As a kid, I really loved drawing books that went step by step. I loved learning how other people drew things and always picked up a few new techniques. I also loved writing. And while I don’t remember ever struggling to know what to write about, I do know that some how to draw books…
I remember the first time I tried to teach parts of speech to Baloo. He was about 6 or 7 and we were working through First Language Lessons. I loved that it was open and go. So we started with the poem which he memorized…eventually. But probably only because I read it to him multiple…
Acrostic poems are a great introduction to poetry for kids. This Pumpkin themed acrostic poem is an excellent way to introduce acrostic poems with a fun fall theme! Pumpkin Acrostic Poems I really enjoy poetry. I’m not sure what is it about poems but I’ve enjoyed them for most of my adult life. So I…
Cursive is a funny subject these days. Most of us adults grew up learning cursive in about 3rd grade. Many kids these days aren’t getting cursive instruction at all. And some adults are very salty about that. As it turns out, there are some legitimate benefits to learning cursive. So those of us wanting to…
Cursive writing. I have to admit – my kids are not thrilled with having to learn ANOTHER form of writing. They already dislike print writing enough. But there are far too many benefits to cursive for me to pass up teaching them. Plus, they can already write – the switch to cursive is seriously simple….
It’s always fascinating to watch plants grow but kids seem a bit more excited to learn about how pumpkins grow. I think it’s because pumpkins often turn into Jack-o-Lanterns. Or maybe it’s pumpkin pie. Either way, learning the life cycle of a pumpkin is a great way for kids to learn all about plants and…
Two of my boys, Royal and Logi-Bear, are huge fans of Zoey and Sassafras. They eat up every new book and love anything to do with either Zoey or Sassafras (but particularly Sassafras, because cats). We’ve been trying to transform our tree into a memorial of all the books we’ve read. This was the…
Mythology is all the rage right now. Well, at least at my house. My kids are really into mythical creatures – the more deadly the better. Although, they rather enjoy the cute illustrations over the gruesome ones. We’ve been loving the book Miss Turie’s Magic Creatures. I thought it was the perfect theme for a…
I think most people would agree that reading is important for kids. But actually getting kids to read and to enjoy reading is a completely different matter. Perhaps knowing the importance of reading will motivate you to figure out the exact tricks to get your child to love reading. One of my favorites tricks is…
Sight words have not been a focus of ours and I can tell that some of my kids struggle with the rule breaker words. So we needed a fun way to practice reading the sight words! And what better way than a train themed sight word game! Train Sight Word Game With sight words, it’s…
I love introducing my kids to new science concepts and words. Reading Zoey and Sassafras is a great way to find those concepts and learn about them in a meaningful way. Sometimes we need a bit of extra reinforcement to remember the new words, which is why I wanted to make these crosswords and word…
We are coming to the end of our ‘learning to read’ phase but we have been in this phase for a good amount of time – probably 6 or 7 years! It’s such a magical and frustrating period of time, but so totally worth it. I hope this list of 100 learning to read printables…