The Reading Patch

Growing Confident Readers

Kindergarten Letter Lesson Plans

Introducing Letters

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Chicka Chicka ABC (Chicka Chicka Book, A)Chicka Chicka ABC (Chicka Chicka Book, A)

Good book to read before talking about letters!
A told B
and B told C,
“I’ll meet you at the top
of the coconut tree.”
  When all the letters of the alphabet race one another up the coconut tree, will there be enough room?
Of course there is always enough room for this rollicking alphabet chant that has been a children’s favorite for more than twenty years! Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault’s rhythmic text keeps the beat with Caldecott Honor illustrator Lois Ehlert’s bold, cheerful art. This winning combination has created a series of enduring Chicka Chicka favorites, and now, for the first time ever, the complete edition of the original Chicka Chicka Boom Boom story is available as a Classic Board Book. With sturdy pages and rounded corners, this portable edition of an irresistible alphabet romp will delight a new generation of young readers.

Wheels on the Bus (Raffi Songs to Read)Wheels on the Bus (Raffi Songs to Read)

A familiar tune, this book will give the students confidence that they can read!  It is fun to read and sing along together

The Book with No PicturesThe Book with No Pictures

You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .

You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .
BLORK. Or BLUURF.

The Alphabet Tree (Dragonfly Books)The Alphabet Tree (Dragonfly Books)

The Alphabet Tree – A great way to introduce standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.B
Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
Letters become words, and then words become sentences and sentences have meaning!
When a fierce wind threatens to blow all the little letters out of the alphabet tree, they must band together in words—and then sentences—to create a message that’s even stronger than the wind: peace on earth. With their newfound knowledge, there’s nothing the letters can’t do in this gentle parable about the power of the written word.

ChalkhalkThis book has no pictures but it is great for teaching the children that pictures have meaning and that their pictures have meaning and that their pictures are a way to start the writing process!     Student can make up the story of what the children draw with chalk.

This book has no pictures but it is great for teaching the children that pictures have meaning and that their pictures have meaning and that their pictures are a way to start the writing process!     Student can make up the story of what the children draw with chalk. Other Activities Included for Week 2:

  • Test the Students on the letters and sounds that they know. You may do DIBELS testing, or other Phonics testing.  I have included a Reading Readiness Test in the material that I always use as a baseline.
  • Things to do during literacy centers:
    • Playdough – free play, or make your name on playdough mats
    • Lacing Cards
    • Legos
    • Write name on dry erase boards with markers
    • Write your name on mini chalk boards with chalk
    • Write your name in shaving cream on the desks!
    • Pre-handwriting worksheets (included)
    • Cutting Skills Worksheets (included)
    • Play Alphabet Football (included)
    • Play Letter Bingo
  • Writing Time
    • Draw details in your pictures
    • Listen to a story and draw details from the story – be very detailed! Talk together over some things that can be added to their pictures.    Retell the story together and make note of details that would be good to add to a picture.
    • Use shapes to help you draw pictures (a circle for a face, or a sun), etc. Talk about how you can use shapes to help you.
  • How to Teach the Alphabet – (Our Alphabet Teacher’s Manual and Carousel Posters Included)
  • At Story Time
    • Talk about characters in the stories that you are reading.

 

 

Introducing Shapes

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The Way I FeelThe Way I Feel

This is a good book to discuss emotions. – This full color book is filled with vivid, expressive illustrations that help children ages 2 to 8 describe their emotions and understand that feelings are a normal part of life.

The Listening WalkThe Listening Walk

This is a great listening book! Hear all the sounds as you go on a walk! We’re going on a listening walk. Shhhhh. Do not talk. Do not hurry. Get ready to fill your ears with a world of wonderful and surprising sounds.

Shape by ShapeShape by Shape

What am I?
I lived a long, long time ago.
I had round eyes…
lots of sharp teeth…

This new concept book from Caldecott Honor illustrator Suse MacDonald is sure to entertain children. As readers turn the brightly colored, die cut pages, shapes on each page come together to reveal a creature from long ago. Page by page, MacDonald’s bright, cut-paper, collage-style artwork transforms circles into eyes and triangles into scales until a familiar creature is revealed, with the aid of a large fold-out page, on the final spread.

Mouse ShapesMouse Shapes

What can you make with one oval, two circles, and eight triangles? Just ask three clever mice–who even find a funny way to trick a sneaky cat.
Ellen Stoll Walsh once again proves that she’s a master of concept books in this celebration of shapes, color, and innovation.

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School ShoesPete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes

–Have fun dancing and signing with your class and Pete the Cat! Pete the Cat is back—and this time he’s rocking in his school shoes. Pete discovers the library, the lunchroom, the playground, and lots of other cool places at school. And no matter where he goes, Pete never stops moving and grooving and singing his song . . . because it’s all good.

Other Activities Included for Week 3: 

  • Things to do during literacy centers:
  • Writing Time
    • Draw details in your pictures
    • Listen to a story and draw details from the story – be very detailed!
    • Work on the “All About Me” book (included) – you can draw faces here too!
    • Use shapes to help you draw pictures (a circle for a face, or a sun), etc. Talk about how you can use shapes to help you.
    • Draw different ways a student feels by changing the expression on the student’s drawn face. (Use How I feel minibook included)
  • Story Time:
    • Talk about story setting. (Talk about where the story takes place. When?  Day? Night Season?)    (Read the book The Listening Walk, suggested above)
    • Read The Way I Feel– Talk about drawing faces…and how the students can draw their feelings by changing how their face looks in your picture.

Introducing Colors

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Mouse PaintMouse Paint

One day three white mice discover three jars of paint–red, blue, and yellow. What will happen next?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

A big happy frog, a plump purple cat, a handsome blue horse, and a soft yellow duck–all parade across the pages of this delightful book. Children will immediately respond to Eric Carle’s flat, boldly colored collages. Combined with Bill Martin’s singsong text, they create unforgettable images of these endearing animals.

Harold and the Purple Crayon (Purple Crayon Books)Harold and the Purple Crayon (Purple Crayon Books)

One evening, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight.”
Armed only with an oversized purple crayon, young Harold draws himself a landscape full of wonder and excitement.
Full of funny twists and surprises, this joyful story shows just how far your imagination can take you.Harold and the Purple Crayon has delighted readers of all ages since 1955.

A Color of His OwnA Color of His Own

Elephants are gray. Pigs are pink. Only the chameleon has no color of his own. He is purple like the heather, yellow like a lemon, even black and orange striped like a tiger! Then one day a chameleon has an idea to remain one color forever by staying on the greenest leaf he can find. But in the autumn, the leaf changes from green to yellow to red . . . and so does the chameleon. When another chameleon suggests they travel together, he learns that companionship is more important than having a color of his own. No matter where he goes with his new friend, they will always be alike.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White ShoesPete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

Pete the Cat goes walking down the street wearing his brand new white shoes. Along the way, his shoes change from white to red to blue to brown to WET as he steps in piles of strawberries, blueberries, and other big messes! But no matter what color his shoes are, Pete keeps movin’ and groovin’ and singing his song…because it’s all good. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes asks the reader questions about the colors of different foods and objects.

GreenGreen

How many kinds of green are there? There’s the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea. In her newest book, Caldecott and Geisel Honor Book author Laura Vaccaro Seeger fashions an homage to a single color and, in doing so, creates a book that will delight and, quite possibly astonish you.

Too Many Balloons (Rookie Reader: Counting, Numbers, and Shapes)Too Many Balloons (Rookie Reader: Counting, Numbers, and Shapes)

This book is out of print but well worth it…one of our favorite books! A seven-year-old shares her colorful balloon collection with zoo residents.

The Day the Crayons QuitThe Day the Crayons QuitThe Day the Crayons Came HomeThe Day the Crayons Came Home

Poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking—each believes he is the true color of the sun.

Other Activities Included for Week 4: 

Center Ideas:

  • Use paint to mix colors. You can do this at an easel or using Q-tips at their desk.
  • Play dough letters (included)
  • Brown Bear Brown Bear book (included)
  • Cut/Glue/Color Apples/Leaves (included)
  • Mini Color books (included)
  • Cut pictures out of magazines that are all the same color
  • Add food coloring to a glass of milk and focus on that color for the day.
  • Sing the song “If you are wearing read, clap your hands”, or stand up straight or turn around, etc.
  • Play the Color Game (included)
  •  Have a rainbow week at school. Monday everyone wears red, Tuesday everyone wears orange, etc.
  • Do a scavenger hunt around the classroom or home for things that are one color.
  • Make a sensory bin:  Fill a tub with rice or white beans and bury colored manipulatives in the bin. Have the students try and find all the red bears.
  • Use Legos or Lego like blocks!!  Build something with only one color!

Story Time

  • Read a story and discuss sequencing. What came first?  What was second?  What was the end?  Too Many Balloons is a great story for this because the boy goes to the zoo and buys one balloon, then two, then three….in the end, he flies away!

Writing Center

  • Have the students do the favorite color writing prompt (included) They can draw and label their picture of things that are their favorite color.
  • Have students draw a picture of story sequencing…what came first? Second?  Last?  Use the Story Sequencing prompt (included)

 

Digraph SH Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas:

  • Letter sh mini-book (included)
  • Letter sh worksheets (included)
  • Shark Game (included)
  • Sunshine, Moonshine mini-book (included)
  • Story Sequencing prompts (included)

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read Rainbow fish and talk about sharing… how it feels good to share!  Make a rainbow fish!

Writing Center Ideas:

  • Work on making How-to books! The students can make short books with directions listed in order for how to make something.  You can even use the story sequencing prompts to help them write their how to books.

Other Ideas:

  • Tangrams –use shapes to make pictures of common things.
  • Start working on graduation for Kindergarten! A great project is to put together a time capsule that the student can put away until their high school graduation.  Have parents write letters to their child to put in the capsule as well.

Digraph TH Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas:

  • Th Digraph Pack (included)
  • Th Minibook (included)
  • Thunder Cake Activities (included)
  • Fairy Tale Writing Prompts
  • Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumb activities (included)

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read The Little Engine that Could and talk about the power of positive thinking and working hard and being courageous. Talk about times when the students did something they did not think they could do, like finishing Kindergarten or learning to read.
  • This is a good week to make connections between real life and the books we read – especially with the books The Little Engine the Could and Thunder Cake.

Writing Center Ideas:

  • There are many great writing ideas. You can write about what you think you can do (after reading the Little Engine that Could) or you could creative write about the things you can think following the Dr. Seuss book.  Lastly, you could write about what you do in a Thunderstorm, after you read Thunder Cake.

Other Ideas:

  • Make a Thunder Cake (recipe found in the book)
  • Make a band using your hand, hand, fingers, thumb.

Digraph CH Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas:

  • Letter ch mini-book (included)
  • Letter ch worksheets (included)
  • Ch train game (included)
  • The Big Train sight word easy reader – (included)

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read Chugga Chugga Choo Choo…this is a very simple book for a toddler/preschooler –but, it is fun to make the sounds of a train! Then you can make your own train sight word easy reader book (included).

Writing Center Ideas:

  • Continue to work and finish your How-To books. Work on graduation time capsules!

Other Ideas:

  • Create a graduation time capsule. Have parents write in letters to their children –to be opened on the children’s high school graduation.  Things to include in the time capsule:  a picture of the student, a last day of school interview/book (included), a string with how tall the student is, a funny story from the teacher about the student.

Letter Z Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas:

  • Letter Z mini-book (included)
  • Letter Z worksheets (included)
  • Letter Z lesson plan activity pack (included)
  • Put me in the zoo activity worksheets (included)
  • At the zoo, I see mini-books (included)
  • Zoo preposition worksheets/activities (included)
  • Spot and Dot the letter Z

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read the book If I Ran the zoo, then have the students make their own animals and write a writing prompt about the animal that they made. What does it look like?  What does it eat?  Where does it live?
  • Read the View at the Zoo and do the “At the zoo, I see” mini-books (included). Have the students make their own books.

Writing Center Ideas:

  • After reading If I ran the zoo, you could do a writing prompt trying to convince someone that they want their animal as a pet. You could also do a writing prompt describing your animal..what does it look like? What does it eat? Where does it live?

Other Ideas:

  • Talk about prepositions. Do the zoo preposition worksheets (included)…
  • When talking about prepositions, Play Simon Says at their desks… Simon says go under…  next to… in front of… etc.  The students can pretend they are zoo animals.
  • Make a list of letter Z words together

 

 

number strips. Once they copied the numbers, they were asked to write them on their own

without help. Tricky, but a lot of our friends could do it!

 

Letter Y Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas

  • Letter Y mini-book (included)
  • Letter Y worksheets (included)
  • Letter Y Lesson Activities (included)
  • Spot and Dot the Letter Y

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read and learn all about yak. Have the students do a KWL or can, has, is about yak (included)
  • Read the story I dare you not to yawn. Talk about the stages of yawning that they talk about in the book. Talk about the things that make you yawn…  (and what happens if someone sees you yawn).

Writing Center Ideas:

  • Read Extra Yarn and have students write about what they would make with their extra yarn. (Writing Prompt included)
  • Make letters out of yarn.

Other Ideas:

  • Write letters with yarn
  • Do Yoga!
  • Use yarn and do lacing cards
  • Have a “I dare you not to yawn” game – students can try to make the other students yawn.
  • Toss a ball of yarn from person to person and then try and get it untangled again. 
  • Make a list of letter Y words together

Letter X Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas:

  • Letter x mini-book (included)
  • Letter x worksheets (included)
  • Not a box activities (included)
  • X-lesson plan activities (included)
  • Hattie and the Fox activities/worksheet (included)
  • Opinion Writing Prompts (included)
  • Spot and Dot the letter X

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read Hattie and the Fox and do a Reader’s Theater acting it out together. There are also worksheets included for this story as well.
  • Read Not a Box, and any of the box books. Compare/contrast to books.  Create things out of boxes and/or do the Not A Box activity book (included)

Writing Center Ideas:

  • Focus on opinion writing (there is a Dr. Seuss Opinion writing prompt in the Dr. Seuss folder)
  • Discuss what opinion writing is, and giving examples of why you have your opinion. An opinion I something that you think, feel or believe.  Give two or more reasons/details why you believe what you think.
  • Do the Opinion Writing Prompts (included)

Other Ideas:

  • Make x-rays using q-tips as bones against black construction paper. Another way you can do this is using white paint on black paper
  • Do you have a music room with xylophones? Perhaps you can find a xylophone to have the students play. 
  • Adopt some x-ray fish 

Letter W Lessons

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Literacy Center Ideas:

  • Letter W mini-book (included)
  • Letter W worksheets (included)
  • Letter W activity pack (included)
  • Rosie’s Walk activity pack (included)
  • Diary of a worm activities (included)
  • I went Walking activities (included)

All of the activities included above can be bought in our store/(You may use your account funds to pay for these lessons!)

Story Time Ideas:

  • Read Rosie’s Walk: This is a good time to introduce/reinforce prepositions.  Rosie walks across the farm, over the haystack, etc.    You can act out kinesthetically.  You can also Play Simon Says at their desks…  Simon says go under…  next to… in front of… etc.
  • Read “I went walking” and then you can sing the book to “Are you sleeping, Brother John” tune. Do the I went walking activities, included

Writing Center Ideas:

  • Read Diary of a Worm and talk about what a diary is. Journal each day, creating a diary for a week.  This can either be a personal diary, or a diary of a worm.    This is a good book to discuss real vs. fantasy.  

Other Ideas:

  • Get some fake worms (used for fishing) and have the student write words with them.
  • Eat watermelon
  • Learn about the weather