read more posts by
Kasey
Mary Had a Little Lamb – Retell Pieces and Note
Mary Had a Little Lamb – Student Readers
Mary Had a Little Lamb – Count the Sheep
Introducing Hickory Dickory Dock – Nursery Rhyme Printables!
Nursery rhymes have always been a part of my classroom curriculum. They are key to helping children develop so many skills – rhyming, fluency, vocabulary. While teaching kindergarten nursery rhymes often took a back seat to other directed curriculum or were a hodgepodge of what I could find. Since moving to pre-k I have been able to make Nursery Rhymes a more focused part of our curriculum. Because I believe strongly that predictable patterns allow children to focus on the actual learning I have designed a pattern for teaching Nursery Rhymes in my classroom.
Here’s what works for me
We focus on one Nursery Rhyme for two weeks. At the onset of a new Nursery Rhyme I send home the Nursery Rhyme Retell Pieces Note introducing our new Nursery Rhyme to families. I don’t make this part of my homework. It’s one way I engage my families without adding stressful requirements. It also informs families which version or how much of the Nursery Rhyme we are learning.
I use the Nursery Rhyme Readers, Counting Objects and Fill in the Missing Number Pages as morning work. But like everything on Milton & Prescott they can absolutely be adapted to individual needs.
During bathroom breaks, and those unavoidable transitions that require waiting I show a youtube video that goes along with our focus Nursery Rhyme. My students and I enjoy Little Baby Bum and they have most of the Nursery Rhymes I use in class.
I’m shareing our Hickory Dickory Dock – Nursery Rhyme Printables first for a very scientific reason…. its our next focus nursery rhyme in my pre-k class. Took a lot of thought didn’t it. I use every printable I post on Milton & Prescott or have used it. There are a few pieces specifically for kindergarten that I no longer use on a daily baisis because I’m in pre-k but I have used them all at some point. For that reason I post what’s up and coming in our classroom first. Keeping it simple.
If you are enjoying these free printables please leave us a comment. We enjoy hearing from you!
Enjoy!
Hickory Dickory Dock – Retell Pieces and Note
Hickory Dickory Dock – Student Readers
Hickory Dickory Dock – Count the Clocks
I have been using Beginning Sounds Circle Maps in my classroom since my district adopted Thinking Maps, so about…four or five years. I started with my kindergarten students and continued when I moved to pre-K. I use these Circle Maps during centers. In pre-K my aide does this work with my students. In Kindergarten I introduced it during whole group and then they completed the Circle Map independently.
During morning meeting, on the day we are going to do Circle Maps at centers, we make a large class circle map together. Not only is this fun but it gives me a quick assessment of my students. I can tell very quickly who understands the concept and who doesn’t by what items they call out. Depending on my class set up, and avaiable space and paper, I either use a white board or large sheet of paper with a Circle Map drawn on it. I make our group circle map look exactly like the one on their paper. Then taking a contrasting marker I draw and label the items my students call out. Our circle maps come out looking like this…
The set below includes all twenty-six letters. A Circle Map and picture page is included for each letter. The picture page prints two picture sets at once to help save on paper usage, very important to public ed teachers. Each picture set includes six pictures that match the focus letter and three that do not.
I use Circle Maps in conjunction with My Letter Books, Letter Dobber pages, Handwriting Pages, Letter Color By Codes and Letter Searches. All of these will eventually be posted on my blog, so keep checking back to find more free printables for your students.
Leave us a comment below. We enjoy hearing from you!
Enjoy!
This is so far out of my comfort zone I don’t believe I can adequately express just how far out of my box I had to come to bring you Milton & Prescott. Navigating the new and foreign world of blogs, websites, domains and copyrights nearly brought me to tears. I believe this will be a continual learning process. But alas, here we are and I am gaining new knowledge which I’m sure to celebrate in the future.
Milton & Prescott is brought to you by some very encouraging and persistent colleagues and family. Basically, I would have never created this blog without their little nudges and the oft repeated, “you should share this stuff”. I have been sharing “this stuff” but mostly just when requested. Not everyone under the sun teaches or likes to teach the way I do. But, here I am preparing to share “this stuff” with my colleague across the country and maybe around the world – wouldn’t that be awesome! “This stuff” my colleagues affectionately refer to is a simple collection of worksheets and some games that I have created for my classroom. I use them, they use them and maybe now you will use them too.
One of my biggest hang ups when it came to sharing “this stuff” was why do it? Let’s be 100% honest. Milton & Prescott is not the first teacher blog offering resources. It’s not ground breaking, earth shattering or life changing. Maybe what I have to offer isn’t really that good or the cutest. The negative chatter just kept coming and negative thoughts are powerful. Well, all those things could be true but what if they aren’t? The resources that I put on Milton & Prescott have had a positive impact on my students and me, as well as, my colleagues and their students. Maybe, just maybe, they will have a positive impact on you and your students as well. I sure hope so!
So, Welcome to Milton & Prescott, where we share what we have, to make a positive impact on young children.
