Discover what the phonemic awareness skill of phoneme segmentation is and why it is so important for learning to read and write. Learn how to effectively teach this skill according to the science of reading research. If you're teaching young children to read and write, you no doubt have heard the term phoneme segmentation before. Phoneme segmentation is a critical skill for both decoding (the ability to read words accurately and fluently) and encoding (the ability to write and spell words correctly).  Why is it so important? In this blog post, we will explore this beginner rea ..read more

Segmenting phonemes is an important phonemic awareness skill. Use my 22 tried and tested phoneme segmentation activities and download the free phoneme segmentation word list to teach your kindergarten and first-grade students how to segment words into phonemes. In this blog post, I’m sharing 22 of my favourite phoneme segmentation activities with you. Over the years, I’ve tried and tested many segmenting activities, but these are the ones I fall back on over and over. They are easy to implement AND they work! Use my tried-and-tested phoneme segmentation activities, and your students will mas ..read more

Discover the numerous benefits of play-based learning in early education and the important role it plays in children’s social, emotional, physical, and academic development. This comprehensive blog post uses recent research to show why this is the most effective way to teach young children. Play-based learning has numerous benefits. It has an important role in early childhood education. A play-based program understands the importance of play in a child's development. It is a child-centred, age-appropriate pedagogy that fosters creativity, social interaction, academic skills, and critical thi ..read more

Discover engaging word awareness activities, teaching tips and strategies for this basic phonological awareness skill. This blog post is a practical guide to developing word awareness through playful, hands-on strategies. Perfect for kindergarten, preschool, and first-grade teachers looking to teach the concept of a word. Word awareness is a key part of phonological awareness. It's about knowing that sentences are made up of individual words. Even though children hear and use words all the time, it doesn't automatically mean they understand what a word is or can tell where one word ends and ..read more

Sound discrimination activities are important phonemic awareness activities. They teach students to listen and really pay attention. Discover nine practical auditory or sound discrimination games and activities for your kindergarten and preschool classroom in this blog post. Hearing non-speech sounds is pretty easy for most students starting preschool and kindergarten. That’s if they are paying attention that is. Paying attention? Now that’s something we early childhood educators are constantly working on. Sound discrimination activities are not only important for helping your students ..read more

Want to create a more peaceful and focused classroom environment? Classroom yoga is easy and effective. In this blog post, you will discover 10 easy-to-implement classroom yoga poses perfect for young children. Poses like Mountain Pose and Child's Pose will help your students focus and relax. Managing a classroom full of energetic little ones is both rewarding and challenging. I mean, you know you're a kindergarten teacher when you consider a 5-minute break a luxury vacation! If you are like me, you are always on the lookout for effective strategies that will help students calm down and focu ..read more

Download free Christmas writing prompts for kids in kindergarten. Encourage your students to write with these Christmas themed vocabulary cards and make story-writing fun and engaging this festive season. It's that time of the year again— the holiday season! Your classroom is decorated with tinsel, fairy lights, and all things merry. The contagious excitement of the kids has you using every teaching trick in your arsenal to keep your students on task and learning. While Christmas brings heaps of excitement in the classroom, it doesn't mean the learning has to stop. You can use the holiday bu ..read more

Play my easy prep Christmas games for the classroom to celebrate the holiday season with your students. These 9 fun and easy prep Christmas games are perfect for younger kids in preschool, kindergarten and first grade. At this time of year, my regular classroom timetable gets pushed to the side and I’m on the hunt for ways to fill in all the little timeslots popping up in my planning! Between all the end of year celebrations and last-minute tasks we have to do, a teacher’s life gets pretty hectic! I don’t want activities that take ages to prepare either! The Christmas games and activities in ..read more

In this blog post, we'll explore tactile learning. Understanding this learning style helped me transform my classroom into a place where all my students can thrive.   If you have a basket full of fidget toys, sit spots strategically placed away from nearby shelves and a waiting list for the playdough table, you are not alone!   Like me, you have students who need to touch and manipulate things. Sensory seekers that need tactile activities to keep them engaged and learning. Read on to discover precisely what tactile learning is and how you can easily incorporate this beneficial ..read more

Discover the wonderful benefit of block play in preschool, kindergarten and beyond. From cognitive development to essential life skills, discover why block play is a must-have activity in any early childhood classroom. Have you ever watched young children completely engrossed in stacking and building with blocks? Block play is so much more than just play. Construction play like this is a critical part of their development. I've had classes in my play-based classroom where the block area was the place to be and then other cohorts where I've had to lure them in with additional toys and prompts ..read more