Books Archives - Down in Kinderville

Kindergarten Back to School Books (FREEBIE Inside)

Nicole at Down in Kinderville — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 02:17:40 +0000

My Favorite Back to School Books for Kindergarten! (Freebie Below)

Back to school time is mix of emotions for most teachers, it can be exiting, anxiety inducing, and everything in between! Back to school for kindergarten can be all of those things- but it’s mostly magical! As you navigate back to school, consider these kindergarten back to school books that can help the transition be a little smoother! I have also included a freebie for one of my favorites- The King of Kindergarten!

Books for Missing Home

My favorite kindergarten back to school book for missing family (especially moms) is The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. In this adorable story, Chester the Raccoon is about to start school. He is anxious to start school and leave his mom, that is, until she kisses his hand! When doing so, she tells Chester that whenever he feels lonely or misses mom, squeeze his hand and he will feel mom’s love. This is a great kindergarten back to school book, especially for those kiddos that are leaving mom for the first time!

I also love “Llama Llama Misses Mama” by Anna Dewdney. This is another story about back to school fears! Great for discussing those fears with your kindergarteners and for insuring them that their parents will come back at the end of the day!

Kindergarten Back to School Books about Being Confident and Being Yourself!

The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes and Vanessa Brantley- Newton is a GREAT overall story about starting kindergarten. It helps students to gain confidence and get an overall understanding of what kindergarten will be like. I LOVE to read this book on the first day of school and have the students make their own King/Queen of Kindergarten Hats! You can grab these hats for FREE by signing up for my newsletter below!

Our Favorite Day of the Year by A.E. Ali is quickly becoming a staple in my classroom. I have such a diverse group of students, and this is a great book about having the confidence to teach your friends about your favorite holiday- even if it’s something they don’t celebrate. In this book, the teacher explains that her favorite day of the year is the first day of school. The kids can’t believe that her favorite day is the first day of school! Musa’s favorite day is Eid, Mo’s favorite day is Shanah Tovah, Moises’ favorite day is Las Posadas, and Kevin’s favorite day is Pi Day! Join the kids as they teach others about their favorite day of the year and embrace their differences!

Honorable Mention Kindergarten Back to School Books

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Digital Phonics Books! (Freebie Included)

Nicole at Down in Kinderville — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:06:22 +0000

Teaching phonics in the digital world has been quite interesting! Some students get it- and some need a little more help! I’ve created some digital phonics books that are interactive and engaging! They are for Google Slides and Seesaw! Check them out and grab your freebie below!

What's included in the digital phonics books? Simple Reader, Picture Match, and Word Work!

Each set of digital phonics books includes 3 activities! The first is a simple reader. In this book, students can read and highlight the sight words, cvc words, blends, or whatever else you would like!

The second activity in this set of digital phonics books is a picture match! This activity is a class favorite! In activity, students read the sentences and then choose from a variety of pictures in order to “make the picture match the sentence.” This is great for teaching reading strategies!

The last activity in the digital phonics books is the word work! Students will read the book and fill in the missing letters, sounds, or words. In the phonics bundle, students would fill in the cvc words, cvce words, blends, digraphs, and more! They can use the pictures to help them fill in the missing letters.

These digital phonics readers also include some form of vocabulary review and word work at the beginning of each book!

Check out the FREEBIE below!

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Digital Guided Reading Support with Emergent Readers! (Freebie Included)

Nicole at Down in Kinderville — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:45:17 +0000

Hi Teachers! I’m not sure about you, but digital guided reading groups have been an interesting challenge during virtual learning! Of course, things are not going to look the same as in the classroom, and the activities need to be tweaked.

However, I have been so proud of my kindergarteners! They have been using my digital emergent readers to do great things during digital guided reading. I use them with Pear deck on google slides, but I also have them for seesaw!

It’s nice to be able to share the screen with google slides, and then assign the digital emergent readers on seesaw for them to complete! I love that there is a simple reader, word work, picture matching, and vocabulary all in one reader!

A growing number of themes to keep kids engaged!

I am continuing to add to this growing bundle! So far, this bundle has color books, animals, winter, Christmas, MLK Day, Groundhog Day, and Chinese New Year. I am working on the Valentine’s day books now! These will be great to add to your digital guided reading library!

With the simple reader, students can highlight sight words and practice their reading strategies.

The second activity in this digital emergent reader bundle is a “make the picture match” activity. This is by far my students’ favorite activity! They read the sentence and choose which picture makes sense. This is great for practicing early reading skills and will make digital guided more engaging!

There are also word work activities included with the digital emergent readers. Students will drag and drop letters to make sight words, fill in missing sounds, make cvc words, and more!

Each reader also includes a word work and vocabulary review! This is kind of like a picture walk but for digital guided reading!

Click Here to check out the growing bundle to support your digital guided reading needs!

Keep in mind that this bundle is GROWING! That means if you grab it now, you will get every current book I have made and future books at the current discounted price! I will also be adding printables to this set. Grab it before the price increases!

Grab your Free Digital Emergent Reader Below!

Sign up for my newsletters and get access to an exclusive library of freebies! I will add to my exclusive library regularly, so check back for more! Sign up below!

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Guided Writing and Drawing | Distance Learning

Nicole at Down in Kinderville — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:17:15 +0000

I’m Not Just a Scribble by Diane Alber, is one of my favorite books to read in Kindergarten. With Distance Learning, I improvised with my kiddos and made a guided writing and guided drawing activity for it! Easy and fun activity even if it is through a computer screen!

Using your favorite books to create guided activities!

I sometimes struggle to find fun, interactive activities that can be done with five year olds, virtually, through a screen. Anyone else?

I have found that reading a book, and then doing a guided writing and drawing activity has been the most engaging for my kids so far. The first one I did was I’m Not Just a Scribble. I read the book, and then we started with the guided drawing. We drew the eyes first, and discussed how eyebrows can make a big difference when drawing emotions. After that, we drew the mouth and then carefully scribbled around. Then comes the hands and feet. Last, we did our dictated sentence. I chose the sentences based on the sight words my kindergarteners were learning. Feel free to change the sentences any way you see fit!

Grab your FREE Printable for "Ruby Finds a Worry"

Ya’ll. I’ve recently discovered the book Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival. I hope you check it out, it’s so awesome! It’s about a happy girl that finds a worry one day. The worry keeps following her until she realizes she is always thinking about that worry! Eventually, she realizes that everyone has a worry with them, and talking about them will help the worries go away.

I have a FREE printable to accompany this beautiful book. It can be found in my TPT store here.

You could also do it as a directed drawing if the kids don’t have access to a printer!

"Can I be your dog?" by Troy Cummings

Can I be your dog is a fun book about a dog looking for a forever home! Arfy writes letters to all the people on the street, trying to find a home! He keeps getting turned down for various reasons, and gets really discouraged. But don’t worry, it has a happy ending!

After we read this cute book, we wrote our own notes to Arfy! As a class, we decided that he can be our dog. We wrote him a note and then did a directed drawing of a dog that I found for FREE on Easy Peasy and Fun’s website. Check out this site for a TON of fun directed drawings!

I would love to hear your ideas on other books that would be great for this! Leave me a comment below with your ideas! Thanks for following along!

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Guided Reading for Distance Learning!

Nicole at Down in Kinderville — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 22:41:50 +0000

Now that you know that I’m obsessed with Boom Cards, let me share with you my guided reading ideas for the upcoming socially distanced school year. I’ve created interactive guided reading books to help guided students independently! I’ve bundled all of these books in a forever growing guided reading bundle. That means that if you purchase the bundle know, you will receive ALL future books that I make at the current price! Check out the video and read a little bit more about the different levels and current and future themes below!

There will be a variety of themes within this bundle! They will include seasons, holidays, special events, feelings, and much more! Check out a detailed breakdown of the features of each book below!

Level A

3-6 Word Sentences
Repeating language patterns
Familiar vocabulary
High Frequency Words (Sight Words)
Short, Predictable Sentences
Familiar Vocabulary

Level B

3-7 Word Sentences
Multi-Line text
Repeating language patterns
Familiar vocabulary
High Frequency Words (Sight Words)

Level C

Multi-Line text (2-5 lines)
Some repeating language patterns
Familiar vocabulary
More High Frequency Words (Sight Words)
Prepositional phrases and adjectives

Level D

Multi-Line text (2-6 lines)
Less repeating language patterns
Simple Dialogue
Familiar vocabulary
More High Frequency Words (Sight Words)
Prepositional phrases and adjectives
Some simple contractions and possessions
Longer sentences
Some words with -s and -ing endings

Level E

Multi-Line text (2-8 lines)
Less repeating language patterns
Simple Dialogue
Familiar vocabulary
More High Frequency Words (Sight Words)
Prepositional phrases and adjectives
Longer sentences (10 + words)
Some words with -s and -ing endings
Less reliance on pictures
Easy contractions
Some 3 syllable words

Where to get the goods?

You can purchase them through TPT or directly through Boom Cards! I also included some freebies in there, if you would like to try them out!

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