Groundhog Day is such a fun theme for kindergarten! For today’s Literacy Snack Groundhog Read-Aloud we are reading Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts The Weather by Bruce Koscielniak.

“Geoffrey Groundhog has become a local celebrity for successfully predicting how long winter will last. Everyone awaits his prediction each February 2, when he emerges from his burrow to look for his shadow. But Geoffrey’s fame has grown out of control—and so has the commotion surrounding his burrow! With television lights and cameras crowding him, he can’t even see the ground, much less his shadow. How will he make his spring prediction? How will anyone know if they should wax their surfboards or their skis?”

The kids have such a fun time predicting wether the groundhog will see his shadow or not! For our snack this week, we are making our own groundhog!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

To make the groundhog snack, each student will need:

• A chocolate rice cake
• 2 Vanilla Wafter cookies
• 2 Mini Nutter Butter cookies
• 1 mini marshmallow
• 1 chocolate chip
• 2 candy eyes

Instructions for groundhog snack

To make the groundhog, have the students start with the rice cake. They can then add the two mini Nutter Butter cookies as the ears. Next, place the two vanilla wafer cookies on as the cheeks. Add the mini marshmallow between the vanilla wafer cookies as its tooth. Add the chocolate chip as its nose and add on the candy eyes. He looks so cute!

Free Printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they enjoy their groundhog snack. They will get to predict whether the groundhog will see its shadow or not and write about why they chose their prediction.

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

I made the printable so that you can use it with any groundhog book, too. Below are a couple of other great options that you could read with your class.

Groundhog’s Day Off

Groundhog Day!

If you’re looking for another fun activity to do with your class, we have this cute Groundhog Craft With Writing Prompts. It’s a fun way to add in some writing practice and they look adorable hung up in the classroom or your hallway!

I hope your students enjoy making their groundhog snacks and learning all about Groundhog Day! See you next time!

Jenette

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

Are you little learners working on practicing their beginning sounds? I have a fun Free Printable Santa Beginning Sounds Game they will love to play!

Many of you expressed how much fun your kids had playing our Gobble Gobble Game last month; I’ve made one to continue the fun this month, too, with a Christmas version! This game is fun to review beginning sounds and letters with your learners.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

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 fun Christmas container that I got at Michaels years ago. 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 letter, and say the sound it makes. If playing alone, choose another card and repeat. If playing with other students, move to the next person to take a turn.

There are also some cards that say, Ho ho ho! If a student chooses a Ho ho ho! card, they say, Ho ho ho! like Santa and put all of their letters back in the container, and it’s the next players’ turn, or they can start over again if playing alone.

There are both uppercase and lowercase letters. You can choose to use them both or just one set, the game will work the same either way.

Your students will love playing this game so much and get so into saying ho, ho, ho like Santa does. They hope to pull those cards!

You can download the Santa Beginning Sounds Game below by clicking the green download box.

If you’re looking for more beginning sound activities, we share all of our favorites
 in this blog post here.

Do you have any other fun games you like to play to practice beginning sounds?

Thanks for stopping by!

jenette

The post Santa Beginning Sounds Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

October is such a fun time to teach about bats! For our Literacy Snack Bat Read-Aloud this week, we are reading, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.

Knocked from her mother’s safe embrace by an attacking owl, Stellaluna lands headfirst in a bird’s nest. This adorable baby fruit bat’s world is turned upside down when the nest’s occupants adopt her and she adapts to their peculiar bird habits.

Stellaluna is a story of what it means to be family, to feel different and like an outsider, and to accept and love people even when they act in a manner that seems strange to you. A lot of good conversations can be started by reading this book. It’s also a fantastic book to work on comparing and contrasting.

For our snack this week, we are making a bat!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

This bat snack is a super easy snack idea You’ll just need 2 simple items for your students to make them!

Each student will need the following to make their bat.

• 1 and a half of a chocolate sandwich cookie.
• 2 candy eyes

To make the bat snack, you can either pre-cut the half of the sandwich cookie in half or have the students do it. They will lay the two halves as the wings on their plate or napkin. Place the full-size cookie on top of the two halves creating your bat. Lastly, add the eye candies. Now you have a super simple, adorable bat snack!

Free Printable

I made a free printable to go along with the book for your students to work on while they are enjoying their bat snack. They will get to compare and contrast bats and birds. This would be a great activity to start working together as a class to create a Venn diagram of things about bats and birds. Then you can have your students color, cut, and glue theirs.

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

If you’re looking for some other engaging activities to add to your bat unit, we have a huge pack of bat activities full of math, literacy, and science activities. You can check out everything that is included here.

We also have a super cute bat craft which is a fun way to sneak in some extra writing practice. You can check that out here.

I hope your students love this book as much as I do and enjoy their fun, yummy bat snack!

See you next time!

Jenette

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The first week of school is such an exciting time! Today I have a fun new free printable ice breaker activity for you to start the school year off with. Get To Know Your Classmates Bingo.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Get To Know Your Classmates Bingo

The bingo card is full of fun questions about their classmates. Things such as someone that is new to the school, someone that read 5 books or more over the summer to someone that loves to swing at recess.

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 Get To Know Your Classmates Bingo from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with your class the first week of school? Share with us below in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Get To Know Your Classmates Bingo appeared first on Primary Playground.

Need a fun way Earth Day activity? Today we have a fun Free Printable Earth Day Word Search. Perfect for reviewing Earth Day vocabulary!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I LOVE learning about Earth Day. There are so many aspects that can be shared with students from recycling to our oceans, to the rainforests and So Much More! We gathered 20 of our favorite Earth Day books in this post here.

There is everything from books about bees and their importance to recycling, to composting, and trees. Make sure to check them all out here.

We also have this fun Earth Day scavenger hunt that is a great hands-on way of learning about conserving, recycling and trash. You can check it out here and see all of the other scavenger hunts we’ve shared here. You can find the printable version of the Earth Day Scavenger Hunt here.

free printable earth day word search

After learning all about Earth Day, your students will love looking for a lot of those same words they just learned about in this Earth Day word search.

You can download the  Earth Day Word Search from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

If you’re looking for even more Earth Day fun, we have our Earth Day Bingo which is another great way to review vocabulary. You can check it out here.

What are some of your favorite ways to teach about Earth Day> Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Earth Day Word Search 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 Valentine Read-Aloud to share with you! This week, we are reading, A Crankenstein Valentine by Samantha Berger.

In this book, an ordinary kid becomes Crankenstein on the most lovey-dovey, yuckiest day of the year: Valentine’s Day. Cheesy cards, allergy-inducing bouquets, and heart-shaped everything? YECHHHH! It’s enough to turn anyone into a monster!

Compared to some Valentine’s Day books, this book shows some dislikes about Valentine’s Day which makes it great since there will be some students who can relate. It’s also great for making inferences.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

For our snack idea this week, we will be making our own Crankensteins!

Snack Idea

Supplies needed

Vanilla pudding – we made instant pudding – each box made enough for approx 7 students. You can also use vanilla pudding cups which would eliminate the need to purchase cups.

Green food coloring

2 Oreo cookies per student

9 oz plastic cups

Plastic spoons

Black sharpie

To Assemble

If using the pudding made from a box, use a few drops of green food coloring to color the pudding. Next, give each student a 1/2 cup of pudding in their cup. Have the students crumble up their two cookies and add them to the top of the pudding as his hair. The students can then use a black sharpie to draw Crankenstein’s face onto the cup.

If you’re using the pudding cups, you’ll do pretty much the same thing. Add a drop of green food coloring to the pudding cup and have them stir it in making the pudding green. If using the pudding cup, they’ll just need one cookie. Have them crush it up and add it as his hair. They can then use a black Sharpie to draw on Crankenstein’s face.

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their snacks, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to draw a picture and write about something that makes them say YECHHHH! And they can draw a picture of something that made Crankenstein say YECHHHH in the book too!

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

If you’re looking for some more Valentine Snack Read-Alouds, we’ve shared Love Monster and the Last Chocolate here.

And The Day It Rained Hearts here.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Do you have any other favorite Valentine’s Day read-alouds you like to share with your class?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Valentine Read-Aloud 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.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

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

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We’re back this week with another insect book for our Literacy Snack Ants Read Aloud this week. We are reading, Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose.

“What would you do if the ant you were about to step on looked up and started talking? Would you stop and listen? What if your friends saw you hesitate? That’s what happens in this funny, thought-provoking book. Originally a song by a father-daughter team, this conversation between two creatures, large and small, is bound to inspire important discussions. It might even answer that classic childhood question: To squish or not to squish?”

This book really will make the kids stop and think next time that they’re on the playground squishing those ants!

For this week’s snack idea, we’re keeping it simple and we’re having chips like the ones the ant carries away.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

For this week’s snack,  I just bought 2 bags of Lays Potato Chips and gave each a handful, so they could enjoy chips like the ones that the ant carries away in the story.

Another idea for this story is to make ants on a log as we did here when we read, Good Morning Grizzle Grump!

Free Printable

While your students are eating their snacks, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to draw and write about what they think the kid should do, squish the ant, or let him go.

You can download the Literacy Snack Ants Read Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

If you’re working on an insect unit too, your students will love these insect life cycle hats to learn all about their life cycles. They love parading around the school wearing their hats. 

Do you have any other fun books about insects that you like to read to your class?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

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I don’t know about you, but it always seems that you finally have a good handle on your class in the early spring, but as the end of the school year nears, the kids seem to get off track with no longer being patient and a lot of tattling. So I thought we’d incorporate working on being patient into this week’s literacy snack.

For this week’s Literacy Snack Panda Read-Aloud, we’re reading I’ll Wait, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony.

“Mr. Panda’s animal friends are curious about what he’s making, but only one has the patience to stick around. An alpaca, an aardvark, rabbits, and a bird all wind up missing out. It’s the penguin who declares, “I’ll wait, Mr. Panda.” The penguin is rewarded with a big SURPRISE: a giant doughnut!”

It’s a quick and simple book that gets to the point that it’s a good thing to be patient. This would also be a great read and activity to do at the beginning of the school year as well.

For this week’s snack, we’re making Mr. Panda!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

Each student will need

one waffle

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

1 large Oreo

1 mini Oreo

1 chocolate-covered raisin

2  candy eyes

small piece of Pull N Peel Twizzlers

Assemble

To make Mr. Panda, have the students spread the cream cheese all over one side of the waffle. Twist the large Oreo apart and use them as Mr. Pandas’ ears. Twist apart the mini Oreo and place them as the circles around his eyes. Place the candy eyes into the middle of the mini Oreos. The chocolate-covered raisin will be his nose and using a small piece of the licorice for his mouth. Viola, their very own Mr. Panda.

If you’re not up to having the student make Mr. Panda, another great option would be donuts. If the students can listen well, work on their writing paper and wait patiently they can have a donut.

Free Printable

While the students are creating and enjoying their snacks, I also make a free printable to go along with the story. The students will get to draw a picture of the animal who waiting patiently in the story and the special treat he received at the end. They then get to write about a time when they were patient.

You can download the Literacy Snack Panda Read-Aloud free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

I hope your students enjoy creating their own Mr. Panda and reflecting on why it’s important to be patient.

See you next time!

Jenette

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