this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The other day I was walking through Target and this book caught my eye on the end cap. I peeked through it and just knew it would be perfect for our next literacy snack!

This week, we are reading, The Smart Cookie by Jory John. The cookie in the story has never felt like a smart cookie no matter how hard she tries. Especially in comparison to all the clever cupcakes and brilliant rolls in the bakery. In the end, she is reminded that perfect scores and having all the answers aren’t the only ingredients for intelligence. Sometimes all you need is a sprinkle of confidence and some creativity.

This is such a great book that can be read at the beginning of the school year, or even at the end of the year. Your students can reflect on how much they have learned and how far they have grown throughout the school year.

This is a great book that your student will be able to relate to and can help them all realize that they are smart cookies! For our snack this week, we are having smart cookies!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

For our snack to go with the book, we are having yummy sprinkle-covered frosted sugar cookies. These are always a favorite of the kiddos and go perfectly with the cookie from the book. You can usually find them at the grocery store, Walmart, or Target.

Free Printable

I made a free printable to go along with the book for your little learners to work on while they are enjoying their snack. They will get to reflect and write about what makes them a smart cookie. They can draw a write about it.

You can download the Literacy Snack Smart Cookie Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another option is to give your kiddos a small pack of cookies and attach this cute free printable smart cookie tag. You can grab that here. They make a great treat to give out before a test or as an end of the year gift too!

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Smart Cookie Read-Aloud!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Smart Cookie Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

It’s the holiday season again, and today I have a fun Literacy Snack Christmas Tree Read Aloud for Christmas! Today we will be reading Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry.

“Christmas is here and Mr. Willowby’s tree has arrived. There’s just one big problem: The tree is too tall for his parlor! He cuts off the top so it will fit, and soon the top of that tree is passed along, again and again, to bring holiday cheer to all the animals in the forest.”

For our snack today, we’ll be making our very own Christmas trees!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies You’ll Need

Each student will need

-1/2 of a small green apple sliced fairly thinly.

-6 or so blueberries

-1 pretzel stick

-1 small piece sandwich cheese to cut a star from

You will also need a small approx 1-inch star cookie cutter to have each use to cut out their cheese star.

To Assemble

To make the snack Christmas tree, have the students start with the apple pieces. They can lay them slightly on top of each other in order to form the shape of a tree. Next, add the blueberries as ornaments and the pretzel stick as the tree trunk. Lastly, have each student take a turn with the star cookie cutter to make their cheese start and add it to the top of their tree. A healthy and yummy Christmas tree snack!

If you’re looking for another fun Christmas tree snack idea, you could have your students make these Christmas tree cones! They are so much fun! You can get all of the details of how to make them here.

Free Printable

I made a free printable to go along with the book for the students to work on while they are enjoying their snacks. They will get to decorate a Chrismtmas tree of their own!

You can download the Literacy Snack Christmas Tree Read Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Do you have any other fun books about Christmas trees that you like to share with your class? Tell us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Christmas Tree Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The leaves are chaning colors, the morning air is crisp, you know what that means, autumn is here! This week, we have a Literacy Snack Autumn Leaves Read-Aloud. We are reading, The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming.

A worried squirrel thinks that SOMEONE is stealing his tree’s leaves. HIS leaves! Even though his friend Bird tries to help him, Squirrel doesn’t seem to understand the changes that the fall season brings like leaves changing color and wind blowing them off the trees.

It’s funny and illuminating — and will spark helpful discussions about the characteristics of fall– with a hint of a winter surprise at the end.

For our snack this week to go along with the book, we are making our own fall trees.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack idea

Each student will need

• 1 large pretzel rod
• 6 prestzel sticks
• a handful of Fruit Loops

To Assemble

To make the fall tree snack, have your students start with the large pretzel rod as the trunk of their tree. Next, have them add the pretzel sticks as the branchess of the tree. Last, they can add on the cereal as the fall colored leaves.

Free Printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their fall tree snack. They will get to draw and write about who the leaf theif is and also what their favorite thing to do with leaves is.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Autumn Leaves Read-Aloud free printable from my TpT store.

If you’re looking for more fun activities for fall, your students will love getting outdoors to do this Autumn scavenger hunt.

You can find all of the other scavenger hunts I’ve shared here. And if you would like the printable version, you can find that here.

I hope your students enjoy making their fall trees and this silly story!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Autumn Leaves Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Zombies are always a hit with the kids! ! So for this week, we have a fun Literacy Snack Zombie Read-Aloud for Halloween or any time really! We are reading Peanut Butter & Brains by Joe McGee.

Reginald isn’t like the other zombies that stumble around town moaning for BRAINSSSSS!! His stomach only rumbles for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He tries to tell his zombie pals that there’s more to life than eating brains, but they’re just not interested. In the end, the zombies all come to love peanut butter and jelly too while Reginald moves onto something new, pizza!

It’s a silly and fun story that has a great message to it about staying true to yourself. For our snack today, we are making our own zombies!

Snack Idea

Ingredients

• a circle cookie cutter to share
• a piece of bread for each student (you could use a plain circle sugar cookie too)
• blue frosting or white frosting with a couple of drops of blue food coloring
• 2 zombie eyeballs per student – I found mine at the grocery store
• 1 chocolate chip per student
• black gel icing
• pretzel sticks

Assemble

To make the zombie, have the students share the circle cookie cutter and cut their piece of bread into a circle. Next, they will spread the blue frosting onto the bread. Your students will then get to decorate their zombies. Have them place the eyes on and nose using the chocolate chip. Bread a pretzel stick into a few small pieces to use as the hair. Last, use the black gel icing to draw on the mouth and stitches if desired. Now you have a cute zombie!

Another fun option would be to give each student a quarter of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to enjoy with their zombie too!

While your students are enjoying their zombie snack, I made a free printable to go along with the story for them to work on. They will get to draw and write about what their favorite food would be if they were a zombie.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Zombie Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

I hope your students enjoy making this fun zombie snack!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Zombie Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

This week’s literacy snack read-aloud is a great one that would work any time of the year. It would also be a great one for the first month of school as a read-aloud about the importance of inclusivity, open-mindedness, diversity. We are reading, The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah.

In this book, two friends love doing everything together and always eat lunch together.  Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus-but what’s that between friends? It turns out, a lot A food fight ends up breaking out and in the end, the girls are able to work things out and try each other’s sandwiches which they both end up loving!

This is incredibly relatable for children, as we’ve all experienced times when people thought our choices were “yucky” or “gross,” or when we’ve thought the same about others.  This is a great book to use as a springboard for many class discussions.

For our snack idea today, we’re making sandwiches to go along with the story.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

For this week’s snack, we’re taking inspiration from the end of the book where they created a sandwich event for their entire school. You can do this a couple of different ways with your class.

• Simply have each student bring in a sandwich of their own to enjoy eating as a class together. You can talk about all of the different kinds of sandwiches that were brought in.
• Another option is for you to make 3 or 4 different sandwiches. Cut each one into quarters and let each student taste all 3 or 4 types of sandwiches.

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their sandwich snack. They will get to draw and write about what type of sandwich is their favorite.

You can download the Literacy Snack Sandwich Swap Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you are looking for another great read-aloud about diversity, you might want to check out another book called Yoko. You can read about the book and get the snack idea and free printable to go along with this book too here.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Sandwich Swap Read-Aloud!

Do you have any favorite books you like to read about diversity or inclusiveness? Share with us below!

See you next time!

jenette

The post Literacy Snack Sandwich Swap Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you teach your little learners Sign Language? I put together a Free ASL Alphabet Poster to help reinforce the hand signs.

This ASL Alphabet Poster is perfect to display in your writing center. You could also use it as part of a personal writing office, or to add to your student’s folder so they can refer to it when needed. 

Free ASL Alphabet Poster

This is a small version of the same pictures used in my ASL Alphabet Posters to be displayed in the classroom.

Click the green box below to download the ASL Alphabet Poster from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I also have another version of the alphabet posters without the sign language. You can find that one here. for free too.

I hope this will be a helpful resource for your little learners!

See you next time!

jenette

The post Free ASL Alphabet Poster appeared first on Primary Playground.

Are you looking for a fun-themed day for the end of the school year? I’ve gathered a bunch of End Of The Year Cookie Themed Day Ideas for you to do with your class. In this post, I’m sharing a few NEW free cookie printables too! We’ll be doing taste tests and using our 5 senses!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Taste Testing and the 5 Senses – Science, Writing and Math

Raise your hand if you love cookies! I sure do, they’re my favorite! On your cookie-themed day, you MUST do a cookie taste test activity! We are bringing in the science, writing, and math for the day with these activities.

The first activity is we’re going to describe cookies. Grab a pack of chocolate chip cookies from the store and give one to each student. Depending on your class I made 2 different printables for this activity. The first is they can draw and or write in the boxes to describe their cookie when tasting it. Or you can bring in the 5 senses on the 2 option and have them describe their cookie that way writing in their answer in a sentence.

And our second cookie tasting activity also has 2 options. We’re bringing math into this one! The first option is to pick up 3 bags of cookies from the store and do a taste test between the 3 cookies and graph the results of which cookie each student liked the best. And the second option is to find out what type of cookie is the class’s favorite. This one is a great option if you can’t actually have food in the classroom. Click here to download all of these fun activities altogether.

Books and Activities

We have some great activities to go along with some great cookie books too so let’s check it out!

First, we’ll start off with some great cookie read-alouds. We share 7 of our favorites in this blog post here.

To go along with one of our favorite books, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, we have this fun hat for your students to make. Click here to download it for free.

Or if you want to get crafty, we have this Mouse Craft With Writing Prompts. Also perfect to go along with the book!

Did you know they also have an If You Give A Mouse Cookie tv show?! It’s super cute and has a few seasons now too. It’s free to watch on Amazon if you have Prime. Click here to check it out now.

And then we also have a literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with the book The Doorbell Rang. Click here to seethe snack idea and grab the free printable to go along with the book.

Math and Literacy Center Ideas

As part of your cookie day, why not set up a fun rotation of cookie centers! We have Milk and Cookie Counting Mats to help the students practice counting. We have Milk and Cookie Addition Mats to work on addition facts. For these, we love using Cookie Crisp cereal as the counters!

And we have out Milk and Cookie Real and Nonsense Word sort. This one is extra fun in class if you attach magnets to the back of the cookie and have them use a cookie sheet for the sorting activity!

We also have these free cookie counting puzzles to add to your center rotation too! Click here to download them for free.

Cooking Class

And last, we have our Cookie Class How To Make Chocolate Chip Cookies. Cooking class is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn. Click here to check it out now.

What other kind of cookie activity ideas do you have for your cookie-themed day? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post End Of The Year Cookie Themed Day Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need a fun idea for the last week or day of school? Your class will have a fun time playing this Free End Of The Year Classmates Bingo!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

The bingo card is full of fun questions about their classmates. Things such as someone that has two pets, someone that is left-handed to someone that is going to summer camp.

End Of The Year Classmates Bingo

I made two different versions. The first option has lines in each bingo square for the students to walk around and ask their classmates the questions.

They can fill in the classmate’s name on the line when they find someone who meets the prompt in the box. You can have them just fill in a row for bingo or you can take it further and do a fun different bingo shape or even a blackout!

The second option bingo card has only the prompt in each square. For this version, you can play as a whole class. You can ask the prompt to the whole class and have them raise their hand if it’s them.

As a class, you can see if you can fill in the entire bingo card by finding a classmate that meets each prompt. It’s such a fun community-building activity.

I’ve made each of the two versions available to print in both color and black and white.

You can download the Free End Of The Year Classmates Bingo from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you need another fun activity for the last day of school, I have this fun End Of School Year Scavenger Hunt! Just another fun activity to keep the kids busy during the last bit of time you have left with them.

You can click the scavenger hunt image, save it and print it for your students to do, or even put it up on the smartboard and do it as a class. If you would like the printable version of the scavenger hunt, you can find that here.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

What are some of the fun activities you like to do with your class on the last day of school?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free End Of The Year Classmates Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need some easy gift ideas for Principal Appreciation Day or Principal Appreciation Week? Today I’m sharing some easy and inexpensive gift ideas to celebrate them!

Principal Appreciation Day Class Book Gift

Why not make a class book for the principal? It includes several options. They can write about why they think they’re a great principal, what they think they should do today on their special day, or what we love most about them. Stack all of the pages together and bind them and you have a fantastic gift to give the principal. (PS it comes in both female and male options!) You can find the template for this book here.

Nacho Average Principal

Or let them know that they are Nacho Average Principal! Put together a small basket or bag of goodies as I did here and add in a FREE printable gift tag for you to print and use. You can find that here.

There is also a gift card holder in that same FREE file that says, Taco ‘Bout An Awesome Principal! Print it out and attach a gift card onto the paper to a local Mexican food restaurant and you’re good to go! You can see an example of that card in this blog post.

We also have another class book that you can make which is very similar to the one above but goes along with the Nacho Average Principal theme. You can find that class book here.

Do you have any other things that you have done for your principal? Share with us below in the comments!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Principal Appreciation Day Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

This week’s literacy snack bee read-aloud is a great one for spring to go with your spring-insect unit or can be used at the beginning of the school as a read-aloud about the importance of sharing. We are reading, The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman.

In the book, the bee is very greedy and will not share his nectar with anyone! He finds the juiciest flowers, ends up eating too much, and gets stuck. He makes some friends that help him on his journey back home, and In the end, he shares all of his best honey with his new friends.

This is a great story that gives the opportunity to describe the character throughout the text. It helps the kids learn that they shouldn’t be greedy, to share and that sometimes you may need to ask for help from others.

For our snack this week, we’ll be making a bee!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

supplies needed per student

1 Keebler Fudge Stripes Cookie

1 pretzel stick broke in half

2 pretzel twists

2 candy eyeballs

to assemble

To make the bee snack, have your students start with the cookie. Next, take the 2 pretzel twists and place them under the cookie a little bit to look like the wings. Take the 2 pretzel stick halves and add them to the top of the bee as the antennae. Last, add the eyes and he’s done! Isn’t he cute!

Another option instead of making the bee snack is to have your kids taste test, honey. Grab a box of Ritz Crackers and a bottle of honey from the store and give each student 2 crackers with some honey on each as a snack.

This would make a great opportunity to graph with your class the number of people who like honey and the number of people that do not. We have a fun page in our Bee Activities Pack that goes perfectly with this too!

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their bee snack. They will get to draw and write about how the bee acted at the beginning of the story and then how the bee acted at the end of the story.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another fun activity to go along with the book is our bee craft! They look adorable hanging on the bulletin board or in the hallway! Click here to check it out now.

To also go along with the bee theme, we have this fun free Honey Bee Sight Word Game that you can grab to help your students practice their sight words. You can hop over and grab that for free here.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Bee Read-Aloud!

Do you have any favorite books you like to read about the bees or sharing? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Bee Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Learning about the weather is always fun! There are so many fun activities, hands-on activities, and experiments that can be done! Today, we have a Literacy Snack Weather Read-Aloud. We are reading, Miss Mingo Weathers The Storm by Jamie Harper.

In our read-aloud today, Miss Mingo takes her class on a field trip to the weather station. The class experiences all kinds of weather and crazy atmospheric changes throughout their trip!

This book is sprinkled with great weather and animal habitat facts too!

For our snack this week, we’ll be making rain clouds!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

supplies needed per student

• Approx 6 blueberries
• Approx 25 mini marshmallows (or about a handful)

to assemble

To make the rain cloud, have the students use their mini marshmallows to create a cloud. After they have made their cloud, they can use their blueberries as raindrops falling from the cloud.

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their rain cloud snack. They will get to draw and write about their favorite type of weather.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another fun activity to go along with the book is our Umbrella Craft With Writing Prompts. They look great hanging on the bulletin board or in the hallways all spring long! Click here to check it out now.

And we also have our Weather Bingo. It’s a great way to review weather vocabulary while having some fun! Click here to grab it now.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Weather Read-Aloud!

Do you have any favorite books you like to read about the weather? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Weather Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Need a fun way to get your students reading each month instead of a reading log? Come try out our Free Printable April Reading Bingo!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

In this April Reading Bingo, your students will get to choose fun places and different ways to read, like reading in an empty bathtub and reading while eating a piece of fruit for a snack. There are even some spaces that give different types of book theme suggestions. (You can download the April Reading Bingo at the bottom of the post.)

This would be great to send home with your student on the first of the month along with your class newsletter. Have them return it at the end of the month completed for points or a trip to the treasure chest.

I’ve made reading bingos for each month of the school year as well. (August-May) So if your students enjoy this Free Printable April Reading Bingo, you can grab the whole school year here. Each month is full of different ideas and different book theme suggestions depending on the season or holidays.

You can grab the Monthly Reading Bingo here on TpT or directly from PrimaryPlayground here.

And if you need another reading bingo for the summer months, June and July, we have a Free Printable Summer Reading Bingo that you can grab here.

You can download the April Reading Bingo by clicking the green box below.

I have your kiddos have fun reading this month!

Jenette

The post Free Printable April Reading Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Spring is officially here, so for this week we’re focusing on birds and we are reading Nesting by Henry Cole for our Literacy Snack Robin’s Nest Read-Aloud.

In this black-and-white picture book highlighted with robin’s egg blue, the students will follow two robins as they build a nest with twigs and grass. The mother robin lays four beautiful blue eggs and keeps the eggs warm in the nest until they hatch into four baby robins.

The father robin protects the babies until they can fly on their own. The perils the babies encounter are many, including snakes and storms. The nest is always their safe place.

This book provides a great introduction to animal science concepts for young children.

For our snack this week, we’ll be making our own robin’s nest.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

supplies needed per student

• One rice crispy treat. You can make them yourself to bring in for the class if you are allowed, or you can purchase individually wrapped rice crispy treats. They also make full pre-packaged rice crispy sheets now that would work great for this too.
• 3 Mini Robin Egg candies

to assemble

To make the robin’s nest, have the students take their rice crispy treat and form it into a bowl or nest shape. Add the 3 robin’s eggs in the nest and you’re done! This snack is super easy peasy!

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their robin’s nest snack. They will get to draw and write about one thing that they learned about robins from the book.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another fun activity to go along with the book is our bird nest counting mats. Buy an extra bag of Robin Egg candies to use as the counters. (They’re my favorite Easter candy!)

If you are looking for some more great spring literacy snack read-alouds here are some of the ones we’ve shared.

When Spring Comes

The Tiny Seed

Kite Day

Worm Weather

Do you have any favorite books you like to read in spring? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Robin’s Nest Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Spring officially starts this weekend, so for this week, we are reading When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes for our Literacy Snack Spring Read-Aloud.

“Before spring comes, the trees are dark sticks, the grass is brown, and the ground is covered in snow. But if you wait, leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, the grass turns green, and the mounds of snow shrink and shrink. Spring brings baby birds, sprouting seeds, rain and mud, and puddles. You can feel it and smell it and hear it. “

This book takes you along on the beautiful transformation that happens between winter and spring. And for our snack idea this week, we are making my favorite part of spring, a flower!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Supplies Needed Per Student

-1 to 2 strawberries thinly sliced (depending on the size of the berries)

-approx 8 blueberries

-a thin slice of green apple

-2 spring lettuce leaves or spinach leaves

To Assemble

To make the flower, start by laying out the strawberries in a circle like the petals. Add the blueberries in the middle. Next, add the green apple slice as the stem. Last, add the lettuce as the leaves.

You could use many different types of different fruits for this activity if you want to change it up. For example, use orange slices as the flower petals and sliced grapes in the middle. Tons of possibilities!

Free Printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their flower snack. They will get to draw and write about their favorite thing to do in spring. Also about how they feel, what they smell, and what they see in the spring.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

We have another fun flower snack idea to go along with the book, The Tiny Seed. Click here to check that one out and grab the free printable to go along with the book.

And to help us welcome spring, we have our Spring Bingo which is perfect to play all season long. Click here to grab it now.

What are some of your other favorite books or ways to welcome spring?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Spring Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Spring is in the air and the days are beautiful outside! This week, we have a Literacy Snack Kite Read-Aloud that takes us outdoors. We are reading Kite Day by Will Hillenbrand.

On a windy spring day, Bear sniffs the air.  Could it be. . . Kite day? Bear and his friend Mole build a kite of their own. But when the storm gets too strong, the kite snaps and lands in a tree. Not all is lost though, as the kite is stuck in the tree it protects a nest full of birds from the rain.

This is a fun read-aloud for spring or is a great addition to your weather unit. For our snack this week, we’ll be making our very own kites!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Supplies Needed Per Student

-Half of a graham cracker (so one square)

-Approx 12 M&M’s or Skittles

-1/2 of 1 piece of pull-n-peel licorice

-3 mini marshmallows (for this snack, I left the bag open overnight to let the marshmallows dry out a bit. It makes it easier for the kids to form them into the bows.)

To Assemble

To make the kite, start with laying out the square graham cracker and turning it so it looks like a diamond. Place the M&M’s or Skittles along the outer edges of the inside of the graham cracker. Next, add the licorice piece as the kite tail. Last, take the 3 mini marshmallows and pinch them in the middles to create the bows. Place them on top of the licorice tail as the bows. Cute as can be for their very own kite!

Free Printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their kite snack. They will get to draw and write about a time that they got to fly a kite. Or if they haven’t flown a kite before, they can draw and write about a kite they’d like to fly.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

We have a fun kite math activity that would go along with this book perfectly too! The kites look adorable hanging up around the classroom for spring. You can get all of the details and download the kite template for free here.

Do you have any other fun kite activities to go along with the book? Share with us below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Kite Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

There’s just something magical about rainbows! And March is always a fun time to learn about them! For today’s Literacy Snack Rainbow Read-Aloud, we are reading, A Rainbow Of My Own by Don Freeman.

In this book, a small boy uses his imagination to see what it would be like to have a rainbow of his own. In the end, he even gets a rainbow of his very own in his room made by the sun shining through his goldfish bowl.

This is a great book to discuss the students using their imaginations and would also be a great addition to your weather unit. For our snack today, we will be making a rainbow of our own from fruit!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Supplies Needed

Plastic Punch Cups & Plastic Forks

Red Fruit- We used 2 strawberries per cup. You could also use raspberries or apples.

Orange Fruit- We used 2 canned peaches per cup. You could use orange slices or canned mandarin oranges too.

Yellow Fruit- We used about 1/3 of a banana for each cup. You could also use pineapple.

Green Fruit- We used 4 green grapes cut in half for each cup. You could also use kiwi fruit.

Blue Fruit- We used a small handful of blueberries in each cup.

Purple Fruit- We used about 6 blackberries in our cup. You could also use red/purple grapes.

To Assemble

This snack works best with your help or a volunteer’s help so you can be the one to add the appropriate amount of fruit to the cup. The students can help tell you what color to add next and you can talk about what kinds of fruits they are.

Free Printable

Do you teach your students the colors of the rainbow? One of my most favorite songs to help with this is from an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every time I see a rainbow I still sing the song! Isn’t it just funny how things stick with you? I found it on YouTube you want to share it with their students.

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their rainbow fruit cup. They will get to draw and write about a time that they saw a rainbow.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

We have a fun rainbow science experiment that would go along with this perfectly too! To make this rainbow in a jar, the students are exploring density by layering sugar water to make a rainbow. You can get the details of the experiment here.

We also have this fun Rainbow Tally Mark activity. These rainbow tally marks are a great, hands-on way to practice counting by 5’s, counting on and working on fine motor a bit as well! Rainbows always make me happy and are great to use all year long, or during your weather unit, St. Patrick’s Day, or spring in general. Check out the activity here.

Do you have any other fun rainbow books you like to read or activities to go along with the book? Share with us below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Rainbow Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Today we have another Literacy Snack St. Patrick’s Day Read-Aloud to share with you! This week, we are reading, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Clover by Lucille Colandro.

The old lady is back in this book, this time swallowing a clover. Then she continues to swallow items to make the perfect rainbow to hide a pot of gold. It’s a fun rhyming read-aloud for St. Patrick’s Day.

To go along with the story, we are making our own rainbow snacks today!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Supplies needed – each student needs

12-15 mini marshmallows

Fruit Loops cereal – 6 pieces of each color cereal

To Assemble

First, have your students create their cloud using their marshmallows. Next, have them use one color cereal at a time to create each arch of their rainbow and they’re done! Easy fun beautiful rainbow snack!

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their rainbow snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to recall all of the things in the story that the Old Lady swallowed and color them in. See if they can color the items in the order that they happened in the book to make it into a sequencing activity.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack St. Patrick’s Day Read-Aloudfree printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

If you’re looking for another great Literacy Snack St. Patrick’s Day Read-Aloud, we also shared the book, Leprechaun On The Loose, and a fun trap idea that you can check out here.

In case you’re looking for even more St. Patrick’s Day fun, we have a scavenger hunt for you too!

You can find all of the other scavenger hunts we’ve shared here. And click here if you’re looking for a printable version.

And we have St. Patrick’s Day bingo too! It’s always a favorite! Click here to see It on TpT and click here for Primary Playground direct. 

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack St. Patrick’s Day Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Do you celebrate the 100th day of school with your class? Today’s we have a fun 100th Day Read-Aloud to share with you, Miss Mingo, and the 100th Day of School. by Jamie Harper. This is a new book and has quickly become one of my favorites!

Miss Mingo and her class are celebrating the 100th day of school. The class is made up of an assortment of animals that have brought all kinds of fun items to mark the day. Things range from 100 teddy bears to the number of feet a pelican dives, to the number of spots on each side of a giraffe.

Math becomes a part of the day when it is shown 100 can be reached with a combination of numbers such as two piles of fifty, or ten piles of ten. A highlight of the day is when the students put on their imagination hats to create something from the 100 items each of them is given.

The illustrations in the book are so bright and fun. The 100th day of school has become a day to celebrate and to have a good time, while also sneaking in lots of learning as a part of the celebration. This book captures all the glee of the party, along with the educational fun that goes on along with it.

For our snack today, we’ll be making an edible 100!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

ingredients – each student will need

1/3 of a pretzel rod – I cut each pretzel rod into thirds

2 cookies with a hole in the center -we used Girl Scout Somoa cookies (a mom has to help her daughter out by buying a few boxes right lol)

assemble

The students can make their own 100 using the food they’ve been given. The pretzel rod will be the 1 and the 2 cookies will be the zeros. You could also use mini donuts for the zeros. Another option if you want to make it healthier you could use a baby carrot as the one and 2 sliced cucumbers as the zeros.

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their 100th-day snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will get to draw in 10 items in each of the boxes to create 100. Similar to the 100th Day read-aloud, when they made 10 piles of shells to create 100.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for another fun activity to go along with the 100th Day read-aloud we’ve shared, we have the 100th Day Color By Code. You can grab it for FREE here.

And your students will have a great time with this 100th-day scavenger hunt too! You can see the digital version here. Or grab the printable version here.

And you can never go wrong with bingo! A perfect addition to your 100th-day celebration! You can grab the 100th-day bingo here.

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with your class to help celebrate the 100th day of school? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea 100th Day Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

We love reading books about snowmen in January! We’ve already read and shared a literacy snack idea for Sneezy the Snowman and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow. This week we’re adding another build a snowman read-aloud and we’ll be reading All you Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle.

In this book, the kids build a snowman saying all you really need…. and it just kept building upon one another. It’s a great way to start them thinking about any other thing they may create or plan. All you really need is……imagination.

This activity works well with

For our Literacy Snack Build A Snowman snack idea to go along with the book, we’ll be building our own snowmen!

ingredients

each student will need

2 pretzel sticks

2 chocolate chips

3 large marshmallows

1 candy corn cut in half – I took candy corn and cut off the bottom yellow part. (Mine were from Target and only 2 colors, orange and yellow) Then I took the remaining orange part and cut that in half so it will give you 2 noses per candy corn.

Snack idea

To make the snowmen, have the students start with the head. Have them push the 2 chocolate chips into the marshmallow as the eyes. Then push the candy corn into the marshmallow as his nose.

Next, have the students push the 2 pretzel sticks into another marshmallow as the arms. They can then build/stack their snowman, and enjoy!

You can get as creative with these as you want, we just wanted to keep it simple so even the youngest could make them. But feel free to add buttons using mini chocolate chips, a piece of licorice ropes pulled apart to add as a scarf and you can even make a hat using a Nilla Wafter as the bottom and put an unwrapped mini Recees Cup on top to make a hat!

Build A Snowman Read Aloud Free Printable

I made a free printable for your little learners to work on while they are enjoying their snacks. They will get to draw a picture of a snowman, adding in everything that he needs just like in the book. It’s fun to see how different everyone’s are at the end!

You can download the Literacy Snack Build A Snowman free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking to continue the topic of building a snowman, we have some fun activities that are perfect for you!

Our How To Build A Snowman Sequencing Activities is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.  Click here to check it out now.

Here are some of our other favorite snowmen activities!

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with snowmen? Let us know below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Build A Snowman appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need a fun way for your little learners to practice their ten frames? Grab some mini erasers and they can practice their countings and numbers with these Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

getting started

The set up is super easy for this activity. Simply download and print the Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards by clicking the green download box at the bottom of this post. Cut them out and laminating the cards is suggested for durability.

We use mini erasers for this activity. These penguins pictures are from a couple of years ago, but I have seen a new winter pack this year that includes snowflakes, penguins, and polar bears which would be perfect to use too! If you don’t have mini erasers, small pom pom balls work well too. You can store them in a sandwich size bag or we like to use clear plastic 4X6 photo cases too.

to play

These Penguin Ten Frame Cards are a fun addition to your math center for the kids to work on counting, one to one correspondence, and even decomposing numbers. Each card has the number and the number word for recognition. Have the students fill in the correct number of squares for the penguin that match the number on the card.

Click the green box below to download the Penguin Ten Frame Cards from my TeachersPayTeachers store for FREE.

If you’re looking for another fun winter counting activity, you might like our Polar Bear Counting Mats too!

I hope your kiddos enjoy this fun hands-on way of practicing their numbers and counting!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Penguin Ten Frame Cards appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

I don’t know if you know, but I’m kind of obsessed with reindeer! I mean they are so adorable! I can’t believe I haven’t shared a reindeer read-aloud yet! So today we are reading, The Littlest Reindeer by Brandi Dougherty.

In the book, Dot is the littlest reindeer. More than anything, she wanted to help fly Santa’s sleigh. She practices but she is disappointed that she is just too little to fly. Her friend Oliver suggests they do things that she can do and realizes it’s a lot! In the end, Dot does end up helping Santa in a special way.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

So to go along with our reindeer rad-aloud today, for our snack, we are making our own little reindeer!

Snack idea

Ingredients – each student needs

1 Nilla Wafer

1 butterscotch chip

4 pretzel sticks

2 candy eyes

To Assemble

Have the students start with the Nilla Wafer. Place 2 of the pretzel sticks on top of his head as his antlers. Break the remaining 2 pretzel sticks into pieces to create the rest of the antlers. Add on the candy eyes and the butterscotch chip as her nose. If you read Ruldomph or another book, you could use a red M&M instead for the nose. In the book, Dot has a cute little butterscotch chose though. Isn’t she cute?!

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their reindeer snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to reflect back on thee book on how they think Dot felt when she was struggling to fly. They will then draw a picture of something that Dot was good at. And last, they’ll draw a picture of something good that happened at the end of the story. A great lesson in growth mindset!

Click the green box below to download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

If you’re looking for some more super fun reindeer activities, we have a bunch! You’re students will have so much fun making these adorable free reindeer hats! Click here to check them out.

Or make some reindeer food to spring outside on Christmas eve to help guide Santa. Click here to check it out and get the free reindeer food bag topper.

And my most favorite, our Reindeer bingo! So much fun for your winter party or Fun Friday afternoon activity! Click here to check it out now.

And here’s all of our other fun reindeer activities we have. I told you I love these little guys!

Do you have any other great reindeer read-aloud that we should add to our list?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Reindeer appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

For today’s literacy snack, we are following Santa along on his tasty trip around the world! We will be learning all about Christmas Cookies Around The World. We are reading A World of Cookies For Santa by M.E. Furman.

This book takes you across the globe to see all the treats that await Santa on Christmas Eve. In the book, he visits places from Australia to Japan to the Philippines and so many more. Each place he visits has a fantastic paragraph explaining how they celebrate Christmas in their country and what special treat is left for Santa.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

This is a wonderful read-aloud addition to your Holidays Around the World unit. In the back of the book, the author shares cookie recipes for 9 different cookies that are mentioned in the book. So for our snack today, we are having Christmas cookies!

Literacy Snack Idea

I let my daughter choose 3 of the recipes from the book for us to make so we could do a taste test from around the world. We made the Christmas Island Coconut Macrooons, the Philippine Islands Puto Seko, and the Puerto Rico Mantecaditos. All of the recipes are simple to follow and all of the cookies we tried were delicious!

So this snack idea is up to you. Choose one of the recipes from the book to try with your class or try 3 as we did. If you’re not up for baking, they have many different types of Christmas cookies from other countries at Trader Joe’s and World Market that I’ve seen in the past.

Free Printable

I make a free printable for your kiddos to work on while they are enjoying the special Christmas cookies. They will get to draw and write about what their favorite sweet treat is to leave out for Santa at their house.

Click the green box below to download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

I hope you find this book to be a fun new addition to your holidays around the world unit. This book has quickly become one of our favorites!

Our Holidays Around the World bingo would be a fun addition to this book too. Perfect for a Friday Fun idea! You can find it here.

And we also have a few more literacy snack ideas we’ve shared in the past that are perfect to go along with your unit as well.

You can find more out about Hanukkah here.

And you can find more out about Santa Lucia here.

Do you have some other favorite books you like to use to celebrate the different holidays around the world? Let us know below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Christmas Cookies Around The World appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching next week, I had one more turkey read-aloud literacy snack idea I wanted to share with you. This week, we’re reading The Very Stuffed Turkey by Katharine Kenah.

In this book, Turkey has five homes to visit — Horse, Pigs, Sheep and Goat’s, Cows, and Mouse’s –Turkey knows there’ll be a ton of food to eat. But there’ll also be friends and their families who can’t wait to celebrate the holiday with Turkey!

Your little learners will enjoy following him along on his adventure from house to house spending time with friends and there’s even a parade at the end!

For our snack this week, we’ll be making Turkey!

This Resource Works Well With

literacy snack idea

each student will need

1 Ritz cracker

2 candy eyes

5 apple slices -approx half of an apple If you sliced the apple a bit thinner you could get 3 or even 4 students’ feathers out of one apple.

And an extra small piece of apple skin to use as the turkey wattle

A small triangle piece of sliced cheese as the beak.

Assemble

Have the students start by laying out their 5 apple slices as the feathers. Place the Ritz cracker at the bottom of the apple slices. Put on the eyeballs. Add the triangle beak and the small slice of apple for the wattle and they’re done!

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their turkey snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will work on their sequencing skills and number the pictures in the correct order of the houses that Turkey visited in the story. They can then color the pictures.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for even more Thanksgiving read-alouds you can find some of our favorites here.

I hope your students enjoy their Turkey snack! See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Stuffed Turkey appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! I have another fun read-aloud perfect to add to your Thanksgiving book collection. Today, we are reading Peyton Picks the Perfect Pie.

In this book, Peyton is very particular. She doesn’t like it when two foods touch on her plate. Peyton doesn’t like green foods. Or orange foods. Or red foods. Peyton doesn’t like foods that are gooey or gummy, sticky or slimy, frosted or flaky. And Peyton most definitely doesn’t like chunky or lumpy foods. She decides that this Thanksgiving, she is going to try one new food, and decides that it will be pie. But there are sooo many pies to choose from, which one will it be?

The illustrations in this book are fantastic, all of the guests are diverse and the spirit of the dinner is happy and spirited. The book is a celebration of food, family, and community and being open to trying new things.

For this weeks snack to go along with the book, we’re having pie!

This article works well with these resources from Primary Playground.

Snack Idea -Thanksgiving Pie

In the book there is a wonderful recipe for apple pie if you’d like to make that. To keep it simple for the classroom, we used small individual pies that you can find in the bakery section at Walmart. They are $.50 each so it works out to be a doable cost. We chose 2 pies for each student to taste. They have all different types of flavors of pies to choose from so it’s easy to enocrage the students to try one of the pies that they haven’t tasted before. If you’re giving tastes of the pies, you can easily split each pie for 3-4 kiddos.

Free Printable

I made a free printable for the kiddos to work on while they are enjoying their taste testing of pies too. They get to draw in their favorite foods they have on Thanksgiving, and then also draw in one new food they would want to try this year.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

I have another fun activity that I’ve shared in the past that you can do along side this book too. Instead of trying different pies, the whole class could do a taste test to see if they like pumpkin pie or not. You can grab the free printable activities here.

And here’s few more fun activities that go well with the book too.

See you next time!

Jenette

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