Menu
Download a free Desk Helper to make teaching preschool, kindergarten, and first grade easier!
Happy Back to School Season! I feel like we’re going to be channeling the B2S vibes hard for the next month or two…or maybe even all year. This ‘new normal’ is anything but normal and so hard to adjust to.
Our family originally elected virtual school for the whole first semester for our seventh grader and kindergartener. (Our county provided two options – hybrid model with students in the building 2 days a week and virtual the others or a fully virtual model. Either option was a semester-long commitment that runs until the end of 2020).
However, Faith has a variety of special needs that would otherwise be serviced through the special education program at our local elementary school, but I knew that she would likely struggle with the virtual component to either option. So, we began our homeschool journey last week!
I started last week by benchmarking them to find their present level of early literacy and numeracy skills. This assessment is super easy to administer, and took us about three 20-30 minute sessions to get through. Some components we could do together, and some I pulled them individually.
It’s very similar to the one I issued my kindergarteners when I taught in the classroom setting. It would work well for preschool students, too. (If you are a parent – and not a teacher – I have full confidence you could easily give this skills assessment, too!)
This week, we’ve started into academic skills and *you all* this is hard work. It’s so hard to be teacher when your kids know you as mom! So, if you’re struggling with this, please know you’re NOT alone. Not even close. Teaching virtually, teaching in-person, teaching your own kids at home, supervising your kids’ learning at home, whatever you might be doing to support kids during a pandemic…it is hard work. Come find me on Instagram where I chat about this in my stories on the regular!
While I plan to dive into all of our homeschool curriculum and activities soon, I did want to share something that might help you today! Whether you’re a parent or a teacher of preschool or primary students, it’s important to give our kids the tools they may have access to in the classroom, but not at home.
I’ve seen some amazing toolkits assembled with so.much.love that were sent home to support learning at home. I figured this might be another resource you could add – as a teacher or parent.
It is an editable desk helper. It’s a one-page printable designed to provide quick and easy access to the learning posters usually posted in preschool and kindergarten classrooms. While you can add whatever personal information you’d like to the editable text box, we chose address and phone number for now. Lunch numbers, bus numbers, classroom, or teacher name might be other information you could add there instead.
It was important to me that the photographs matched those found in the benchmark assessment as closely as possible, so our actual homeschool room has alphabet, number, color, and shape posters that match. (This is the Type A in me coming out to play. Hiiiiiiiii.) You can download the editable desk helper by using the form below!
You can also $AVE BIG, but bundling all of the posters together and receiving a kinesthetic alphabet activity, too!
Teaching the alphabet is always fun for me, so here’s a sneak peek at what we’ll be adding to our home school activities next week. Alphabet Directed Doodles! What’s more fun than drawing your own alphabet?! (There’s a FREE download in that post, too!)
I would love for you to download a free desk helper!
Use the form below to sign up for my email list to get access to the free desk helper. You MUST confirm your subscription using the email sent as soon as you fill out and submit the form.
If you’ve previously signed up, no big deal. Once you fill out the form, you’ll receive an email with the download.
Tip: Be sure to add [email protected] to your address book or safe list so that these emails get delivered to your inbox and not spam!
Abby is a former kindergarten and first grade teacher who channels her passion for education into creating engaging activities and resources for the kindergarten and first grade classroom. When not dreaming up or working on her next project, you’ll find her enjoying her family – most likely in her minivan on the way to a soccer field.
Help your students build their phonemic awareness with this simple segmenting activity. Get 25 FREE practice pages sent to your inbox today.
©2022 Babbling Abby. All Rights Reserved.
