see what needs to stay the same.
The curriculum is in a growing bundle. What does that mean?
That means that you are able to purchase the yearlong bundle before it is complete. You get it at a huge discount and you get all future units for free! August us currently included but all units will be added by the end of summer.
Find the August reading activities here: Little Readers August
Find the yearlong growing bundle here: Little Readers Kindergarten Reading Curriculum
