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Blog to ask a tech teacher technology related questions and tips 

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Blog to ask a tech teacher technology related questions and tips 

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9 Ways to Add Tech to your Lessons Without Adding Time to Your Day

I update these suggestions every few years to remind teachers there are easy ways to techify your lessons even on a tight schedule. I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments about how you do this in your classes:

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Because I teach graduate classes for educators, I talk to lots of teachers all over the country. It’s become clear that for most of them, adding technology to their lessons means layering more work on top of their already overburdened lesson plans. Despite the claims of tech gurus that technology makes the job of teaching easier, few educators see it that way. Even the ones who love it put in lots of extra time to do one or more of the following:

learn tech tools and then teach their students

learn tech tools only to discover it’s not what they need

learn a tech tool they love only to have it either disappear or switch to a fee-based program

rework existing lesson plans in the school’s mandated digital program that too often, changes every year. This means they have to re-enter the lesson plan in a new format for a new LMS

find a tool they love, but no one else in their teaching team agrees, understands it, or cares

the tool won’t work on the Big Day of the lesson and nothing will bring it back to life

the digital devices–computer or Chromebooks or iPads–won’t work on the Big Day

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A Teacher’s Best Evaluator

It’s always a challenge to evaluate teachers. I’ve been through many systems, often different each year, and honestly, none seems better than the other. But Christian Miraglia, Education Consultant and part of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew, suggests asking students to evaluate the teacher. Here’s how that would work:

A Teacher’s Best Evaluator

Years ago, I was involved in an effort to restructure my school district’s teacher evaluation system. Months of work were put into the project, which focused on a professional growth model and also allowed for the traditional method of checking the boxes. Hours of research and meeting with other districts took place. One might ask about your typical administrative evaluation, but if you have gone through these, they are cursory and don’t do much to improve your actual instruction. So I was prompted to think about teacher evaluations and their effectiveness. Who ultimately is the best person to analyze the teaching? I concluded with the students. After all, the students are with you daily. They observe teachers at their best and their not-so-effective moments.

Wait a minute, some might say. “Students are evaluating teachers; they do that on social media and Rate your Teacher. And it is ugly.” Acknowledged, it can be ugly. However, if an environment of trust is established, one might be surprised by the results.

If a teacher wants a good picture of how teaching impacts students, I suggest using a Google Form survey or Microsoft forms. This approach is low-tech as it is pushed out to the students to the teacher’s choice of platforms.

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July 4th Celebrations and Activities

It’s America’s birthday and I’m celebrating. My Army Sergeant son is in Japan–Okinawa. My Navy LT CDR daughter’s in the DC area. I thank both of them and all those soldiers who fought for America’s uncertain future so long ago.

God be with all of us.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDkP2WaEYFE&w=560&h=349] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJvcJczKRB0&w=425&h=349] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUDs-8SxfUE&w=425&h=349] [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&w=425&h=349]

I want to include all my efriends from Canada in the celebrations though I’m a few days late for Canada Day:

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Subscriber Special: 50% Sidebar Sponsors

Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching. Here’s July’s:

July 2-9th

50% discount on sidebar sponsors (instead of $100 per month, you get the same program for $50 a month)

Required: Minimum of 4 months paid in advance

We place your logo and link in the blog sidebar. Additionally, once a month, I’ll share an optional update on your product with my readers (which you write).

Contact askatechteacher @ gmail . com for more details.

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Tech Ed Resources for your Class–K-12 Tech Curriculum

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take time this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found, are well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, offering inclusive solutions to the issue of tech tools–taking into account the perspectives of stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to ensure learning is organic and granular.

Today: K-12 Technology Curriculum

Overview

The K-12 Technology Curriculum is Common Core and ISTE aligned, and outlines what should be taught when so students have the necessary scaffolding to use tech for grade level state standards and school curriculum. You can purchase just the teacher manuals or student workbooks to serve a 1:1 environment, Google Classroom, and hybrid teaching situations.

Each grade-level PDF is between 175 and 252 pages and includes lesson plans, assessments, domain-specific vocabulary, problem-solving tips, Big Idea, Essential Question,  options if primary tech tools not available, posters, reproducibles, samples, tips, enrichments, entry and exit tickets, and teacher preparation. Lessons build on each other kindergarten through 5th grade. Middle School and High School are designed for semester or quarter grading periods typical of those grade levels with topics like programming, robotics, writing an ebook, and community service with tech.

Most (all?) grade levels include keyboarding, digital citizenship, problem solving, digital tools for the classroom, and coding.

The curriculum is used worldwide by public and private schools and homeschoolers.

Who needs this

Tech teachers, tech coordinators, library media specialists, curriculum specialists

Classroom grade level teachers if your tech teacher doesn’t cover basic tech skills.

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7 Easy-to-do Ideas for Tech in the Classroom

If anyone thought technology wasn’t here to stay (I see a few hands up), the pandemic and remote teaching exploded that vision. Teaching from homes has shown many how ill-prepared we are to use even the most intuitive technology in the education field. Honestly, as a tech teacher, I’ve been a bit disappointed we didn’t do better. I was thrilled to find this article from Programming Insider providing a great starting point for tech tools that are a natural fit with education:

Best Ways to Use Tech for Teachers

Teachers are always encouraged to find new ways to improve the quality of learning for their students. Technology improvements can also make their work easier when utilized well. In this article, we talk about the best ways to use technology for teachers and students.

Read more: https://programminginsider.com/best-ways-to-use-tech-for-teachers/

Here are more articles from Ask a Tech Teacher on tech tools that will energize your teaching and your students’ learning:

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What to Know About SQL and How to Try it Out

If you want a job coding, you have to know how to get around a database, and that means SQL. I know–a geeky, scary three-letter word that makes even math aficionados decide to choose advanced calculus rather than computer programming. One of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew has suggestions on how to test it out and what are the most important elements to learn:

How High School Students Can Try Out SQL and 4 Things They Should Learn About It

Computers and coding languages are becoming more important in our lives with each passing day, but it can be hard for high school students to choose the best coding languages for their needs. In this article, we’re going to make a case as to why high schoolers should learn SQL.

What is SQL?

SQL is a programming language that you would use to query data in relational databases. You can create, modify, update, delete, and perform other essential operations on tables within a relational database. SQL is classified as a procedural language used to specify data types.

Most SQL programs will teach you how to read data from an analytics or database performance analyzer, such as SolarWinds’ DPA. SQL databases typically come with the following features:

Creating tables to store written information

Adding, deleting, and updating rows

Reclaim database rows

Modifying the structure of the database

Filtering database entities

The SQL programming language has become a standardized database technology, so it’s unlikely it’s going anywhere anytime soon. SQL is incredibly popular in several industries, such as finance, music, data analysis, web development, and social media, making it really useful.

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Teacher-Authors: What’s Happening on my Writer’s Blog

A lot of teacher-authors read my WordDreams blog. In this monthly column, I share a popular post from the past month (or so).

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Tech Tips for Writers is an occasional post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future tip.

This tip is about visiting a website that gives you an error code similar to this:

You probably think the site isn’t working, but a lot of times, it’s a different easily solved problem that takes no time to do.

Look at the URL address (at the top of the webpage):

If it has https (like this one does), it could mean the website hasn’t been changed from http to https so it doesn’t recognize the address. All you have to do is delete the ‘s’ in the URL to make the site work:

I blurred everything out for privacy, but I think you can see I changed the https to http. The site immediately opened. Interestingly, that works over half the time.

If a site you manage has that problem, check with your host or IT folks and upgrade to https security protocol. Often, that’s free.

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Man vs. Nature saga, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the acclaimed Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Natural Selection, Summer 2022

What to Know Before Studying in the UK

Studying overseas is becoming more popular than ever. The Institute for International Education of Students (IES) explained why based on a survey they conducted to explore the long-term impact of study abroad on the personal, professional, and academic lives of students. Here are some interesting findings:

95% of the students who were surveyed admitted that studying abroad served as a catalyst for increased maturity

96% reported increased self-confidence

95% said it had a lasting impact on their worldview.

Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Ryan Hill, has an interesting discussion on how to study in the UK if you don’t live there:

First, if you’re interested in studying abroad in the UK, you’ll want to know the process before coming to the UK. As with any country, there are certain etiquette rules that you should be aware of. You should also know the differences between pants and trousers, but we will leave it up to you to figure this one out. The UK is a highly diverse country with many countries represented among its citizens. In addition to the vast cultural diversity, the UK is home to many unique landmarks and experiences.

There are many amazing places to study in the UK such as Reading, Oxford, Cardiff and many more cities. The UK has become a hub of amazing universities and student accommodation for them. This is unrivalled amongst many countries, and a top destination for international students.

How to Apply to Study in the UK

To begin the application process, you’ll want to find out if you qualify to apply for UK student loans and grants. UCAS provides guidance for searching for courses and will give you a unique reference number to keep safe. The next step is to choose a university. Choose a university based on location, accommodation, and the amenities it offers. Remember that you can apply to five different universities on one application form. Then, you can take a gap year if you’re unable to secure a place at a university straight away. In the UK it is far more common for students to take a year out and reapply for university, so do not feel you are missing out by waiting a year.

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Free technology based resources that can be used in the classroom 

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Free technology based resources that can be used in the classroom 

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Contact me via email at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com

About the blog:
The purpose of this site is to share information about free resources that teachers can use in their classrooms.
In 2008 Free Technology for Teachers was awarded the Edublogs Award for "Best Resource Sharing Blog."
In 2009 Free Technology for Teachers was again awarded the Edublogs Award for "Best Resource Sharing Blog" and was awarded the Edublogs Award for "Best Individual Blog."
In 2010 Free Technology for Teachers was awarded the Edublogs Awards for "Best Resource Sharing Blog," "Best Ed Tech Support," and "Best Individual Blog."
In 2011 Free Technology for Teachers received the Edublogs Award for Best Ed Tech Blog.
In 2012 Free Technology for Teachers received the Edublogs Award for Best Ed Tech Blog
Free Technology for Teachers is read by an audience of more than 500,000 educators worldwide.

About Me (Richard Byrne):
Currently, I am a high school computer science teacher in Maine. Previously, I spent eight years as a consultant helping teachers all over the world develop interesting ways to use technology in their classrooms. And prior to that I taught high school social studies for nearly a decade.

I have been invited to speak at events all over North America, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. My work is focused on sharing free web-based resources that educators can use to enhance their students' learning experiences.

I am a five time winner of the Edublogs Award for Best Resource Sharing Blog. I became a Google Certified Teacher in 2009. In 2012 and 2019 I received a Merlot Classics award from chancellor's office of California State University. In 2010 I was a finalist for ACTEM's (Association of Computer Teachers and Educators in Maine) educator of the year award. Tech & Learning Magazine named me one of their "people to watch" in their 100@30 30th Anniversary celebration (http://techlearning.com/article/26660).

On a daily basis Free Technology for Teachers reaches a subscriber base of more than 60,000 educators. In addition to writing Free Technology for Teachers, I also maintain PracticalEdTech.com where I offer online professional development courses for teachers.

My printed work includes a monthly column for School Library Journal, contributing author to What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media, and contributions to Teacher Librarian.

I believe that when used correctly, technology has the power to improve student engagement and student achievement. I also believe that technology gives teachers the ability to form powerful, global, professional learning communities.

I am available for professional development workshops. I can offer workshops on the use of video creation tools in all subject areas as well as workshops about classroom uses for Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Books, Google Search, and developing an online personal learning community. I can also customize a workshop specifically for your group. If you are interested in having me conduct a workshop for your school or conference, please contact me via email at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com

Please see mywork with me page for a list of my popular presentation topics and a list of some places where I've presented in past.

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Contact me via email at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com About the blog: The purpose of this site is to share information about free resources that teachers can use in their classrooms. In 2008 Free Technology for Teachers was awarded the Edublogs Award for "Best Resource Sharing Blog."

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Answer ALL membership questions or your membership will be declined. This group was created to provide a place for teachers to ask questions, give advice, post resources, and share a little humor and...

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Teaching Channel: Ideas to implement for student engagement 

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Teaching Channel: Ideas to implement for student engagement 

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It’s Cold Outside: Ideas for Relatable Science & Student Engagement

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What can you do in the classroom with students on cold snow days? Create relevant learning experiences and increase student engagement!

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Teaching Blog: Lesson plan templates, progress monitoring tips, and newsletters

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Teaching Blog: Lesson plan templates, progress monitoring tips, and newsletters

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Learning in Wonderland - A Teaching Blog

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Students are naturally curious about the moon. Why is it sometimes big? Why is it sometimes smaller or a different shape?

Before beginning this unit, you may wish to have the students create a moon log in their science journals. Have them write and draw a picture of what they see. They may also wish to take some photographs.

1. Moon Phases Video

Here is a 10 minute video from PBS Digital Students. Phil explains the cause and the phases of the moon.

2. Phases of the Moon Classroom Experiment for Kids

In this science classroom experiment, students will learn about the phases of the moon by acting them out. You will need a large Styrofoam ball and a light source, such as a lamp.

Your student will enjoy matching phases with pictures of the moon. Click here to play the game online.

4. Online Lunar Phases Quiz

This is a simple online quiz for students to self-check their learning in a science center or station. Click here to see the quiz.

Music definitely helps students learn and remember. They will love this one!

6. Moon Phases with Oreos

Why not make some moon phases out of Oreos. Did you know they are allergy sensitive? They are free from dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, mustard, sesame, peanut, sulfites, mollusks, celery and lupin.

Click the picture to see 2 moon phases crafts.

Please PIN to SAVE for Later

7. Moon Phase Viewer Craftivity

Students may make a very simple moon phases viewer. Step by step instructions are in the video. Click HERE.

8. StoryJumper Online Book

Here is an online book for your students to learn about the moon phases.

9. Moon Phases Crossword Puzzle for Kids

Your students will show what they know by completing this printable crossword puzzle. Click HERE to download and print.

10. Phases of the Moon Interactive Science Notebook

This is a fun cut and paste activity for your students to practice matching definitions to pictures. Click HERE to download and print.

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(This comes in lots of colors!)

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Moon Phases Teaching Activities for Kids in 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

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Students are naturally curious about the moon. Why is it sometimes big? Why is it sometimes smaller or a different shape? Before beginning this unit, you may wish to have the students create a moon log in their science journals. Have them write and draw a picture of what they see.

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The Trendy Science Teacher Blogs: Tips, advice, and ideas on different science projects and assignments

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The Trendy Science Teacher Blogs: Tips, advice, and ideas on different science projects and assignments

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Quality Science Resourcesfor Busy Teachers! SHOP RESOURCES Tired of re-inventing the wheel? Short on time? Need to engage your unmotivated science students? Sit back, relax and let me do the planning for you! I provide engaging resources and comprehensive curricula that are available in both print and digital options.

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TeacherTube: Instructional videos and tips from other teachers all over the world.

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TeacherTube: Instructional videos and tips from other teachers all over the world.

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Science is one of the key subjects that students are taught in school. It is present from the early years of grade school up to the highest levels of academic achievement. As students move up the ranks, their study of science tends to get more specialized into one specific field only, like chemistry, biology, or physics.

In primary education, science is usually taught as a combination of these fields. Elementary science starts with basic principles, like the scientific method. Also, there are others like "all matter occupies space and has mass." These basics tell young students about how the universe around them works.

Students are also taught how to do science through experiments. These activities teach kids how to make educated guesses, gather data, analyze their findings, and make conclusions based on what they have found out in the experiments. If they do these enough times, pretty soon they can do their own experiments to feed their own curiosities about how things work. Scientific thinking can be developed very early in this way.

In the higher grades, kids are taught the more intricate parts of science. That would include making detailed reports of experiments done in a lab. These lab reports introduce them into the world of scientific publishing. How these reports are done give them a good idea of how actual scientists write research papers in scientific journals.

Scientific minds are further enhanced in tertiary education, where students take on more specialized areas of study. They usually choose a specific branch of science to focus on, where they learn more specialized knowledge about their chosen field.

Furthermore, graduating from college is usually not the end for science students. Yes, a bachelor's degree does allow them to work, but most would choose to take even further education. Many science students pursue master's degrees as well as doctorates to gain more specialized knowledge in their fields. In the process, they also contribute their own knowledge to the scientific community through theses and dissertations.

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Science, Science education videos for students, teachers and parents on Teachertube.com

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Science is one of the key subjects that students are taught in school. It is present from the early years of grade school up to the highest levels of academic achievement. As students move up the ranks, their study of science tends to get more specialized into one specific field only, like chemistry, biology, or physics.

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Tips and strategies on teaching students letters and sounds

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Tips and strategies on teaching students letters and sounds

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If we want to help our students learn their letters and sounds, we must have multiple Strategies for Teaching Letters and Sounds. Alphabet recognition and mastering the sounds are essential skills for our earliest readers. Without mastery of the earliest skills, students struggle with building and recognizing words and patterns. We have composed several blogs giving you some of the best Strategies for Teaching Letters and Sounds, but we have even more great ideas and resources now! Here are 27 Strategies that we are confident will help you as you teach your littles-#9 is sure to be a favorite!

Teaching Letters and Sounds
1- Use repetition when assigning teaching letters and sounds during independent and partner practice.
At some point during your day, your students should have a chance to practice their letters and sounds in a routine and repetitive way. This practice serves as a great instructional routine that does not take much time.

You want to give students repetitive practice because they know what to expect, they have a short time to practice what they've learned, and most students can complete the activity without much direction.

During this time, you can help your students who need the most intervention. We created these Alphabet Printables , so students have a variety of activities to practice when doing independent and partner practice.

Kiddos get to practice writing the letter, both upper and lowercase, distinguishing between the upper and lowercase letter (with daubers), identifying pictures that begin with that letter sound, and finding that letter on a keyboard. So many different ways to practice one letter, and it is all on one piece of paper!

2- Have multiple references and tools available in the classroom when teaching letters and sounds.

Students need the same resources we do when they need information. Kids will use these resources if we teach them to use them before asking you or another teacher for information.

These can be posters on the wall, an informational page in their desk folder, or resource cards. We have created these Alphabet Poster Cards for our students, so they have access to this information when they need reminders for letters and sounds.

Each poster comes in both black and white and color. We have included the alphabet, blends, digraphs, diphthongs, long vowels, r-controlled vowels, trigraphs, short vowels, word families, and double consonants.
3-Be creative and provide novelty when practicing letters and sounds
It's important to remember what kids want to create. They want to do things that are out of the ordinary. So be creative with the activities you choose when introducing and practicing each letter and sound.

You will have great success with Alphabet Crowns . Kids love these crowns! However, there are so many other things you can try with your kids. Be creative! Use , and find something to connect this content with your little ones.

Great Strategies that are Hands-On
4-Allow kids time to explore with hands-on and fine motor activities
Having students use their hands/bodies while learning is fundamental to their brain development. When kids use their muscles and brains simultaneously, they are less likely to forget what they learned. It is also great to incorporate fine motor practice into hands-on learning. We created these Alphabet Play Dough Mats to have a hands-on way to practice.Give your tactile students a chance to roll out play-dough and model the letters of the alphabet.

Plus, we have got a great recipe from instructables.com , so if you need a great Play-Dough recipe, I recommend this one! It is fabulous. I think the cream of tartar does the trick with consistency.
5-Incorporate art into learning letters and sounds.
Whenever I have an opportunity to allow my students to express their creativity while learning, I embrace it. I have found art activities like Alphabet Dot Art also keep behavior problems to a minimum when managed correctly.

Students get to work on fine motor, letter recognition (of different fonts), and letter/sound correlation with this activity. Students can use the dot-art piece to dab a Q-tip in paint and "dot" the image. They then cut out the pictures of objects that begin with that letter and glue them onto the different font representations of that letter. It is a fun activity for little learners! Or use Bingo Daubers from Amazon!

6-Kiddos Love Swat-a-Sound.

You can use the giant swatters from Dollar Tree (or the $1.25 Tree). Then, spread letters out on the carpet and give two kiddos (each) a swatter- then say, "Find the letter that makes the sound (insert here)." They hit it with the swatter and say its name and sound. Then two more friends go. We have played in whole and small group settings. They always ask to play!

More Letters and Sounds Strategies that Get Them Moving

7-We sing and dance to songs like this: Everybody dance now!A says /a/,/a/,/a/. And on and on

8-Have Fun Teaching videos from YouTube! They are great. We listen to them every morning.
https://educationtothecore.com/2021/03/youtube-videos-that-teach-phonics/
Phonics videos are great to use in a variety of settings! I use phonics videos to get my students started in the morning, during indoor recesses, brain breaks, 5-minute time gaps, and of course, during the reading block. They are a great tool to get your students up and moving while learning phonics skills. Here are some of my favorite YouTube videos that teach Phonics skills our students have to learn.

A Sound Wall for Letter Sounds!
9-Why a Sound Wall?
Sound walls have grown increasingly popular in recent years. For good reasons too!

Sound walls stem from the Science of Reading where it focuses on the connection between print patterns and phonological information. Sound Walls allow for explicit instruction of phonemes or the sounds we hear. We use letters to represent those sounds or graphemes. A sound wall pairs the speech sounds (phonemes) to the letters (graphemes).

Using sound walls, your students will have everything they need to

Properly produce sounds.

Identify which sounds correspond to certain spelling patterns.

Read and write words that have them.

Strategies for Letter and Sounds that Don't Feel Like Work!
10-Alphabet Foldable Booklets
There are three different versions for each letter. And, you can use them with all of your students, regardless of their academic level. Start with learning just the letters and words that start with that letter. Move onto one sentence per page with the same images. Lastly, students can practice reading two sentences per page with the same pictures. Students can learn print concepts, identify letter names and sounds, and practice sight words and fluency with these foldable booklets.

Each booklet focuses on one letter of the alphabet. Every no prep booklet has these activities:

Uppercase and lowercase letter identification

Letter writing practice (uppercase and lowercase)

Beginning sound identification (color pictures)

Letter art decorating

Writing words that begin with that letter

Fill in the blank sentences with words starting with that letter

11-Letter Building STEM
Students can build letters using popsicle sticks. They can then count how many sticks were used to build that letter and record the number.

More Strategies Using Their Hands
12-Alphabet Sensory Tubs
Take a set of magnetic letters and bury them in some sensory substance (sand, rice, water beads, etc.). Students will then have to "search" for the letters and match them to a corresponding sentence strip. (picture and several ideas from Sensory Bins with Letters Still Playing School) - Sometimes, the best way to help kids learn is to let them explore. Or, s pread shaving cream out on a tray and have your students write out the letters in the cream.

I let my students each have a set of these. They could practice cutting out the puzzle pieces and writing each letter of the alphabet. They kept all of the pieces in an envelope, so it was a center they could repeatedly do while practicing the beginning sounds of words.

Students can wear their letters and sounds with these watches. These watches are just a different version of the crowns for those of you who would rather have your students wear alphabet practice around their wrists instead of their heads. They can "check the time" as they practice identifying the letter name and then pictures/words that begin with that particular letter.

Additional Strategies for Letters and Sounds

For those of you who are teaching virtually or parents who prefer not to print out a lot of papers at home, we recommend using digital alphabet activities. This bundle includes alliterations, keyboarding practice, and beginning sound hunts. This digital practice will engage kids for hours with these alphabet practice activities.

16-Data is a part of teaching, but sometimes our kindergarteners are given assessments that are not suitable for their skills. We have created a Kindergarten Data Tracking Book that assesses the skills we teach.

In this databook, teachers can track letters, numbers, shape identification, sight words, CVC word reading, writing letters and numbers, and addition and subtraction.

Check out all of the pages we include in this Kindergarten Data Tracking Book. (As a fun bonus, they are all created around chocolate chip cookies. Yum, Yum).

17-Pancake Flip - Cut out 5-10 brown circles and write the letters students are currently working on in class (you may want to do 3-4 circles for each letter). Using a spatula, students "flip" over the circles and say the letter name.

18-Letter Game Board - Print out a couple of free game board templates. Fill in the blank spaces with letters that you are working on. Find a die and a couple of cubes or other math manipulative items, and students can play a letter identification game.

Easy Strategies for Letters and Sounds

19-Magazine/Newspaper Ad Scavenger Hunt - Students will go through old magazines and newspapers, searching for pictures that begin with a given letter sound.

20-CORE BINDER- The CORE Binder is the ULTIMATE resource covering daily activities from classroom routines, math, and ELA. These Classroom Organizers and Resources for Education also include social and emotional tools because we know teaching isn't all 123s and ABCs. But, it does include letter sounds, word building, phoneme blending, and so forth!
21-Alphabet Flip Books-
These are Alphabet Cards designed to teach letters and sounds!

ABC Flip Books: Alphabet cards. Use these to teach words that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Each letter contains six cards and one letter writing practice. These cards can be laminated, cut, hole-punched, and secured with a ring.
22-Alphabet Flip and Reveal-
This activity is Alphabet Flip and Reveal. These are great for small group instruction, centers, intervention. Alphabet Flip and Reveal is also a great resource to have on hand in the classroom.

More Games for Letters and Sounds

23-I Have Who Has- This is an ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVE! Your students will beg to play these games, not only for their alphabet and ELA but for their MATH as well!

Learning Through Play: Students can learn while doing something fun and effective!

Flexible Use: This is the perfect warm-up for your lesson, lesson practice for a new concept or skill, review, small group, and more!

24-Play the game "I Spy."
In the game "I spy," you pick something you see and don't tell the child what it is. The child has to guess what you see. Or, grab our I Spy Phonics-ETTC developed an entire resource dedicated to phonics-based I SPY Activities - updated to include 84 activity pages!

We have so many fantastic resources that you can use in your classroom to expose your students to the letters of the alphabet and their sounds! But, we also don't mind sharing from other sources!

This gorgeous Initial Letter Bingo Cards set is perfect for a small group or whole class activity.

Need daubers? Grab some here: Bingo Daubers from Amazon!

26-Memory

Choose five to ten pictures and matching letters. Place each card face down. In pairs, students take turns to flip over two cards. Once they turn over a matching picture and letter, they get to keep these cards. The student with the most cards wins!

Or how about this great idea for letter memory using paper plates from FrugalFun4Boys!
27-The Name Game
Give your children a notecard with their name spelled clearly on it. Say, "Whose name has a __ in it?" and all children with that letter in their name have to do something silly, like stand on one foot or touch their tongue to their nose, etc.

And Here is a Great Bonus: If you aren't quite sure about our Sound Wall resource yet, please read Making the Most of Your Sound Wall! This resource is manageable and user-friendly and naturally lends itself to student differentiation. If you are a paid premium member, you can also find this resource BUNDLED within the premium website! Because this is a bundled resource within premium means it is not available to our free members. So be sure to become a premium member to gain access!

WRITTEN BY - SUZANNE KELLEY

At Education to the Core, we exist to help our teachers build a stronger classroom as they connect with our community to find trusted, state-of-the-art resources designed by teachers for teachers. And, we aspire to be the world's leading & most trusted community for educational resources for teachers. Plus, we improve the lives of every teacher and learner with the most comprehensive, reliable, and inclusive educational resources.

If you enjoyed what we have to offer at ETTC, be sure to join our email list so that you won't miss a beat. Plus, we are here to help with all your resource needs. Become a Premium Member of Education to the Core and receive immediate access to thousands of printable activities. So, for one small monthly or annual fee, everything ETTC can be at your fingertips all of the time.

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Teaching Letters and Sounds: 27 Strategies that Work

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If we want to help our students learn their letters and sounds, we must have multiple Strategies for Teaching Letters and Sounds. Alphabet recognition and mastering the sounds are essential skills for our earliest readers. Without mastery of the earliest skills, students struggle with building and recognizing words and patterns.

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First Year Teachers Blog: Lesson plans, classroom rules, routines and procedures, & tips on building relationships with students and parents 

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First Year Teachers Blog: Lesson plans, classroom rules, routines and procedures, & tips on building relationships with students and parents 

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Congratulations on being hired for your first teaching position! In addition to feeling excited, you may also be feeling a little overwhelmed. Don't worry. I have been mentoring new teachers for several years, and this feeling is completely normal! This blog series is written especially with YOU in mind. Be sure to check back in every Monday for new content that is tailored specifically to meet your needs. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions in the comments below!

Looking for a community of new teachers to connect with on Facebook? Join our >>New Teachers Unite!<< group to share ideas, ask questions, and connect with other new teachers around the globe.

Live links will be updated as the series continues this summer.

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A blog series written especially for new teachers. Maybe you are a first year teacher, in your second or third year, or even returning after a break from teaching. The series focuses on relevant tips to help you have a successful year!