Read Across America Week

My pre-kinders are so excited to celebrate a famous author’s birthday and Read Across America week this coming week.  My all-time favorite of Dr. S’s books is Oh the Places You’ll Go!  If you need to add to your classic book collection, check out these books.  We have dress up days scheduled all week, and I’ve come up with 11 different learning activities/stations that will engage them and help them practice important counting and reading skills.  Check out what we’ll be doing this week!

11 Centers, Crafts, Games and Activities

1.  Make an AB or ABB pattern hat for the cat using colorful strips of paper.  I love seeing the students express their creativity in designing a new hat for the cat to wear.
2. Word Family Beginning Sounds- includes 8 different word families.  Simply Laminate and use a dry erase marker for students to fill in the missing beginning sound.

3.  Fish in a Dish Counting Clip Cards.  This activity is self-explanatory.  This activity is great for one-to-one correspondence and number recognition.

4. Rhyming Word Clip Cards- You can never have too much rhyming practice, because it’s such an important pre-reading skill.  For a fun twist, paint your clothespins with red and white stripes like the cat’s hat.

5. Hop on Pop{Corn} – I like to print the popcorn pieces on bright yellow card stock.  Then, you scatter them all over the floor.  Play music and when the music stops, have the children “hop” on the nearest piece of popcorn.  They name the beginning sound for the object.  At the end of the game, we all enjoy a tasty snack of popcorn.

More Fun Activities for Read Across America Week

6.  Make a New Hat for the Cat- Use colored strips to design an AB, ABC, ABB, or AAB patterned hat for the cat.  I love seeing how creative the children are when they do this activity.  I even let them glue the strips down and color the cat.

 

 

7. Fingerprint Fish Mini Book to go with the 1 Fish, 2 Fish Book- This easy one sheet fold and flip booklet is a great keepsake for the children to take home.  They love learning how to add the scales, fins, and other details to make their unique fingerprint look like a fish.

You can also have them use a magnifying glass to explore the whorls, arches, and loops of their fingerprint and talk about how everyone’s fingerprint is unique!

8. Design some wacky socks for the Fox- This activity is another great opportunity for children to be creative.  Use the headers to make a fun bulletin board display!

9. Dry the Fox’s Socks- You know I’m all about that fine motor practice, and clothespins are a great fine motor activity.  For this fun center, I string some yarn up in a corner of the classroom and have children clip the cards on the line in ABC order.  It’s also a great opportunity to teach children how amazing clothes dryers are these days!!  No more line drying.

10.  How many fish in a dish?  Identify the numeral and count out that many goldfish to place in the dish.  When finished, eat the goldfish!  I love this activity for reinforcing one to one correspondence and numeral identification.  Plus…who doesn’t love a good excuse for a snack?

11. Rhyming Circle Mats are a great whole group or circle time activity.  I like to draw a simple illustration beside each word, and the children are able to “read ” the words independently using the picture cues so they feel successful as pre-readers and early readers.

Want to Try these Activities in Your Classroom?  You can grab them below!

Want to use this fun packet of engaging activites with your pre-kinder, preschool, or kindergarten students?  Even if you don’t use them for Read Across America Week in March, you can use them anytime you do a Dr. S book study!

 

And, for even more fun Read Across America ideas, check out this blog post.