Teach Easy Resources

Spring Songs and Activity Ideas for Preschool and Kindergarten

I can once again hear the birds chirping like crazy in the morning.

I'm so happy to hear that sound!

Despite the rain and gloom we've had this week, spring must be on its way!

So this weekend I pulled out my favourite Spring songs and activities to get ready!

One of my favourite go-to songs for spring is my Baking a Pie song.

My daughter filmed me performing this song a summer or two ago.

It actually took about 5 tries to get a version that was acceptable to post.

Between the dog barking, the dog begging me to throw his ball, the dog running into the picture...let's just say it was a bit more challenging than expected!

Here's the culprit!

But anyway, I'm not too proud to share my video

here with you.

(By the way, my voice is not really that high in person...

I was just trying to "be the crow." :))

This song has been a big hit in my classroom.

It's unique, has a quirky ending, and the kids can learn it quickly due to the repetition.

The words and puppets for "Baking a Pie" are included in my Spring Unit along with 10 additional activities for

Centre Time and Circle Time.

Below is a sample of four more of the 11 items in the unit. The details of how each item works is written on the images.

And my Froggy Fish 'n Match Number Game!

You could set up this fishing game on a table on days when you want to keep life simple, but if you want to add another element of fun, on some days you could also create a little "fishing hole" as you'll see in the post HERE.

If you're in a part of the world where spring hasn't hit yet, just hang on. It's comin'!

And if you want some more fun activities for the season, check out my full Spring Unit for Pre-K and K in my shop!

It includes the 5 activities shown in this post plus 6 more!
Click HERE.

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click on the Subscribe button on the right margin of this blog!

Catchin' Frogs and Learnin' Numbers - A fun activity for Center Time!

As a kid I always loved pretending to "fish" at the annual school fair.

Do you remember those fishing booths at the fair?

There'd be a big wall that you'd have to cast your fishing line over and then someone on the other side of the wall would attach a prize for you to "reel" in.

I always found that station so exciting!

My enjoyment of this activity as a kid spurs me to set up at least one fishing game for my class every spring.

Last year, the activity ended up being fishing for frogs in a pond.

I created the station by flipping one of our tables on its side and then decorating it to look like a pond.

A blue tablecloth would have been preferable, but I thought I'd work with what I hand on hand!

The fishing ROD is created from a paint stir stick.
The fishing LINE was created by twisting a series of pipe cleaners together. (Long ago I learned the perils of using a string or yarn fishing line. You spend most of the class trying to untangle it!)

At the end of the fishing line, I looped the pipe cleaner through a clothespin to form the HOOK.

Here's a photo of the clothespin "hook."
Sorry I don't have a better photo of the full rod, but I'm sure you get the idea!

To play the game, students cast their fishing line over the table.

The children on the other side of the table attach the clothespin to one of the frogs.

When the frog is attached, the children behind the table tug on the line to let the fisher boy or girl know it's time to reel in their catch.

The "caught frog" is then placed on the lily pad that has the matching number of flies!

If you'd like to play this froggy fishing game in your class, I am currently offering the brand new updated version of all the frogs and lily pads you need for this activity in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.

It includes frogs and lily pads numbered from 1-12, as well as a set of frogs with numbers 1-12 represented in various forms (i.e., with tally marks, ten frames, and dice).

I should also mention, that the set includes directions for making this an easy to set-up table top activity.

Some days, simpler is better!

The kids get to fish either way, and practice counting, numeral recognition, and subitizing at the same time!

Find this Froggy Fishing Set HERE!

Journal Writing in Preschool and a FREE Journal Prompt Page

At our preschool, the children start the morning with about an hour of center time.

About once a week, one of our center stations is

Journal Writing.

Each child has a small Hilroy exercise book with the pages divided into a blank and interlined section.

The children draw an image of their choosing on the blank section and the teachers scribe their ideas underneath their picture.

Having the children see that their ideas
can be recorded in WORDS
and then read back to them (just as they told it!)

is very exciting for them.

For many of the kids, it is the first time that they have seen their ideas in print!

As you can see, we tend to write the words exactly as the children say them.

As you could probably guess, the entry above was written by a little girl.

And I must say, there is more interest
in journal writing amongst the girls overall,
BUT, once we give the boys a nudge
most of them enjoy coming to the writing table, as well.

Star Wars, monsters, and ghosts
often form the theme of their writing,
but that's fine with us!

We don't have a lot of rules for the journals, but we often ask the children to use at least
3 colours in their work.

It encourages the children to put a little more effort into their drawing - particularly those students who try to be "fast finishers."

Some kids tend to have lots of ideas for us to scribe, while others have trouble coming up with more than a sentence.

For those that are struggling, we will ask some questions to help get a few ideas rolling.

Journal entries don't need to be long, but we do try to encourage everyone to come up with at least two sentences for us to record.

The edges of the next image are cut off, but I had to
include this journal entry anyway.

It was just too cute!

This year we are also using journal prompt pages.

I made a page for every major holiday, one for each of the seasons, and then a variety focussed on themes like friendship, family, and "all about me."

We glue them right onto the page and use them at various times throughout the year.

I made 27 different journal prompt pages and some covers for the journal books, too!

Check them out in my shop HERE!

I'd love to offer you a free sample from this journal printables set for your own classroom.

If you'd like this prompt page for Earth Day,
just click HERE!

Not every preschool uses Journal writing,

but for us, it's been a good fit.

Excitement over storytelling and creating "books,"
learning to organize thoughts into a logical sequence, developing their pencil grip,
seeing that ideas (their ideas!) can be recorded in print --

all good things
that help set the stage for becoming
a reader!

Halloween Party Ideas for Preschool and Kindergarten

One week till Halloween.

Wooooo...and it's time to plan the Halloween party.

I thought I'd repost some ideas that have worked for our parties in the past.

Before I show you some pics and ideas for Halloween,

I want to let you know that for the next two days (October 25th and 26th), I am offering a 20% OFF SALE on my favourite Fall Resource below.

I use this set of songs with magnet/felt board images

every year.

Why? Because the kids love it and the songs are catchy and easy to remember!

Take a look at the contents below!

Check it out HERE!

Next, on to Halloween Party Ideas!

One game that is always really popular with our class is GHOST CATCHER.

I was introduced to this game by my co-teacher.

It's easy to set-up, and super fun for the kids to play.

All you need is a few empty, clean 4L milk jugs (cut off the bottoms) and some white paper towel ghosts on a string.

One or two children pull the ghosts around on the table.

The other children hold a milk jug by the handle and try to catch the ghosts.

Through the course of playing, the milk jug can get banged kind of hard on the table, so you might want a backup jug or two in case one of them gets bent.

Another stand-by at our parties is PUMPKIN GOLF.

All you do is carve a pumpkin with a nice big, low mouth and insert the end of a paper ramp right into it.

To keep the ball from rolling off, make sure that you bend the bristol board ramp along the edges!

At our PUMPKIN STATION

we have a couple of different options.

Here the kids are drawing faces and colouring the pumpkins with markers.

We leave out a supply of Halloween stickers that they can add, too.

They can also use a hammer to pound in some golf pegs.

For another twist, give the kids some elastics to attach around the pegs to create a geo board!

For a group activity, I'd recommend trying the
MOVEMENT SONG,
"Looking for Dracula" by Charlotte Diamond.

"Looking for Dracula" is similar to the

"Going on a Bear Hunt song,"

but it has a Halloween theme.

You can find it on her 10 Carrot Diamonds CD.

In the mix, we also have:

BOWLING with the pins decorated like ghosts,

BALLOON TENNIS using balloons and paper plates
(check in another party post HERE for details)

a COSTUME PARADE through our building

and then a POTLUCK LUNCH with parents.

Hope that gives you some new ideas!

On sale now!

FREE Clip Art Set to go with a Bakery Theme!

Halloween is almost here and I've got "treats on the brain!"

Maybe that's why I've been inspired to create
this new Bakery Clip Art Set!

It contains everything you need to set up some fun Bakery themed resources!

And then I moved on to creating a place to display the baked goods with this set of...

FREE Glass Cake Stands

There are 4 png cake stands in the pack
(blackline, black and white, colour, and partial colour).

You're welcome to download the set from my

Chirp Graphics shop HERE!

Make sure you sign up as a shop follower while you're there so that you can scoop up the next freebie!

Thanksgiving Turkey Crafts for Preschool and Kindergarten

We made two turkey cuties this past week at preschool.

I think the parents were as excited to have them as the kids were to make them!

(Everyone likes to have a festive house, right?)

Here's how we created them.

Playdough Turkeys

Teacher Prep:

we made some homemade PLAYDOUGH in a shade of brown (Clay would be better, but playdough is cheaper! :))
we prepared the "turkey heads and bodies" by sticking a pipecleaner in the bottom ball and then poking the head on top