Christmas Sight Word Books Freebie

One of the best features of these sight word books is they are super easy to prep! Teachers don't have extra time during the holidays to print, cut, staple, or glue mini readers together. You're in luck because these books only require 1 page per book and NO cutting, stapling, or gluing. (And all the teachers shout “hooray!”)

All you have to do is print 1 book for each student. Model how to fold the book with your students and then help them prep their own book. This is a great activity to work on fine motor skills!

They will simply fold the books in half along the dotted line lengthwise, or “hot dog” style. Then, they will fold widthwise on the next dotted line, or “hamburger” style. That's it! The book is ready for them to write their name on and start reading!

Using the Christmas Sight Word Books

To use the Christmas sight word books, students will first write their name on the front of the book. Since the pictures are in black and white, students can color the books to make them their own.

This is a great opportunity to encourage students to think critically and color the pictures to match the sentence and the real-world picture. They will take pride in knowing that they read and colored their very own book!

Students will read the Christmas books, pointing to the words as they read, working on one-to-one correspondence and fluency. Each time the student completes the whole book, they will color a star on the front page, keeping track of how many times they have read the book.

There are 3 stars on each book. That makes 9 different opportunities for students to practice between the 3 books! Of course, they can read it even more times than that, too!

Ideas for Differentiation

There are so many ways that you can differentiate these free Christmas sight word books! To focus even more on the sight words in the books, you can give students a yellow highlighter or crayon and have them highlight the sight word of focus on each page. This is another way for them to familiarize themselves with the word. This is a great strategy for visual learners!

These books can also be used in a variety of instructional settings. They would make a great morning work activity or small group activity. You could have students partner up to read together or read them independently as a part of your literacy block or as an early finisher activity. These books can even be used to assess your students' sight word fluency.

If your school does a reading buddy day where an older grade joins your class to read, your students could read their Christmas sight word books to their reading buddies! This makes them feel so special!

These sight word books also make great take-home books for students to read at home with their families. If you send home books for students to read and mark on a reading log, these would be the perfect fit for their take-home bag of books. You can even send them home with a fun winter break reading log challenge and give students a prize for bringing them back.

Craving More December Activities?

Your time is valuable, especially during December. You don't have time to spend countless hours searching for and prepping materials. But you still have to teach!

This set of 80 math and literacy worksheets will save you planning time while adding a dash of holiday cheer to your curriculum. They are perfect for those busy days leading up to winter break when you need engaging activities that review essential skills.

With these worksheets in hand, you'll be able to effortlessly reinforce math and literacy concepts all month long. Plus, you'll find you have a lot more time for other things.

You can download your FREE copy of the December sight word books by filling out the form below. They'll be sent straight to your inbox!

I hope you and your students enjoy them!

Building Number Sense Skills

The first half of the year in kindergarten has a strong focus on building number sense skills with numbers 1-10. When January rolls around, it's time to focus on expanding number sense skills with the teen numbers of 11-20.

The winter months also bring colder weather and being stuck inside more. This means teachers need unique ways to keep their students actively learning.

To keep students on task and give them a fun, hands-on way to practice their teen number skills after winter break and all through the colder months, read on to grab your copy of this Spin to 20 free kindergarten math game.

Free Numbers to 20 Math Game

This Spin to 20 winter math game is perfect for practicing counting numbers to 20. It is versatile and can be used as a partner game, small group game, or independent game.

The prep and materials are simple. All you need is a copy of the Spin to 20 game mat, 20 mini erasers or small manipulatives per player, and a pencil and paper clip to make a spinner. You can also use a plastic spinner.

This math game is the perfect addition to your math centers, independent work, early finishers, morning tubs, or as a fun activity anytime of day.

How to Play the Numbers to 20 Winter Math Game

This Spin to 20 game is both easy to prep and easy to play. This makes it the perfect option for kindergarteners.

First, print the game mat on cardstock and laminate it for durability.

To start the game, students spin the spinner on their game mat to see which partner goes first. The student with the largest number (or smallest number if you want to switch it up) goes first.

To play the game, students take turns spinning the spinner on their game mat. They read the number that they spun aloud.

Then, they count and add that many game pieces to their ten frame. The first player to fill up their ten frame to 20 is the winner!

To finish the game, students need to spin the exact number on their game mat to end the game.

If they have 18 spaces filled and they spin a 3, they lose their turn. The same goes with the number 19, as they would need to spin a 1 in order to win the game.

As students play the game and practice counting, they'll quickly learn to look at the ten frame and immediately recognize the number represented.

For example, they'll begin to understand that a full ten frame is 10 and they can count on from there to determine the number. This is a great number sense skill.

You can download this free kindergarten Spin to 20 winter math game by clicking here (or clicking the image below).

I hope your students enjoy this numbers to 20 math game and have a blast mastering teen numbers this winter!

Drop a comment below once you download your free copy!

6 Tips for Surviving the Week Before Winter Break

The holiday season is always hectic but that doesn't mean you have to experience overwhelm as a teacher. Instead, focus your energy on what you can control so you and your students can enjoy the season, especially the week before winter break.

Tip #1- Stay on track

Kids can get pretty amped up before the holidays, especially the week before winter break. There are so many fun events and activities going on and a lot to look forward to, so who can blame them?

However, just because the holidays are near, doesn't mean learning can come to a full stop. In fact, this time of year can bring some of the most fun and engaging learning opportunities and themes.

While it may take a little extra patience to keep your students on track, it's important that you don't let all rules, procedures, and schedules go out the window.

Keeping your students on track and giving them a sense of normalcy everyday is key. A great way to set your students up for success is by starting each day with a consistent morning routine.

Take a few minutes each morning to go over the basic rules and routines of your classroom community. As a class, set your intentions together to have a productive learning day. 

You can incorporate hands-on and engaging holiday-themed morning tub activities into your morning routine. This gives students an easy way start to their day while practicing key math and literacy skills.

Morning tubs give students something fun they can count on each morning to start the day right. Kids love predictability just as much as we do as adults!

Best of all there are NO worksheets included in this resource, so it is great for morning tubs, early finishers, or anytime learning activities during the last week before break.

You can get a sneak peek of the December Morning Tubs in this blog post.

Tip #2- Turn learning into a game

The week before winter break is not the time of year to have students sitting in place for extended periods of time. Get them up out of their seats and actively learning and collaborating as much as possible!

You can harness the pre-winter break excitement and energy by incorporating learning activities that are disguised as fun games into your lesson plans.

For instance, to practice word families, play a game of four corners. Name each corner with a different word family. For example you might use short a word families: -am, -ab, -at, -an. Instead of calling out “corner #1”, call out a CVC word, such as “ham”. Everyone from the -am corner sits down.

Another idea is to use hands-on activities and learning games. These Christmas and Gingerbread themed Plans in a Pinch quick prep activities and games are perfect for December in Kindergarten.

This lesson planning kit includes a ton of print-and-go math, literacy, writing, science, and social studies activities along with activity mats and time-filler games.

These are perfect to use on those off-schedule days during the week before winter break. They're also handy for substitute teachers to use as sub plans. They even come with sub forms and class information sheets.

Tip #3- Read stories with a holiday theme 

There are so many wonderful children's stories to share this time of year. The week before winter break is a great time to read and discuss holiday books as a whole group.

You can tie in learning to your holiday read alouds by having students draw a picture of their favorite character or part of the story. They can turn and talk to a partner about the story and share what they enjoyed about it.

You can even get students up and moving by acting out certain parts of the story. This time of year, if you sense your classroom is getting chaotic, stop and read a story. It can be the perfect way to calm your students and get them back on track.

You can check out a few of my favorite Christmas read aloud books in this blog post.

Tip #4- Take them outside

I know the winter months can be cold and bundling everyone up takes a little extra effort, but getting outside is often the perfect way to get out those pre-holiday wiggles and give everyone a little reset.

Sometimes, all it takes is changing up the scenery and getting some fresh air to get back on task and reset your mind.

Take a winter-themed nature walk around the playground and look for animal tracks. Check out the weather in the winter sky. Collect pinecones or branches for craft activities, or go on a class scavenger hunt. 

Once you return to the classroom, you can discuss everything you saw outside and tie in thoughtful conversations and learning.

Tip #5- Avoid Downtime

Have you ever heard the saying, “If you don't have a plan for your students, they'll have a plan for you?”

This is so true in the kindergarten classroom! As a teacher, especially the week before winter break, you want to avoid downtime and always make sure you have something for your students to do.

This will help you avoid off-task behavior and keep your students on track. To do that, keep quick and easy activities and time-filler games on hand that you can easily pull out at a moment's notice.

Students can practice their math and literacy skills, play a fun game of “Would You Rather,” or write about a holiday picture that they colored.

You don't have to pack your schedule with new skills or complicated activities, and in fact, you shouldn't! Focus on keeping your students engaged and giving them a fun way to review skills they've already learned so far this year.

Tip #6- Have a party!

The best way to wrap up the week before winter is break is with a classroom party! And what’s a party without food, games, and crafts?

You can check out my blog post, 3 Rules for Stress-Free Classroom Parties for more tips on planning a fun holiday party for your students (without the overwhelm for you). Here are 4 fun party ideas that kids love!

Decorate a tree 

Decorating an edible tree is a kid-favorite holiday party activity! All you need is sugar cones, green frosting, and sprinkles or chocolate candies.

Students turn the sugar cone upside down, cover it with green frosting, and decorate it.

This is a great activity if you can enlist a few parent volunteers to help you out. It's a little messy, but your students will love creating their own edible work of art.

If Christmas isn't celebrated in your classroom, you have students decorate plain sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles. 

While students are snacking on their crafts, you can read a festive holiday book or a favorite from your classroom library.

Play holiday-themed games 

One of my favorite games for a holiday classroom party is “Don't Eat the Gingerbread.” It's perfect for small groups and the prep work is easy. All you need is the game board and small candies or mini marshmallows. 

You can click here to grab a free copy of the “Don't Eat the Gingerbread” game board, directions, and a non-food version called “Don't Grab the Gingerbread”.

For this version, you can use gingerbread mini erasers, pom-poms, or whatever you have on hand!

Do a Gingerbread House Craft

Nothing says holidays more than making a gingerbread house! However, making edible gingerbread houses can get pretty complicated and messy.

Instead, you can make a fun, DIY gingerbread house craft that only uses basic craft supplies like construction paper, scissors, and glue. You can find the step-by-step directions in this blog post.

Each student can let their creativity shine as they decorate their gingerbread house. Each house will look different, which is really the beauty of it.

These gingerbread houses are perfect to send home to families to show off their student's creativity and bring home the holiday spirit!

Make holiday cards

If you need another quick craft idea for your class party, you can set up a card-making station for them to make personalized holiday cards for their family, local first responders, or military service members who are away from their families during the holidays. 

Lay out sheets of construction paper folded in half and craft supplies such as stickers, crayons, markers, glue sticks, and all those scraps of colored paper that have accumulated throughout the semester.

Just by adding a few special things like stickers or shapes from the die-cut machine, students can let their creativity run wild with them!

I hope these tips and ideas for surviving the week before winter break are helpful for you as you navigate this holiday season.

With a little bit of patience and a lot of purposeful planning, not only will you and your students survive the week before winter break, you'll thrive and make a ton of sweet memories!

Do you have a special holiday tradition that you do in your classroom during the week before winter break? Comment below and tell me all about it!

The post Surviving the Week Before Winter Break appeared first on The Printable Princess.

https://www.theprintableprincess.com/kindergarten-review-before-winter-break/ https://www.theprintableprincess.com/kindergarten-review-before-winter-break/#respond Sat, 03 Dec 2022 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.theprintableprincess.com/?p=87738 You and your students have worked too hard all year to let those key math and literacy skills slip over winter break. With these ideas, games, and no prep worksheets, to review before winter break, your kindergarten students will have meaningful skill review going into the break. The Importance of Kindergarten Review Before Winter Break...

The post Fun Ways to Review Math and Literacy Skills Before Winter Break appeared first on The Printable Princess.

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You and your students have worked too hard all year to let those key math and literacy skills slip over winter break. With these ideas, games, and no prep worksheets, to review before winter break, your kindergarten students will have meaningful skill review going into the break.

The Importance of Kindergarten Review Before Winter Break

After months of hard work in the classroom, teachers want to ensure they are giving their students meaningful opportunities to review key math and literacy skills before winter break.

This helps prevent the “winter break slide” and solidify those skills before several days off of school.

It's also important for teachers to assess their students' progress on key skills before winter break. This allows them to see how far they've come and plan targeted instruction for the new year.

The days leading up to winter break and holidays is hectic in the kindergarten classroom. With these fun pre-winter break kindergarten review ideas, games, and no prep worksheets, you can rest assured that your students are getting the math and literacy skill review they need while giving you the opportunity to assess their skills.

Fun Kindergarten Review Before Winter Break Activities

The key to keeping students on task before winter break is keeping the review activities fun, engaging, and interactive.

Using a mix of review games and no prep winter break review worksheets for kindergarten is a great way to keep the learning fun, but also give you the information you need to assess their skills and plan instruction for the new year.

Check out these kindergarten review before winter break games, ideas, and no prep holiday-themed math and literacy worksheets.

Sticky Note Review Game

This review game is super simple to prep, highly effective, and easy to differentiate. All you need is sticky notes!

To begin, write 6 answers on separate sticky notes. You can do 6 answers for the same skill, such as simple addition problems or sight words, or mix it up and review a few different skills.

Next, ask a question and have students choose the sticky note that has the correct answer.

For example, you may ask students what number 3 and 2 make. They would choose the sticky note with the number 5.

Another example is to ask students which sight word is spelled c-a-n. They would choose the sticky note with the word “can.”

Literacy Winter Break Review Worksheets For Kindergarten

Incorporating no prep literacy review worksheets into your lesson plans before winter break is a great way to review multiple skills such as sight words, CVC words, word families, decoding skills, and more.

These literacy worksheets can also be used as quick skill checks to assess your students in a no-stress way before winter break. You could also send these literacy worksheets home with students over winter break for at-home practice.

There are so many ways to utilize them for kindergarten review before or during winter break.

White Board Review Races

Another fun and simple way to practice math and literacy skills before winter break is to have white board review races.

To begin, split students into teams. You can do either 2 or 3 teams depending on the size of your class.

Have 1 student from each team go up to the large classroom white board. Ask a question and have the students race to solve on the white board.

The first student to write the correct answer wins a point for their team. Keep track of score using tally marks (bonus number sense practice!).

The next set of students comes up to the board to solve and play continues until all students have had a turn. The team with the most points at the end wins!

You can easily differentiate this game by reviewing 1 skill at a time, all literacy or all math skills, or a combination of math and literacy skills.

A few examples of skills you can practice with this review game are CVC words, sight words, uppercase/lowercase letters, number writing, ways to make 5/10, number order, etc.

Scoot Review Game

Scoot is a kid-favorite review game that allows students to get up and moving while they review math and literacy skills.

To begin, place notecards or basic task cards with math problems, sight words, CVC words, etc, on your students' desks.

Students will start at their desk and solve the problem or write the word on their own individual white board.

Once all students have solved, after about 1 minute or so, the teacher will say “Scoot!” and all students will scoot to the next desk and solve that problem. Continue until all students are back at their seats.

Math Winter Break Review Worksheets For Kindergarten

Similar to using no prep literacy worksheets, you can also incorporate no prep math winter break review worksheets for kindergarten into your lesson plans for skill review, quick skill checks, or at-home practice.

This time of year, it's important to review math skills such as 1 less, 1 more, counting on, ten frames, counting skills, and number sense skills before winter break.

When students return from winter break, they'll build on these skills as they begin learning about addition and subtraction, teen numbers, and number patterns.

Team Winter Break Review Games

Another way to keep review before winter break fun and engaging for students is to do team review games.

First, split students into 2-3 teams depending on the size of your class. Supply each team with manipulatives, magnetic letters, and whiteboards to help them solve problems as a team.

Ask students a math or literacy question and have them work as a team to solve and come up with the answer.

This is a great way to involve all students and give them a hands-on way to review math and literacy skills. Plus, students will learn from each other and see different ways to solve problems.

Partner Review

Another way to have students review skills before winter break is to pair them up and have them do partner review.

Pair students up and have them a complete a math or literacy winter break review worksheet for kindergarten. After they've completed the worksheet, have them switch worksheets and check their partner's work.

This allows students to review skills and think about them in different ways by checking their partner's work, seeing how they solve, and checking for errors.

Hands-On Activity Mats

Using hands-on math and literacy activity mats is a great way to incorporate kindergarten review before winter break.

You can add these FREE Christmas activity mats to your lesson plans by using them for math and literacy centers, partner practice, or independent review.

These activity mats give students a hands-on, interactive way to practice numbers to 20, making 10, middle sounds, and word families.

Fill out the form below to get your free download sent straight to your inbox!

I hope you've enjoyed these kindergarten review before winter break ideas, games, and no-prep worksheets.

If you'd like to grab an entire set of holiday-themed no prep math and literacy worksheets to use all December long (and even to send home over winter break), check out these December Grab and Go Worksheets for Kindergarten!

Do you have a fun review game or idea that you like to use before winter break? Comment below and let me know!

Between the colder weather, school breaks, and the anticipated holiday celebrations, your students are overly excited and chances are you might see that come out in the classroom.

There's good news though! With the right preparation, the holiday season doesn't have to equal extra stress. These 10 practical holiday survival tips are all about working smarter, not harder!

1. Stay Focused

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's so easy to get caught up in the chaos. One of the easiest ways to survive the chaos is to stay focused. I know it's easier said than done, but try your best to stay in the moment.

Don't worry about the things you can't control. For instance, don't fret about holiday baking or shopping for gifts while you're in the classroom. There is nothing you can do about it while teaching, so let it go.  

Continue your day-to-day routines and write down any schedule changes so you don't forget. Set a reminder on your phone so that when the schedule changes arise, you can calmly explain the next steps to your students before the event.

2. Make Lists

The next holiday survival tip is to keep yourself organized by writing things down or making lists. If sticky notes aren't already your best friend, now is the time to embrace them!

Write yourself a note and put it where you can see it. Set an alarm on your phone if you need to. Don't rely on your memory during this time of year (or anytime if you're like me and find yourself forgetting things as you get older!).

Make lists so you can prioritize what needs to happen first. You may have lists for what you need to do at home to prepare for the holidays, grocery lists, lists of activities to prep for your lesson plans, and lists of things to do to prepare your classroom before winter break.

Then, when something gets done, cross it off and bask in the satisfaction of knocking something off of your list!

3. Take Care of Yourself

So often as teachers, you get busy with class projects, prepping materials, or chatting with your teacher team that you forget to take care of yourself. You might forget to eat lunch, not get enough rest, or come to the end of the day and realize you haven't drank any water.

Being hungry, tired, and dehydrated makes it harder to concentrate and work effectively. Plus, it can make you cranky… and nobody wants to be a cranky teacher.

Drink plenty of water and keep healthy snacks, like trail mix or a protein bar, on hand that you can munch on when you feel hunger setting in. (This goes for all year long too!) Try your best to get a good night's sleep each night. You need your energy during this time of year!

4. Remain Consistent

Another holiday survival tip is to be consistent in your behavior expectations. Even though this is an exciting time of year, don't change your expectations or the way your classroom is run. Continue to model behavior and don't forget to:

• Review classroom procedures.
• Practice following procedures the correct way and continue this throughout the holiday season.
• Look for students making positive choices and compliment them for their correct choices, thus setting an example for others.
• Be prepared to do this again when students return from winter break.

5. Be Over Prepared

This time of year can make for unpredictable schedules. Some projects will take less time than anticipated or scheduled events may be canceled or cut short.

Make sure you are over prepared so your students are always on task and have something to do. The last thing you want is to have nothing planned, because your students will then have plans of their own, and probably not productive plans.

It's a good idea to have some fun and engaging Grab and Go math and literacy worksheets that you can pull out at a moment's notice.

These are great for extra practice, skill checks before winter break, and to add to your lesson plans when you're short on time.

Plus, you can always use what you didn't get to another day or send them home with students over winter break for skill practice.

6. Take Shortcuts When You Can

Whether it's at home or at school, this is the time of year to take shortcuts when you can. (Don't ever feel bad for it either!).

Take advantage of grocery pick-up services and department store gift wrapping. For dinners, pull out a meal-prepped frozen casserole or lasagna or take advantage of takeout or delivery services.

At school, take advantage of done for you lessons and activities for math, literacy, science, and social studies, all in an easy to use pack like this Plans in a Pinch kit.

These are perfect to use when planning for a sub or on days when your schedule changes due to assemblies or events.

7. Be You

Don't compare yourself to the perfectly decorated classroom across the hallway. Don't wear yourself out stressing about what decorations you did or didn't get put up this year… at home or at school!

Your students will not remember the decorated classroom. They will remember the fun activities and the time spent with you. Your students love you for the awesome teacher you are, lights or no lights!

8. Get Parents Involved

You don't have to do everything yourself. If your school allows, ask parents to help with small tasks. They can help with prepping materials or adding an extra set of hands during a project or activity.

You can also invite them to come in and read a story to your class.  Don't just think about what parents can do in your classroom. Some parents are more than willing to help out, but they can't get to school during the hours you need.

You can ask these parents to prep materials at home or donate supplies for some of the classroom activities you'll be doing. Many parents realize teachers spend quite a bit of money out of their own pocket, and they're often happy to help you and your class out.

9. Keep the Last Day Low Key

There's no need to have huge projects planned for the last day before winter break. Read a holiday book, play a game, or do other activities that are low key and low stress.

Time filler games, listen and color activities, and hands-on activity mats like the ones found in the December Plans in a Pinch set are great, engaging options to use on the last day and week before break.

Kids LOVE when you get involved! Instead of watching movies on the last day before break, get down and play board games with your students, find easy Minute to Win It games on Pinterest, put puzzles together, color together, or simply let them choose.

You can even find fun, educational games and brain breaks online to incorporate to keep their energy at bay.

Keep in mind, you want the activities and projects you do on the last day and even the last week before winter break to be fun and encourage students to stay on task.

Incorporate extra partner games in your center rotations, do holiday crafts, have book talks, or do seasonal science experiments.  

You can even throw in a cookie decorating time or make Christmas trees out of ice cream cones.

These FREE Christmas Math and Literacy Mats are perfect to add to your lesson plans in the days leading up to winter break. You can grab your free copy by filling out the form below. They'll be delivered straight to your inbox!

10. Clean Up and Prepare

Before you leave for winter break, take down all of the holiday decorations in your room. Get your calendar ready for January and plan out your lessons for the first week back. Print and prep any materials so you're ready to go the day you come back.

Nothing is worse (or more stressful!) than standing in the copy machine line on your first day back from break. This will ensure you can truly leave work at school over the break and enjoy yourself.

The holiday season is NOT meant to be stressful. It's a time to give thanks, relax, and enjoy family and friends (your school family included!).

Follow your procedures, stay focused, be yourself, keep it low key, and enjoy this magical time of year!

I hope these 10 practical holiday survival tips help you make the most of this season and keep the stress away.

Do you have a great holiday survival tip to share? Drop it in the comments below!

December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten

Teachers know that December is one of the busiest months of the year. It's also the shortest as far as “school days,” which can make it feel extra busy.

During this holiday season, it's important to maintain a consistent routine as much as you can for your students. This is especially true for your morning routine.

You also want to plan activities that are hands-on, engaging, and fun for your overly excited students. Plus, you want to make sure they're as easy to manage as possible for your sake. Enter… December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten!

Benefits of December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten

There are so many benefits to using morning tubs in kindergarten, especially during the month of December.

Consistent Morning Routine

Using December Morning Tubs with your kindergarten students allows you to maintain a consistent morning routine. No matter how packed the day's schedule is, you can rest assured that your students can start the day on track.

This will help your students thrive during this busy season, as they crave consistency and predictability, too.

Save Time as a Teacher

One of the most enticing benefits of morning tubs for teachers, especially during the busy holiday season, is that they require ZERO grading!

There are no recording sheets, which cuts down on prep time, grading time, and paper chaos.

Versatile Activities

The activities included in this gingerbread-themed morning tubs set are super versatile. They can be used not only for morning tubs, but as center activities, partner practice, or early finisher activities.

Cross-Curricular Learning Opportunities

With the gingerbread themes included, you can easily tie these activities into your other studies, such as gingerbread read alouds, reading concepts, and writing concepts.

You can even tie this into science and art if you make edible gingerbread houses or a gingerbread house craft as a class.

Engaging and Meaningful Skill Practice

December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten gives students an opportunity to work independently and practice key math and literacy skills that they're learning before winter break.

They will work on fostering independence while staying highly engaged in their learning. Each activity comes with an “I Can” card to promote independence.

These morning tub activities are a stress-free way for students to work on important skills as well. Plus, the activities will feel like a game to your students!

Basic Classroom Supplies

These gingerbread-themed morning tubs only use basic classroom supplies, which saves time, money, and mess.

All students will need are plastic cubes, mini erasers, play dough, dot cubes, and spinners. I love these gingerbread-themed mini erasers, as they go perfectly with these activities and are so adorable!

December Morning Tub Literacy Activities

These December morning tubs for kindergarten cover a ton of kindergarten literacy skills with a variety of hands-on gingerbread activities.

These activities give your students the practice they need to help master important skills and grow as readers. Read on for a sneak peek at some of the literacy activities included.

Gumdrop Onset and Rime

This Gumdrop Onset and Rime morning tub activity is a great way to practice sounding out and saying CVC words.

Students will say the name of the CVC picture on the gingerbread house. Then, they will match the gumdrops to show the onset and rime and place them on the gingerbread house mat.

To ensure students are successful, go over the picture names with your students before they complete this activity independently.

Sound Gumdrops

If you're ready to challenge your students who have mastered beginning sounds, these Sound Gumdrops activity mats are the perfect next step!

To complete this activity, students say the name of each picture and identify the missing sound. Then, they use the gumdrop color code to cover the pictures with a matching colored manipulative.

There are gingerbread mats included to practice ending sounds, CVC middle sounds, and word families.

Gumdrop Cover Up

Gumdrop Cover Up is a gingerbread-themed activity that all of your students can be successful with because there is something for everyone!

Students will use the color code on the right side of the mat to cover the spaces for that particular mat. There are 3 types of mats included to practice various skills: uppercase and lowercase letter sort, letter and word sort, and real and nonsense word sort.

This morning tub activity makes it easy to differentiate according to your students' skill level.

Gingerbread Sight Words

You can never have too many engaging sight word activities in kindergarten. As students learn to read, their knowledge of sight words grows even more important.

Gingerbread Sight Words is a fun activity for students to use to practice identifying and building sight words.

This morning tub activity is easy to differentiate because it is editable, making it easy to customize the sight word list according to the words your class is working on. You can also make leveled lists to differentiate for your learners.

Students will choose a sight word card and place it on the gingerbread mat. Then, they will build the word using a dry erase marker or magnetic letters.

December Morning Tub Math Activities

Literacy isn't the only subject getting all of the gingerbread learning fun this month! These December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten also include a ton of engaging and interactive math activities.

These morning tubs are perfect for the skills your students are working on this time of year. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the math morning tubs included.

Count and Cover Ten Frames

Whether your students are working on numbers to 10 or numbers to 20, this gingerbread Count and Cover Ten Frames activity will be a hit!

Students will choose a ten frame card and identify the number. Then, they'll find a space on the mat with the matching number and cover it with a manipulative.

To make differentiation easy, there are two versions included, numbers to 10 and numbers to 20.

Gingerbread Make 10

By December, kindergarten students are working hard on the skill of making 10. This Gingerbread Make 10 activity allows students to identify various ways to make 10.

Once they identify which way to make 10 the activity card is showing, they will use magnetic numbers or dry erase markers to represent the number pair.

Peppermint Number Order

Peppermint Number Order is a fun activity to help students build strong number sense and counting skills.

Students will look at the peppermint cards and count the peppermints in the jars. They will then fill in the missing numbers by counting backwards, counting on, or counting to determine which numbers are missing.

Students will fill in the missing numbers using magnetic numbers or a dry-erase marker.

Build a Gingerbread House

Your December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten wouldn't be complete without building a gingerbread house!

For this Build a Gingerbread House activity, students select a number “directions” card. This card will be their building instructions.

They will use the direction card to count out each color of gumdrops and put it on the gingerbread house to complete their “construction.”

There are 15 gingerbread house instruction cards included, so students can get creative with various gingerbread house designs.

If you enjoyed this sneak peek, you can grab all of these activities and more in my December Morning Tubs for Kindergarten resource.

These gingerbread activities will keep your students on track and on task all December long. Plus, they'll make planning easier on you and will make learning more fun for everyone.

Tell me in the comments below which gingerbread activity your students would be most excited to see!

If you'd like to learn more about morning tubs, how to get started with them, how to organize them, or have questions about them, read more about them in these blog posts.

Why Using Centers Is Important In The Winter

I'm a firm believer in using centers with kindergarteners anytime of year, but especially during the winter.

The winter days can be long and cold. It can be easy to get bored and feel unmotivated. This goes for both kids and adults!

The best way to keep your students engaged, excited, and motivated to learn is with activities and routines that will keep them moving, thinking in different ways, and having fun.

Using a variety of hands-on kindergarten center activities will keep students active and on task.

Centers are also a great way to ensure you are reaching all of your students, no matter their learning style.

By switching up the activities, your students will use all the different parts of their brain. This leads to true comprehension and mastery of skills.

Centers also allow you to differentiate activities for your students to meet them where they're at. Therefore, all of your students can practice the same skill, but at the level that is just right for them.

Winter Literacy Center Ideas

When it comes to teaching literacy, there are a vast amount of skills to teach in kindergarten. You may have students reading at a 2nd grade level while others are working to master their letters and sounds.

The best way to ensure you are giving each student exactly what they need while keeping them engaged all winter long is to use winter kindergarten literacy centers.

The winter themes, such as snowmen, snowflakes, polar bears, and penguins will catch their attention. However, the array of winter kindergarten center ideas will keep them on task all winter long.

Students will practice key literacy skills such as rhyming, beginning sounds, sentence building, CVC words, and more.

You can even try a DIY version of this Winter Sentence Shuffle center. Simply write sight words and winter words on notecards to make up a sentence.

Shuffle the cards and have students unscramble the words to build a complete sentence. Have them write the sentence on a piece of lined writing paper and illustrate it.

Winter Math Center Ideas

Just like with literacy skills, there are a lot of important math skills to cover in the winter months.

From addition and subtraction to teen numbers and missing numbers, there's a lot of ground to cover this season.

While it's important to differentiate the skill level of your winter math centers, it's also important to differentiate the way students practice these skills.

Using various manipulatives and tools to help students work with mathematical concepts is the best way for them to learn. This also helps them find the strategy that works best for them.

For example, in these winter math centers for kindergarten, one of the activities is called Let's Make 10. Students look at the page to determine how many more are needed to make 10.

In this particular center, students use a bingo dabber to record how many more are needed.

However, some students may need a more hands-on approach. They may need to use manipulatives to count how many more are needed.

You can use plastic math cubes, mini erasers, or pom-pom balls to help them with this strategy. Other students may choose to keep track using tally marks to determine how many more are needed.

That's the beauty of winter math centers. You can always differentiate by adding basic manipulatives and encouraging students to try a new strategy.

Winter Writing Center Ideas

The first half of the school year focuses a lot on fine motor skills, handwriting, and helping students build up to writing complete sentences.

Once winter comes, it's time for your students to apply their beginning writing skills. They'll begin working to gain independence and use their creativity in writing.

By using winter-themed writing centers in your classroom, your students will learn seasonal vocabulary words as well as different types of writing. Some examples are opinion writing, story writing, sequencing, labeling, list making, and more.

You can give winter writing centers a try in your classroom by completing a DIY version. Make a list of winter words with your students on the whiteboard.

Write the sentence starter “I like ______ because __________” on the whiteboard.

After discussing the words, have each student choose one word to write about to complete the sentence starter.

Have students use lined writing paper to complete the sentence and draw a picture of the animal they chose.

Free Kindergarten Writing Prompts

Another quick and easy winter kindergarten center idea is to use these FREE kindergarten writing prompts at your independent writing center.

With various seasonal and non-seasonal writing prompts, your students can practice writing and illustrating while focusing on handwriting and writing conventions.

You can even encourage students to read their writing pieces aloud to practice reading fluency, speaking, and listening skills.

Just fill out the form below and they'll be delivered straight to your inbox!

I hope you enjoyed these winter kindergarten center ideas! For more winter activities and learning ideas, check out this blog post.

Christmas Read Alouds

Christmas is such a magical time of year and reading Christmas books just seems to make it even more joyful.

By reading Christmas books to your students, you open up the opportunity for great conversations. Students can learn more about giving, being appreciative, and how others celebrate the holidays.

There are so many great Christmas read alouds out there, but today I'm sharing my all-time favorites and kindergarten crowd pleasers.

• Ten Christmas Wishes
• The Great Reindeer Rebellion
• Turkey Claus
• Is It Christmas Yet?
• Oh, What a Christmas!
• The Best Christmas Ever
• Rock Star Santa
• Olive, the Other Reindeer
• Snowmen at Christmas
• Who Will Help Santa This Year?
• Bear Stays Up for Christmas
• A Cookie for Santa
• Howard B. Wigglebottom and the Power of Giving

Christmas Math and Literacy Centers

This time of year is when teachers are doing everything they can to keep student engagement high and make learning fun. The best way to bring a little holiday cheer to their lesson plans is with Christmas for kindergarten activities.

Using Christmas-themed math and literacy centers throughout the month of December is a great way to practice important math and literacy skills while still keeping your students motivated.

What's not to love about center activities that have themes such as Santa and Mrs. Claus, reindeer, elves, Christmas trees, presents, Christmas cookies, and more?

There are 25 hands-on math and literacy centers included to cover all of your learning bases all month long. Each center comes with kid-friendly “I Can” cards and a recording sheet to encourage independent learning and extra practice.

Christmas Math and Literacy Freebie

If you're looking for quick and easy prep math and literacy activities, be sure to add this set of FREE Christmas math and literacy activity mats to your December lineup.

These activities cover skills such as numbers to 20, making 10, middle sounds, and word families. All you need for these activities are basic supplies like dice, spinners (or a pencil and paperclip), Christmas mini erasers, and plastic cubes.

These activity mats are perfect to add to your morning tub activities, partner games, math and literacy centers, or as an early finisher activity.

Want to get these free Christmas for kindergarten activities delivered right to your inbox? Fill out the form below and they'll be on their way!

Christmas Writing Centers

With all of the fun themes that come with Christmas, there is so much for students to write about. When students are engaged in what they're writing about, they'll be more excited to practice their beginning writing skills.

These Christmas writing centers for kindergarten are perfect for encouraging students to work on their skills while using their creativity.

There are Christmas and holiday-themed vocabulary words, hands-on writing center activities, and no-prep writing activity pages included in this set of writing centers.

Your students will have so much fun with the different themes included, such as Christmas, gingerbread houses, and baking.

There's something for everyone, so if you can't use specific Christmas themes with your students, we've got you covered with the other tasty themes. If you're looking for more gingerbread-themed ideas, check out this blog post.

Anchor charts, journal covers, writing guides, and more are also included to help your students become independent writers.

Gingerbread Letter Sounds Game

The days leading up to winter break are full of schedule changes and small pockets of time to do Christmas for kindergarten activities. This gingerbread letter sounds game is perfect to play anytime of day, but especially in between activities or events.

You can also use this game during your morning warmup, small group time, or as a whole group literacy game. This game helps students recognize letters and sounds.

To play, display the poem in your classroom or project it on your board. Students will recite the gingerbread chant while one student picks a letter from a basket.

Students can take turns coming up to the front of the room or sit in a circle and pass the basket around.

The student picks a letter, either uppercase or lowercase, and identifies the letter and its sound. Then the whole group makes the sound.

This game can continue for as long as time allows or until all students have had a turn. To take this game a step further and add a little extra practice, recording sheets are also included.

Free Christmas Sight Word Books

Practicing sight words in context by reading sight word books is important for students as they build their reading fluency.

It can be tough to find sight word books that focus on the words you need without requiring a ton of prep.

I created a set of FREE Christmas sight word books that are no-prep and only require 2 quick folds. You can grab them for your classroom in this blog post.

I hope you enjoyed these Christmas for kindergarten activities, read alouds, and freebies. Wishing you and your students a very Merry Christmas season!

Gingerbread Read Alouds

Gingerbread is a perfect theme to incorporate into your read alouds throughout the month of December. There are many different versions of The Gingerbread Man. This is a great time of year to teach comparing, contrasting, and making text-to-text connections.

Here are some of my all-time favorite gingerbread read alouds for kindergarten.

• The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers
• Georgia the Gingerbread Fairy
• The Gingerbread Man
• Ten Tiny Gingerbread Men
• Gingerbread Baby
• The Gingerbread Man
• The Gingerbread Cowboy
• The Horribly Hungry Gingerbread Boy
• The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School
• The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas
• Catch That Cookie
• The Gingerbread Pirates
• Gingerbread Mouse
• The Gingerbread Man Goes to School

Gingerbread Math and Literacy Centers

A gingerbread theme makes math and literacy activities more fun and engaging for students. Keep your students on track with their learning, on task, and enjoying themselves with these gingerbread math and literacy centers!

With 6 hands-on centers included, 3 for math and 3 for literacy, you'll be set for the month. Each center activity comes with a recording sheet to reinforce skills.

And for those days where you need a quick, no prep activity, there are 6 bonus no prep pages included to make learning even sweeter.

Gingerbread Math and Literacy Freebie

December is a hectic month. It can be tough to plan lessons and find activities for your students that are fun and cover all the right skills.

Which is why I'm including a set of FREE gingerbread activities for kindergarten that will make planning and prep easier.

Included are activities and games for practicing lowercase letter recognition and formation, word families, and counting. All you'll need are your favorite Christmas mini erasers (or plastic cubes), a dot cube, and a spinner (or paperclip and pencil).

To get these gingerbread freebies delivered straight to your inbox, fill out the form below.

Gingerbread House Snack

Building gingerbread houses is a fun holiday tradition, but it's also a lot of work. This year, ditch the complicated gingerbread houses that leave you needing an extra shot of espresso. Instead, try out this easy graham cracker gingerbread house snack!

It's just as delicious and half the work and stress. To see exactly what you need to make these gingerbread houses along with step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial, check out this blog post.

Gingerbread Writing Activities

Gingerbread is such a fun topic to write about around the holidays. With all of the gingerbread read alouds, your students will have a ton of ideas flowing.

To encourage your students to put their writing skills and creativity into practice this month, these December writing prompts for kindergarten are just the ticket.

With these writing prompts, students will work on handwriting, writing conventions, and using seasonal vocabulary words. You'll find a variety of gingerbread and holiday-themed prompts, like:

• My gingerbread house
• My cookies are shaped like
• To make holiday cookies
• The best holiday food
• In the kitchen I make

Digital Gingerbread Activities

Hands-on activities are always a great way to practice skills. However, it's nice to switch it up. You can do this with digital gingerbread activities for kindergarten.

This set of 8 gingerbread-themed Boom Cards includes 4 math and 4 literacy activities that your students will love. You'll love them too because they're no prep, have audio directions, and are self-checking!

You can add these to your math and literacy centers, use them as a technology station, or keep them on hand for early finishers or those small chunks of time in between holiday activities and events at school.

Gingerbread House Craft

Your gingerbread activities for kindergarten wouldn't be complete without an adorable gingerbread house craft. This DIY gingerbread house craft is perfect for kindergarteners and requires simple steps. No tracers or real gumdrops needed!

For supplies, dimensions, and step-by-step directions for making this gingerbread house craft, you can check out this blog post.

I hope you enjoyed these gingerbread read alouds and activities for kindergarten! This is truly a magical time of year and I hope you and your students can make a ton of great memories together.

For more Christmas activities and ideas for kindergarten, check out this blog post.

Race to Fill – Christmas Edition

This Christmas activity for kindergarten is a fun challenge for kids that requires basic classroom supplies, making prep super simple! For this activity, you'll need dot cubes, colorful pom-poms, and a Christmas-themed container for each student. You can use a Christmas tree cake mold, a Christmas cup, or a small gift bag. Add in a pair of jumbo tweezers for fine motor practice.

Students will play with a partner, taking turns rolling the dot cube. They will count the dots and use the tweezers to fill their container with that many pom-poms. The first player to fill their container wins! This is a great activity to use to practice number recognition and counting.

To work on larger numbers, simply add more dot cubes and pom-poms and use a slightly larger container. Students can roll multiple dot cubes and count the total number of dots to practice larger numbers.

December Boom Cards

Incorporating technology into learning is a great way to keep students engaged while working on key math and literacy skills. The December Boom Cards are the perfect addition to your Christmas activities for kindergarten. With a fun gingerbread theme, you can use these during the entire month of December. These digital task cards are interactive, self-checking, and include clear audio directions on each card for your students.

These Boom Cards are great for whole group instruction, small groups, mini-lessons, digital literacy centers, early finisher activities, at-home learning, or even as an activity during those times in between holiday events at school.

The December Boom Cards set includes 8 complete decks with a gingerbread theme to practice these skills: one less/one more, making 10, number recognition to 20, addition to 5, ending sounds, CVC word recognition, rhyming words, and beginning/ending sounds.

Candy Cane Writing

The Christmas activity for kindergarten is a great way to practice critical writing and fine motor skills. First, pour colorful Christmas sprinkles onto a tray. Have a stack of index cards with letters, numbers, sight words, CVC words, addition sentences, etc. You can make your own cards or use these free alphabet cards!

Give students a full-sized candy cane to write with. They will draw a card and use the tip of the candy cane to write in the sprinkles. This candy cane writing activity is very versatile as you can practice so many skills with it!

December Morning Tubs

The weeks leading up to Christmas break are nothing short of exciting and busy! Creating a consistent routine for your students is the key to keeping them on task and ensuring that your classroom is running smoothly. Morning tubs provide a consistent soft-start to your morning routine while allowing your students to practice key skills.

The December morning tubs are full of 21 gingerbread-themed, hands-on math and literacy activities. Most of the activities have two versions, making differentiation a breeze! Just print, add in basic classroom supplies, and your prep is done!

These activities work well as morning tubs, early finisher activities, as part of your center rotations, or even alongside your gingerbread unit of study. Your students will be having fun working on their skills, giving you an opportunity to see how they are progressing in each area!

DIY Gingerbread Activities

Using gingerbread-themed Christmas activities for kindergarten students is a delicious and festive treat for learning and fun. There are a variety of DIY activities plus a snack that you can do to work on key skills and encourage creativity.

Gingerbread math and literacy.

The next idea is to make gingerbread paper cutouts out of brown construction paper or cardstock. Simply make a gingerbread cutout guide and trace around it on the paper, cutting out as many as you'd like. You can also use pre-made foam cut-outs or f your school has a gingerbread die-cut form, even better!

You can write uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers to 20, and even simple addition sentences with sums up to 10 on the gingerbread cutouts.

Your students can use these for hands-on activities to practice matching uppercase and lowercase letters, building sight words and CVC words with the gingerbread letter cutouts, ordering numbers to 20, and matching addition sentences to their sums. The possibilities with these DIY gingerbread cutouts are endless!

Gingerbread house craft.

To make your students' creativity come alive, try this fun and easy-to-make DIY gingerbread house craft! All you need is different colors of construction paper, scissors, glue sticks, and red markers. Your students will use fine motor skills and visual-spatial skills as they cut and glue the pieces to assemble their gingerbread house. Plus, this is a great opportunity to practice shapes and colors.

Graham cracker gingerbread house snack.

What's Christmas without a tasty gingerbread treat? Making traditional gingerbread houses out of milk cartons can be time-consuming and complicated for little learners. Instead of doing away with this tradition, let's do it an easier way! These graham cracker gingerbread houses are much simpler to make and are perfect for kindergarteners!

Each student will need graham crackers, pretzel snaps, large marshmallows, and white frosting. The Betty Crocker brands tends to set the fastest! Optional ingredients to use for decorating include M&Ms (regular or mini size), miniature candy canes, gumdrops, mini marshmallows, Tic-Tacs, red or green frosting, and red and white mints. Of course, you can get creative here!

Students will decorate 1 pre-cut graham cracker with white frosting to make the roof, a pretzel snap window, and a graham cracker door. They may use the optional ingredients to decorate further. You can stop at this point or create a gingerbread house stand out of a half-sheet of graham cracker, frosting, and a large marshmallow.

Christmas Tree Sticker Art

This Christmas activity for students is a fun way to use fine motor skills and encourage creativity. You will need a simple Christmas tree cutout made out of green paper, a star cutout made out of yellow paper, a white piece of paper, and mini-stickers. Trace and cut one Christmas tree and one star to use as a guide or use a die-cut machine if your school has one.

Have students glue the tree on a white piece of paper and glue the star on the top of the tree. Then, they will use various mini-stickers to decorate their tree with ornaments. This art project is simple but will add a ton of holiday cheer to your classroom!

Class Christmas Mural

This Christmas activity for kindergarten will encourage cooperative learning and is sure to spark amazing conversations amongst your students. Prepare a long sheet of paper (the kind you find on the large rolls at your school). Tape the sheet of paper to your whiteboard or a clear wall in your classroom. Write “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” in the middle of the paper.

Give students markers and allow them all to decorate their own space on the paper, creating a whole-class Christmas mural! This is the perfect addition to your hallway to bring joy to your entire school!

Christmas Kiss CVC Words

Break into your chocolate stash for this fun literacy activity! This activity uses chocolate kisses and dot stickers (the kind you may use for garage sales) and works great in a small group teacher-led station. To prep, write letters on the dot stickers and place the stickers on the bottom of the kisses. Make the red kisses vowels and the green kisses consonants.

Students will draw 2 green consonant kisses and 1 red vowel kiss to make CVC words. This is a great way to practice sounding out CVC words and working with real and nonsense words. To make this activity easier, set the students up with a word family by giving them a vowel and consonant kiss. Then have them simply draw a green consonant kiss to make word family words. This is a great game to play in a small, teacher-led group.

Christmas Cards

Making Christmas cards is a fun holiday tradition and helps students learn about the concept of kindness and giving. Make these Christmas cards for other school staff members, community helpers, or send them to local nursing home residents. They will brighten anyone's day in a heartbeat!

This activity can be as simple as you'd like depending on the art supplies you choose to use. Ideas for decorating are stickers, markers, holiday cutouts, glitter, etc. Each student will need a colorful piece of construction paper. Model the different ways in which they can fold their card and help them write “Merry Christmas” on their cards.

You can also discuss other messages that they can write in each card or help students individually and ask them what special message they'd like to write. From there, let your students' creativity shine as they decorate the cards and write messages with their personality and style.