Add a little luck and laughter to your literacy centers with this clover-themed Free Leprechaun CVC Words Game, where kids read, play, and try to avoid the sneaky leprechaun!

So many of you shared how much fun your students had playing our Gobble Gobble Game, and Santa Ho, Ho Ho Beginning Sound games at the end of the year, so I created a new version to keep the excitement going with a CVC words version! This clover-themed CVC game is a fun and engaging way for your learners to practice reading simple words while trying to avoid the sneaky leprechaun.

The Setup

To play the game, simply download the printable at the bottom of the post. Cut out all of the squares and laminate them so you can play the game over and over again. You will also need some kind of container to put the cards in. I used a simple tin that I’ve had for years, but you can use anything you have on hand.

To Play

This game can be played with one student or many. You will put all of the cards into the container and shake them up. Have a student pull out a card, look at the CVC word, and then read it. If playing alone, choose another card and repeat. If playing with other students, move to the next person to take a turn.

Some cards say, Sneaky leprechaun! If a student chooses a Sneaky leprechaun card, they say, Oh no! A sneaky leprechaun, and puts all of their clover words back in the container, and it’s the next player’s turn, or they can start over again if playing alone.

All short vowels are included: a, e, i, o, and u. It makes it easy to differentiate if your students haven’t learned all of the short vowel sounds yet. Just add what they are familiar with or what you want themto practice with into your container for them to play with. 

Your students will love playing this game so much and get so into into finding that silly, sneaky leprechaun! They hope to pull those cards!

You can download the Leprechaun CVC Words Game below by clicking the green download box.

If you’re looking for more fun ways to practice CVC words this season, you’ll want to check out our St. Patrick’s Day CVC Words Board Games!

These St. Patrick’s Day CVC board games make practicing middle sounds and short vowel words fun, interactive, and stress-free with a simple print-and-play setup. Perfect for literacy centers or small groups, this engaging resource helps young learners build phonics skills through hands-on play.

Do you have any other fun ways you like to practice CVC words with your class? Let us know below in the comments!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Leprechaun CVC Words Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

Activities to go along with books are my favorite! Over the years, I’ve shared many literacy snack ideas to go along with books and free printables to go with each one of them. I’ve gathered them all together into a Literacy Snack Collection, in one spot so you can easily access each one of them. I hope you enjoy doing these activities with your class!

Literacy Snack Collection

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Summer is such a fun time to learn about sharks. There are so many great activities to go along with a shark or ocean unit. You know how much I love my read-alouds so today, I’m sharing with you The Best Shark Read-Alouds.

Sharks are always such a fun topic to learn about and explore. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below. They would also be a perfect addition to Shark Week that happens each July.

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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 Best Shark Read-Alouds

Smiley Shark

This is a cute book in which Smiley Shark just wants to make friends but whenever he smiled at anyone they always swim away from him. He ends up saving the day in the end with his big toothy grin.

What If We Had A Pet Shark?

This is a simple and fun rhyming book. The author does a great job of grabbing your attention from the beginning because it is silly and so imaginative. It’s about a girl who ponders an animal, then finds an answer that rhymes with the type of animal.

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist

In this book, we get a glimpse into the world of a brave woman who defied society’s expectations of what she should be, what she should do, and what she should focus on.

She followed her passion and persevered toward her goals. It is because of her that we have learned more about the world of sharks and other ocean creatures. The illustrations are beautiful & the story is inspiring.

I’m A Shark

This is a silly book about everyone being afraid of the big awesome shark, but you find out that the shark is afraid of spiders. This is a fun and silly read-aloud for the kiddos.

There Was an Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark! 

This is another silly adventure of the Old Lady Who Swallowed things. This time she swallowed a shark and other items in the ocean. There are some fun facts spread throughout the books as well.

I Am The Shark

This is a fun book that has a ton of different types of sharks arguing about which shark is the biggest, smallest, smartest, etc It’s a great book that shares a bunch of the different types of sharks and facts about them.

This shark craft with writing prompts would be a fun extension project with many of these shark books! They turn out so cute!

Clark The Shark

This book is filled with fun rhythm and rhyme. Clark the Shark is a bit overwhelming at school with his classmates. It’s a great book to help teach about impulse control

Nugget and Fang: Friends Forever―or Snack Time?

This is a funny story about a shark and a minnow that are best friends. The fish goes to school and learns all about sharks being mean and dangerous. The shark tries to surprise and do nice things for his friend but the fish is scared of him now. In the end, the shark saves the minnow and all of his classmates and they find that he really isn’t so scary.

I’m Getting A Shark!

A girl overhears her mom and dad talking about her getting a shark for her birthday. Throughout the book, she wonders what type of shark it will be. Her pet dog helps gives facts about the different sharks throughout the story. In the end, she ends up getting an adoption certificate to save a shark for her birthday.

Gilbert The Great

Almost every child knows what it’s like to move or to have a friend move away. Ever since Gilbert the Great White Shark was a tiny pup, Raymond the Remora stuck to him like glue. Then, one day, Gilbert wakes to find his friend has left town to live somewhere new. Nothing can console Gilbert. Then he meets disconsolate remora who has lost her shark. “I’d love to stick around with you,” she says. And that is the start of a beautiful new friendship.

Do you have any other fun shark books that you would add? I hope that you’ve found a few new ones to share with your little learners.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post The Best Shark Read-Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

Playing games is my favorite way to reinforce what we are learning. Today I’m sharing Free Printable CVC Short E Puzzles to help the kiddos review. It’s always great when your students are getting practice but don’t even realize it since they are playing a game.

CVC words are words that are made up of a consonant, short vowel, and consonant sound, such as cat, bed, tip, hot, and rug. The goal is for students to use their knowledge of the individual sounds of each letter and ‘blend’ these letter sounds together, so they are saying the whole word and not three individual sounds.

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Today I am sharing the Free Printable CVC Short E Puzzles. I have shared the CVC Short A puzzles here.

Getting Ready

These puzzles are super simple to prep. You’ll just need to download the file at the bottom of this post. Cut out the puzzles and I suggest laminating them for durability and they can be played with over and over again. Now you’re ready to play!

To Play

To play, mix up all of the puzzle pieces. Have the student choose a picture.

They will then search through the puzzle pieces to find the matching word to complete the puzzle. Continue this until all of the puzzles have been put together. This can be played individually, or with a friend during centers or even in a small group.

I’ve also included a recording sheet for the students to write the short e words using the puzzles they’ve put together.

To store the puzzles, we use a small plastic photo box. It makes it easy for the students to grab the box to play and then they can easily clean them back up.

You can download the Free Printable CVC Short E Puzzles by clicking the big green box below.

If you’re looking for some additional activities for your students to review CVC words we have a bunch of fun options for you.!

Here’s a fun FREE CVC board game for your students to play! You can check it out and download it for free here.

Our CVC bingo is a fantastic and fun way to practice short vowel words. This is a great option for small groups or as a whole class.

Are some of your kiddos ready for a bit more of a challenge? They love the challenge and the satisfaction of solving the puzzles! These CVC Crossword Puzzles are very engaging!

And for those little learners that love to color, these Color by CVC Word pages are perfect! They will look at the picture next to each color and then find the matching word throughout the picture and color.

What are some of your favorite ways to reinforce CVC words that your students have been learning?

Jenette

The post Free Printable CVC Short E Puzzles 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!

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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.

Are your little learners working on learning their sight words? They’ll have a fun time practicing with this Sunshine Sight Word Memory Game!

Sight words are those words that our students will see over and over in print. They are sometimes called high-frequency words, service words, or even snap words. Because you should know them in a snap!

This Sunshine Sight Word Memory Game uses Dolch Pre-primer words.

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Getting Ready

To get the game ready to play, you’ll first want to download and print the game. You can download it near the bottom of the post by clicking the large green button. After printing, I glued each page onto a piece of yellow cardstock. The cardstock is optional, but this will help the game be more durable and will last longer. You can also laminate them to help last even longer. Last, cut out each of the sight word cards and you’re ready to play.

To Play

To play the memory game, start by choosing which words you want the students to review. Maybe they’re just starting to learn a few words so you start with 6 words. Place all 6 of those word cards plus their matches face down randomly./mixed up.

Have the student choose a card to turn over, and then read the card. If they can read the sight word, have can choose another card to flip over to see if they have a match. If they don’t read the word correctly, review the word with them and have them turn it back over and it’s the next player’s turn.

If they do get a match, have them set the cards in front of them and they get to go again. Continue this until all of the cards have been turned over and matched. The player with the most matches at the end is the winner.

To store the game away for next time, we use clear photo 4×6 boxes. It keeps everything nice and in one spot ready to just grab and play for next time.

You can download the memory game by clicking the green box below.

Are you looking for another fun way to review sight words with your little learners? We have our color-by-code sight word sets. They’re a favorite for the kids! Check out our ocean-themed set here.

And we have a free one for your students o try out here.

What are some other ways you like to practice sight words with your students?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Sunshine Sight Word Memory Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

Read Across America Week is quickly approaching so I thought I’d share some fun Read Across America Week Ideas that you can use!

Read Across America Week is an annual event that is an initiative on reading creative by the National Education Association. … This motivational and awareness day calls all children and youth in every community across the United States to celebrate reading.  Read Across America week is usually the first week in March.

At some schools, the whole school participates in this week and has a whole fun literacy week or you can celebrate it in your own classroom or at home.

Read Across America Week Ideas

Take your reading outdoors.

• Take your class outside and find a nice shady area and have storytime outside. You can do the same at home. Find somewhere nice to sit outside, or maybe take a book to a park.

Book Scavenger Hunt

• This one can be done in the classroom or at home. Set out some books that you know have the items on the list and have your little learners look through the books for them. You can print off a picture of the hunt below or you can find the actual printable version of the book scavenger hunt here. We also have an extension page that the kids can fill in all of the items they found in the books that you can grab for free here.

Reading Buddies

• Get in touch with an older grade, 5th, and 6th work well for this, and have their class become reading buddies with yours. They can come and read to the younger kids and vice versa, the younger kids can read to the older kids. You can do the same at home, and put an older sibling together with a younger one and have them take turns reading to each other.

Reading Bingo

• Send this fun reading bingo home with your little learners to make reading even more fun! Have them bring it back completed to you for a small prize. You can grab the reading bingo for free here.

Have Guest Readers or Mystery Readers

• You could invite a local author in to read to the students. Have the principal stop in to read a book to the class or even invite a police officer! Tons of different options you could go with here. You could also invite mystery readers in. Give the class 3 clues to see if they can guess who the reader will be!

Do An Author Study

• Does your class have a favorite author? Some of our favorites to do author studies on are Eric Carle, Laura Numeroff, and James Dean. We have a bunch of activities that you could do along with the author study.

• Eric Carle:
  • Free Printable Caterpillar Hat
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar Literacy Snack
  • The Grouchy Ladybug Literacy Snack
  • A Very Busy Spider Literacy Snack
  • The Tiny See Literacy Snack
  • Pancakes! Pancakes! Literacy Snack
• Laura Numeroff
  • Cookie Counting Puzzles
  • Cookie Hat
  • If You Give A Moose A Muffin Literacy Snack
  • If You Give A Cat A Cupcake Literacy Snack
  • Donut Ten Frames
  • If You Give A Dog A Donut Literacy Snack
• James Dean
  • Cool Cat Awards
  • Pete The Cat I Love My White Shoes Literacy Snack
  • Pete The Cat Cupcake Subtraction Craftivity

Dress Up As Your Favorite Book Character Day

• Have your choose a book and dress up as one of the characters. The class can take turns guessing who everyone is dressed up as! For yourself, talk to your teammates about dressing up altogether to make it extra fun!

Host A Family Reading Campout

• Choose a night and invite the entire school out to a family reading campout. We have done this in our cafeteria. Set up several tents, make pretend campfires and have some teachers volunteer to come and read too! We also set up a reading craft area and gave out special s’more snacks!

Read With Flashlights

• Set aside some special reading time and read with flashlights! Something so small but makes it so fun! The kids love it!

Beary Good Reader Snack

• Here’s a fun snack to give to your beary good readers! You can put the crackers into a snack bag or you can find pre-packaged crackers that you can just attach the bag topper to as well! Click here to download it now.

Read Books That Promote Diversity And Inclusion.

• The Read Across America website has a fantastic calendar of book suggestions depending on that month’s theme. From foster inclusiveness exploring families and history to promoting respect. You can check out the calendar and book suggestions here.

Make A Literacy Snack

• Have you tried one of our literacy snack ideas? We take a read-aloud and create a fun snack to go along with the book. Each one has a free printable available to go with the book too! We have shared over 100 of them now. You can find them all here.

Do you have any other fun ways to celebrate Read Across America week? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Read Across America Week Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

I’m always looking for new ways for students to practice their sight words. As you know, games are my thing and are my favorite way of having students practice different things they are learning. My favorite part is that when they play a game, they don’t even realize they are learning and practicing things that they have been taught.

So today, I’m sharing a Honey Bee Sight Word Game to help your students practice their pre-primer sight words.

The Setup

To play the game, all you need to do is download the printable at the bottom of the post. Cut out all of the squares and laminate so you can play the game over and over again. You will also need some kind of container to put the cards in. I used a tin bucket I had on hand, but anything you have will work.

To Play

This game can be played with one student or many. You will put all of the cards into the container and shake them up. Have a student pull out a card, look at it, and read the sight word. If they cannot read the word help tell them what the word is and put the card back into the container. If they got the word correct and if they are playing alone, choose another card and repeat. And if you are playing with other students, move to the next person to take a turn.

There are some cards that have a pot of honey on them. If that card gets pulled, the player gets to take another turn.

There are also some cards that say BZZZ! If a student chooses a BZZZ! card, they say BZZZ! and put all of their sight word cards back in the container and it’s the next players’ turn or they can start over again if playing alone. Keep playing until all of the words have been read.

Click the green box below to download the Honey Bee Sight Word Game.

If you’re looking for more fun ways to practice sight words. you may like our color by sight word packs.

And if you’re looking for more sight words games, we have our FREE pancake stack game. You can check that out here.

Do you have any other fun games you like to play to practice sight words?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Honey Bee Sight Word Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

Looking for a fun way to keep those kiddos reading? I’m sharing a Free Printable Reading Bingo to make reading even more fun!

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I just modified my summer reading bingo that I shared here. So some of the spaces are the same and I’ve changed it so everything is doable with people staying at home. I also just made it in a black and white version so it can be easily shared with families.

Encourage your students and their families to head to the library for some of their favorite books like The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog, and Underpants Thunderpants and they’re all set to start reading!

Click the big green box below to download the Free Printable Reading Bingo.

I hope this helps those little ones keep reading!

See you next time!

Jenette

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

Playing games or in this case, doing puzzles is one of my favorite ways to reinforce concepts the students have been working on. Today I’m sharing Free Printable CVC Short A Puzzles to help the kiddos review. It’s always a bonus when the kiddos are getting practice but don’t even realize it since they are playing a game.

CVC words are words that are made up of a consonant, short vowel, and consonant sound, such as cat, bed, tip, hot, and rug. The goal is for students to use their knowledge of the individual sounds of each letter and ‘blend’ these letter sounds together, so they are saying the whole word and not three individual sounds.

Today we are starting with Short A words.

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Getting Ready

These CVC Short A Puzzles are super simple to prep. You’ll just need to download the file at the bottom of this post. Cut out the puzzles and I suggest laminating them for durability and they can be played with over and over again. Now you’re ready to play!

To Play

To play, mix up all of the puzzle pieces. Have the student choose a picture.

They will then search through the puzzle pieces to find the matching word to complete the puzzle. Continue this until all of the puzzles have been put together. This can be played individually, or with a friend during centers or even in a small group.

I’ve also included a recording sheet for the students to write the short a words using the puzzles they’ve put together.

To store the puzzles, we use small plastic photo box. It make sit easy for the students to grab the box to play and then they can easily clean them back up.

You can download the Free Printable CVC Short A Puzzles by clicking the big green box below.

If you’re looking for some additional activities for your students to review CVC words we have a bunch of fun options for you.!

Our CVC bingo is a fantastic and fun way to practice short vowel words. This is a great option for small groups or as a whole class.

And another fun game that can be used as a center. Spin a middle sound and cover a matching word.

Are some of your kiddos ready for a bit more of a challenge? They love the challenge and the satisfaction of solving the puzzles! These CVC Crossword Puzzles are very engaging!

And for those little learners that love to color, these Color by CVC Word pages are perfect! They will look at the picture next to each color and then find the matching word throughout the picture and color.

What are some of your favorite ways to reinforce CVC words that your students have been learning?

Jenette

The post Free Printable CVC Short A Puzzles appeared first on Primary Playground.

Kids learning to read is such a HUGE deal! It is just one of my favorite sounds to hear a little kid voice reading, it just makes my heart so happy. At this point in the year, you may have some kiddos really starting to do well reading so I wanted to make something special that you can give to them for being such a beary good reader!

These would be great to give out as a celebration for reaching a certain ready level during a teddy bear reading picnic in the classroom or even at the end of the school year along with a book as an easy end of the year gift.

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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.

Supplies you’ll need

Download and print the Beary Good Reader Treat Bag Topper at the bottom of this post

scissors

stapler

snack bags

Teddy Grahams individual bags or boxes depending on how many you’ll be making – I was able to make 7 bags from one box of the Teddy Grahams

To Assemble

If you’re using the individual bags of Teddy Grahams, you’ll just print off the toppers, but them out and staple them on.

If you are using boxes of Teddy Grahams, you’ll want to fill the snack bags with the Teddy Grahams. Again, I was able to get 7 bags from each box. Download, print and cut out the bag toppers and simply staple them onto the bags.

Such an easy but meaningful special treat for your beary good readers!

You can download the Beary Good Reader Treat Bag Topper from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

What are some of your favorite ways to help celebrate your kiddos learning to read?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Beary Good Reader Treat Bag Topper 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 important to have your students practice sight words every, single day.  Repetition is one of the keys when tackling all of the words children are expected to know.  Practicing words they are learning will keep them fresh in their mind and practicing words they have already mastered will help to build confidence!  One of our favorite things to do is play games to practice sight words so today I’m sharing a fun Pancake Sight Word Stack Game.

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To Prep

The prep for this game is simple. You’ll need to download the game at the bottom of the post and print it out. Cut out each of the pancake pieces and a page or 2 of the plates. Laminating the pieces will make it so the game can be used over and over again.

To Play

There are 2 different ways you can play this Pancake Sight Word Stack Game. All of the words in the game ar3e Dolch pre-primer words.

For 1 or more players – as a small group or as a center

• Each player will need a plate. Place all of the pancake pieces into a bowl. Player one will pull out a pancake piece and read the sight word. If they can read the word, they place it on their plate. If playing by themself, they will go again and if playing with other friends, it is the next players’ turn. If they do not know the word, they will put it back into the bowl. If a player pulls out a pancake with butter on it they will put all of their pancakes that are on their plate back into the bowl. Continue reading and stacking the pancakes until all of them have been read.

• The second version you can play just has a small variation. Give each student a few plates instead of just one. Play the game the same as above, except when a buttered pancake is pulled have them place it on top of a pancake stack. And have them start a new one on another plate and continue to play until all of the pancakes have been read.

The kids have so much fun practicing their sight words this way and you can’t beat getting to play a game with pancakes!

You can download the Pancake Sight Word Stack Game. below.

Here are some of our other favorite activities we like to do with pancakes.

Your students will have so much fun learning how to make pancakes with this fun resource. 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. 

And our literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle is a fantastic book to read with your class. This is a great book that can be incorporated into many types of lessons, from sequencing to a farm unit. 

What are some of your favorite ways to have your students practice their sight words?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Pancake Sight Word Stack Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

Have you started teaching sight words? This Free Printable Fall Color By Code Sight Words page is always such a fun way to reinforce those sight words with your little learners.

This article works well with these Primary Playground resources

This Free Printable Fall Color By Code Sight Words is an activity that can be used in a variety of ways. Color by code sight words works well for morning work, early finishers,  literacy centers, or as homework. It’s a great way to reinforce the sight words they’ve learned at school and for them to practice them at home again easily.

The first time the students do this activity, encourage them to color the crayons first so they can easily see which color the sight word needs to be.

To do the color by code sight words, the students will carefully color the picture one area at a time using the matching color for the sight words. The students will continue coloring the sight words until the entire picture has been completed. They will then be able to see their hidden picture!

If your students enjoyed this Fall Color By Code Sight Words, they’ll love these fall-themed color by code sight words. There are 50 pages that include the pre-primer Dolch words.

Or these winter themed color by code sight word pages.

You can download the free printable below.

What are some of the other ways you like to have your students practice their sight words?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Fall Color By Code Sight Words appeared first on Primary Playground.

Games are my favorite way to teach little learners. When they don’t even realize they are learning but having fun, I’ve done my job. I’m sharing with you a fun Free Printable Rhyming Game I Have Who Has, that can be played as a whole class or with as few as 2 players.

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Before I share the game with you. I wanted to share some of our favorite rhyming videos. Rhyming can sometimes be a difficult skill for some little learners and these videos help make it fun.

Rocco The Rhyming Rhino by Jack Hartmann

In this fun song, Rocco loves rhyming words and he gives lots of examples of rhyming words. Rocco gives 2 rhyming words at the beginning of this song and in the end, Rocco will give the first rhyming word and the students fill in the other rhyming word.

Exercise, Rhyme and Freeze by Jack Hartmann

This is a fun one to get the kiddos up and moving. When they hear words that rhyme they exercise and when they don’t rhyme they freeze!

The Rhyming Words Game by Jack Harmann

And this is another fun one by Jack Harmann. He plays a rhyming game with the kids and gets them moving by sitting and standing when they hear words that rhyme.

Free Printable Rhyming I Have Who Has Game

And now onto our rhyming game! To prep the game, you’ll just need to download the cards below, and cut and laminate them for durability.

To Play

To play as a whole class – there are 30 rhyming cards in all. If you have less than 30 students, you’ll need to play the remaining cards and distribute them out so that some students will have more than one. Choose a student to start and they will ask the class who has a word that rhymes with the bottom picture on their card. For example, Who has a word that rhymes with nose? Everyone will look at their cards at the top picture to see if it rhymes with the word nose. The student that has the picture hose, will raise their hand and tells the class I have hose. They will then continue to go to the bottom of their card and ask, who has a word that rhymes with the picture on the bottom of their card. Continue the game until all rhymes have been matched.

To play as a small group or 2 players. You’ll play the same way as above but will need to deal out each of the cards in the deck. This makes it really fun to look through your pile to try to see if you have the word that rhymes or not.

You can download the free printable below.

If your students enjoyed this game we have several more sets of the I Have Who Has Games. Letters, Numbers, Beginning Sounds, CVC Words, 2D Shapes, 3D Shapes. Tons of options for your class!

And if you’re looking for more fun rhyming activities, your class will love playing rhyming bingo!

Or this rhyming spin and cover game, perfect for small groups or centers!

What are some other fun ways you like to review rhyming words?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Rhyming I Have Who Has Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

What are your favorite ways to reinforce CVC words that the students have learned? My kids have been loving these color by code CVC word pages!

This color by code CVC word is an activity that can be used in a variety of ways. Color by code CVC words works well for morning work, early finishers,  literacy centers, or as homework. It’s a great way to reinforce the CVC words they’ve learned at school and for them to practice them at home again easily.

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Color By Code CVC Words Printable

The first time the students do this activity, I always encourage them to color the crayons first so they can easily see which color the CVC word needs to be.

To do the color by code CVC words, the students will carefully color the picture one area at a time using the matching color for the CVC words. This one is a bit more challenging than the color by code sight words, as they will look at the picture next to the crayon and have to color in the area of the word that matches. The students will continue coloring the CVC words until the entire picture has been completed. They will then be able to see their hidden picture!

\If your students enjoyed this free printable color by code CVC words, they’ll love these spring-themed color by code CVC words. There are 5 different spring-themed pictures for the students to color in by CVC word. There are 5 pages of each middle sound, a, e, i, o, u, and another 5 pages that are mixed.

or these space-themed color by code CVC words.

Click below to download the free printable color by code CVC words page.

What are some other ways you have your students practice their CVC words?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Color By Code CVC Words appeared first on Primary Playground.

Every time we go to the Children’s Museum in our city, one of my kid’s favorite areas is the dramatic play area that is a full garden. They can plant and pick flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Over the years, I’ve had a special garden play area set up with supplies that I’ve found at Dollar Tree over time. Aprons, gloves, pots, rocks, fake flowers, shovels and I made seed packets for them to play with.

I wanted to take it a step further and have now turned it into a new center! I’m sharing with you today how to make your own DIY garden for the classroom to use as a center. It is super easy to make and doesn’t cost but a few dollars!

Supplies you’ll need

A cardboard box – I used an empty Girl Scout cookie box since I have a ton laying around right now. It measures 15inches  x 8 1/2 inches
1 or 2 pool noodle (depending on how large your box is)

Fake leaves _ I found mine at the local thrift store for a dollar

2 or 3 pieces of brown felt – I used 12in by 18in pieces  (depending on how large your box is)

Glue gun

Scissors

Steak knife

Wide craft sticks

Brown craft paper roll (not a necessity)

To make the DIY garden for the classroom

First, you will want to measure the length of your box. Measure that length on your pool noodle and use a sharp knife to cut through the pool noodle. Continue to cut pieces to the length of your box from the pool noodles until you have enough to fit the width of your box. I used one pool noodle cut into three with a bit left over.

Next, take a piece of your brown felt. Lay the pool noodle on top and cut to size. You do not have to wrap the felt all the way around the pool noodle, it just needs to go around the noodle enough that you can no longer see the noodle when you place them side by side in the box. In doing this, I was able to use just 2 pieces of felt for my project.

Next, use your glue gun to glue the felt around the pool noodle. After you have your noodles wrapped. Place them in your cardboard box so they fit snuggly.

Depending on how tall your box is, you may need to stuff some newspaper under the pool noodles to keep it sturdy in case the kids press down too hard later when playing. At this point, I also chose to wrap my box in plain brown craft paper since it wasn’t a plain brown box.

Next, I cut apart my green foliage and hot glued pieces of it to large craft sticks so they can easily be put in and taken back out of the “soil”.

UPDATE: I was so excited when I walked into the Dollar Spot at Target the other day. I found these small wooden baskets, the perfect size for your garden! I moved over the same 3 pool noodles and they fit perfectly! They also had a bunch of fun felt food, garden tools, gloves, and aprons. Perfect for your center!

Now your garden is ready to go! You could just add this as part of your dramatic play area with fake flowers and maybe some felt fruits and vegetables.  But I wanted to turn it into a hands-on learning experience and take it a step further.

I created a garden center bundle to use throughout the year. It comes with everything from matching uppercase strawberries to lowercase baskets, building CVC and sight words with flowers and carrots, to practicing number sense with turnips. Change the centers out as the students progress along the school year.

I hope your students enjoy these hands-on learning activities!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post DIY Garden For The Classroom – Garden Centers appeared first on Primary Playground.

What are your favorite ways to reinforce sight words that the students have learned? My kids have been loving these color by code sight word pages!

This color by code sight word is an activity that can be used in a variety of ways. Color by code sight words works well for morning work, early finishers,  literacy centers, or as homework. It’s a great way to reinforce the sight words they’ve learned at school and for them to practice them at home again easily.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

The first time the students do this activity, I always encourage them to color the crayons first so they can easily see which color the sight word needs to be.

To do the color by code sight words, the students will carefully color the picture one area at a time using the matching color for the sight words. The students will continue coloring the sight words until the entire picture has been completed. They will then be able to see their hidden picture!

If your students enjoyed this free printable color by code sight words, they’ll love these winter-themed color by code sight words. There are 50 pages that include the pre-primer Dolch words.

Or these ocean-themed color by code sight words pages. 

Click the green box below to download the free printable color by code sight words page from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

I also have another free color by sight words page for fall that you can grab here. 

What are some other ways you have your students practice their sight words?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Color By Code Sight Words appeared first on Primary Playground.

School is out for the summer, but we want to prevent that dreaded summer slide right?  To help with that, I came up with a fun game, sight word water balloon toss.  The kids can play outside and can also practice their reading in a fun way.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies

A pack of water balloons and a tub to put them in when filled Another great option would be to use sponges or make sponge balls. (There are a ton of great tutorials for them on Pinterest.)

Sidewalk chalk

To Play

To play the sight word water balloon toss game, first, write the sight words that you want the kids to practice on the sidewalk with chalk. I let my kids choose the words and we practiced spelling them together. They chose to draw circles around each word so it was more like a “target”.

Next, fill up your water balloons. When you’re ready to play, have each kid take a water balloon and choose a sight word they want to aim for.

Have them read the sight word aloud and then they can try to toss the water balloon on the word.

If you have multiple kids playing, have them take turns until all of the sight words are read aloud and splattered. If you have water balloons left, move to another area and play all over again!

If you’re looking for more water fun, we practice our math in this blog post you can check out here.

Having water fun and still learning makes it a perfect summer activity!

I’ve teamed up with a few other educational bloggers to give us some more fun summer activities to help keep us learning. Hop over to You’ve Got This Math for a fun outdoor math activity!

See you next time!

Jenette

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There’s just nothing like doing some summer reading! I look forward to having a bit more time during the summer to sit back and relax with a book. I’m sharing this fun free printable summer reading bingo that you can share with your kiddos before they go off to summer break to help encourage them to keep reading over the summer.

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It has fun things for the kids to do while reading such as reading to a stuffed animal, reading while eating ice cream, or even reading while wearing sunglasses! Anything to help encourage those kiddos to keep reading through the summer!

This would be perfect to hand out alongside a summer review packet, or even to go along with a book you may have purchased from Scholastic to give to the students as an end-of-the-year gift.

If you work at the library this would be a fun addition to a summer reading program too. Have the kids fill out the bingo sheet and bring it back in for a small prize.

I’ve included both a color and a black and white option depending on how many you’ll be printing.

You can download the summer reading bingo from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you’re looking for some additional activities to send home with your kiddos, I have some more great free bingo idea boards.

A general, any time of the year reading bingo here.

A math bingo here

And a screen-free bingo here

I hope you get to enjoy some summer reading of your own!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Summer Reading Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

One of my favorite themes to incorporate at the end of the school year is camping! We do all kinds of fun camping theme activities over a few days and at the end of the week, everyone brings in a pillow and blanket and we have a reading campout.

I made these fun free printable s’more bag toppers that say, Let’s Read S’More! to go with a fun s’more mix for the kiddos to enjoy during their reading campout.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

Honey graham cereal

Mini marshmallows

Chocolate chips

Snack Bags

Free printable – at the bottom of the post

Free Printable S’more Bag Topper

To make the mix, just simply put some of each of the ingredients into the bag making it into a yummy s’mores mix. Print and cut out the bag toppers, staple them on and you’re good to go!

They are a perfect snack during your reading campout, or would be a fantastic treat to send the kiddos off with on the last day of school along with a book to encourage them to read over the summer!

You can download the free printable s’more bag topper from my teacherspayteachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for some fun camping activities to add to your week I have some fun options for you!

First, if you need some fun camping books to read while having the special s’mores snack, I’ve gathered all of my favorites here.

My kids are obsessed with bingo so we play our camping bingo every chance we get!

Making a s’more craft and writing about them is always a favorite.

Cooking class how to make a s’more is a super fun way to get in some sequencing and writing practice. Making their own paper s’mores make it even more fun!

And you can’t go wrong with the camping activities pack that covers all kinds of fun things from word search to math practice, writing, and vocabulary.

What other types of activities do you like to do for your camping-themed days?

I hope your kiddos enjoy the s’more snack mix!

See you next time!

Jenette

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Winter Break Bingo

With winter break quickly approaching, I created this bingo to send home with the kiddos.  Instead of homework over break, I wanted to encourage the students to read, play, and spend quality time with the families. I’ve included fun things like draw a winter picture, have soup for dinner, read in front of the fireplace, have an indoor snowball fight. Lots of different options for the students to choose from.

THIS RESOURCE WORKS WELL WITH

You can make suggestions too, such as if a student doesn’t have a fireplace, they have fire videos on Netflix or Youtube. Maybe you live in Arizona like us and don’t get snow, but you can still build a snowman out of play doh. Encourage the students to think outside the box and be creative. Winter break is a great time for us all to regenerate and take a break to get ready for the second half of the school year.

If the students bring back the bingo card after winter break with a, “bingo’, they get to take a trip to the treasure box. I’ve made the printable in both a color option and a black and white option so you can print what best fits your needs. You can download the free bingo below from my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

If you’re looking for more ideas like this to send home, we also have a free math bingo here, a free screen free bingo here, a free summer reading bingo here and a free reading bingo here. 

Wishing you a fantastic, relaxing winter break!

Jenette

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I don’t know about you, but dragons aren’t the only ones who love tacos! For this week’s Literacy Snack Dragon Tacos Read Aloud we’re reading Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin.

“Dragons love tacos. They love chicken tacos, beef tacos, great big tacos, and teeny tiny tacos. So if you want to lure a bunch of dragons to your party, you should definitely serve tacos. Buckets and buckets of tacos. Unfortunately, where there are tacos, there is also salsa. And if a dragon accidentally eats spicy salsa . . . oh, boy. You’re in red-hot trouble.”

My kids absolutely love this book and I just knew I needed to turn it into one of our Literacy Snacks. We of course are having tacos!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

ingredients

for each student, you’ll need

one taco shell – have you seen these Stand ‘n Stuff Shells? Best thing everrrrrr for kids!

ground beef

shredded cheese

shredded lettuce

chopped tomatoes

taco sauce

I’m sure you’ve made tacos before so I’ll save you from instruction, but give you some tips. Save your sanity and buy the tacos shells that stand up. Life-changing! For the ground beef, I made it at home and brought it in a crockpot and just kept it on low all day, stirring once in a while to keep it warm until we were ready to use it.

I included taco sauce since that’s what the dragons don’t like. You’ll have a few adventurous kiddos that will want to try it and I love that! I just made sure to get mild.

Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their snacks, I created a worksheet for them to work on. It’s a word search with words from the book, words about tacos and dragons.

You can download the Literacy Snack Dragon Tacos Read Aloud free printable by clicking the green box below.

We have a couple of other fun activities to go along with this book too.

This Free Printable Dragon Tacos Spin and Graph is a fun activity to teach your little learners about graphing. This activity is perfect for math workshops, in small groups, or even as an independent whole group activity to introduce graphing and recording data. Click here to get it for free.

And I have two more fun math activities to use these mini taco erasers. Taco Counting Mats 1-20 and Taco Ten Frame Task Cards.

I know having tacos makes this the best day of the week for me. I hope your students enjoy this activity as much as mine do.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Dragon Tacos Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

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 books are some of my favorites. In November we focus on being thankful, showing gratitude, traditions, and manners. Throw in a little turkey fun and we call it good! These are my picks for The Best Thanksgiving Read-Alouds.

I also have a bunch of literacy snack ideas and free printables to go along with a lot of these books for make sure to check those out too!

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Thanksgiving Rules

In this humorous book, Percy knows just what to do to get the most out of this delicious holiday. And so will you if you follow his ten simple rules!

The Thanksgiving Bowl

After the Grandma reads the “I’m thankful” lists, the bowl is forgotten about and blows away. Miraculously, the bowl’s year long journey of being continuously lost and found comes full circle as it arrives back in Grandma Grace’s yard just in time for Thanksgiving.

Turkey Trouble

In this humorous book, the turkey is in bad trouble. The kind of trouble where it’s almost Thanksgiving…and you’re the main course. After many hilarious attempts, Turkey comes up with the perfect disguise to make this Thanksgiving the best ever!

I have a Literacy Snack to go along with the book Turkey Trouble too. You can see more about that here.

Bear Says Thanks

What better way for Bear to say thanks than to have a big dinner with all of his friends!

One is a Feast for Mouse

  This warm and humorous book gently reminds us to give thanks for the little things.

How To Catch A Turkey

A turkey is running loose in a school right before a Thanksgiving play. Follow along as students turn their school upside down trying to catch the turkey, ending with a twist that ensures no turkeys are harmed (or eaten!). 

I have a literacy snack and free printable to go along with this book too! You can get the snack details and grab the free printable to go along with the book here.

Thanksgiving Day Thanks

A charming story about the traditions that make Thanksgiving special.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

A take on the classic, this tall-tailed tall tale tells how eight children on a field trip share in a Thanksgiving all can remember vividly.

Peyton Picks the Perfect Pie

Peyton is very particular. She doesn’t like it when two foods touch on her plate. 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?

I have a fun literacy snack to go along with this book too! You can get the details of the snack idea and grab the free printable to go along with the book here.

The Night Before Thanksgiving

This story combines the hectic pace of preparation with all the familiar elements of the big day. It promotes togetherness as a family and includes a pause to give thanks for what they have.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

A charming story about the traditions that make Thanksgiving special.

Over the River A Turkey’s Tale

The author adds heaps of holiday humor to the classic Thanksgiving song. You’ll be wondering who’s going to gobble up whom until the dessert finale.

Balloons Over Broadway

This book is the true story of the puppeteer of Macy’s parade. In the book you meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire! It tells the story of the puppeteer Tony Sarg, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America—the inspired helium balloons that would become the trademark of Macy’s Parade.

And here’s a fun literacy snack to go along with this book too. You can get the snack details and the free printable to go along with the book here.

A Plump and Perky Turkey

This is a great rhyming book. This story teaches kids to be thankful even though they don’t always get what they want.

Cranberry Thanksgiving

This book has so many great lessons in it. From a good reminder to the adults that not everything has to be perfect to invite people over to teaching the kids not to judge someone on looks and to give everyone a chance.

I have a fun literacy snack to go along with this book too. You can get the details of the snack idea and grab the free printable to go along with the book here.

The Very Stuffed Turkey

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!

And there’s a literacy snack to go along with this book too! Get the snack details and grab the free printable to go along with the book here.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

When Peppermint Patty invites herself (and most of her friends) to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, Charlie Brown reluctantly agrees to make a holiday feast even though he can barely make toast and cold cereal! Can he pull together a memorable meal, or will he and his friends just be grateful when it’s over.

And of course I have a literacy snack to go along with this one too! Get the snack details and free printable to go along with the book here.

Whew, that’s a lot of great books! Do you have any other picks to add to The Best Thanksgiving Read-Alouds.?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post The Best Thanksgiving Read-Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

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These Free Printable Bookworm Bag Topper are a fun way to celebrate reading accomplishments with your students!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WTIH

I wanted to come up with a fun idea to help celebrate the students AR reading each quarter. The students have a personal AR reading goal each quarter and If they reach the goal, they get to come to our AR party! Any of the students that don’t reach their goal will go to our buddy rooms.

Each quarter will have a different celebration. We have 45 minutes set aside so nothing too big, but something fun for their hard work.

The Plan

1st quarter

Bookworm certificates  ~ bag of gummy worms & recess time

2nd quarter

Star Reader certificates ~ hot cocoa bar

3rd quarter

Super Reader certificates ~  popcorn bar

4th quarter

Remarkable Reader certificates  ~ popsicles

Bookworm Treats

I created reading certificates that each of the students received. Since the certificate is bookworm themed, I knew that gummy worms had to be involved! These bookworm bag toppers worked out perfectly. I put some sour gummy worms in a snack bag and and stapled on the bag toppers and you’re done! Simple and quick is my favorite kind of project.

Click the green box to download the Free Printable Bookworm Bag Topper,

The students absolutely loved the gummy worms and were so proud to take their certificates home to show their parents. Anything little thing that we can do to make reading that much more enjoyable for these kiddos is good with me!

What are some ideas you’ve used in your classroom to celebrate reading?

Jenette

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