Guess Who?

Each day, put one student's name (mixed-up) on a magnetic surface using magnetic letters. Have the students see if they can figure out who's name it is before Morning Meeting/Circle Time. Once someone guesses the correct answer, have that student come up and put the letters in the correct order. Then use their name to reinforce letter identification.

Math Pocketchart Activity

From The Virtual Vine:

  For my students who are working on number concepts to 10, I like to keep up a pocket-chart activity for them to use. Usually the activity coordinates with whatever theme /unit that we're working on . Cut (6) 3x5 index cards in half and program with the numbers 0 - 10. Using the Ellison machine die-cuts, cut out 55 dies.

  Line the numbers up in random order at the left edge of the pocket chart, vertically. Have the students count out the correct number of dies and place them in the row beside the number. An alternate activity would be to place the die-cuts in the rows and have the students count them and place the correct numbers in the pocket chart.

Letter Assessments

From: Making Learning Fun

Print the page of your choice. Have the children color it. Individually
take the children aside and have them identify the letters. If they get the letter right, stamp it with a bingo marker. Leave the letters that they get wrong blank.

You can also use dot stickers instead of bingo markers. If you don't have the appropriate colored stickers, you can lay any circle stickers out on newspaper and spray paint them the color you need.

Other assessment pages available include:
Apple
Baker
Baseball
Bat
Big Green Monster
Butterfly
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Chicken
Christmas
Dinosaur
Fireman
Fishing
Flower
Frog
Gingerbread Man
Graduation
Ground hog
Jack and Jill
Ladybug
Mail Carrier
Mrs. Wishy Washy
Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick
The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell
Penguin
Pirate
Pumpkin
Rabbit
Racecar
Scarecrow
Seahorse
Snowman
Spiders
St. Patrick's Day
Train
Turkey
USA
Valentine
Valentines Day
Witch for Halloween

Question of the Day

Every Friday, at attendance time, put up question: "Does your name have a(n) (letter) in it?" with "yes" and "no" as the responses using the letter of the week.

Beginning of Year Bulletin Board

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme:

Make a coconut tree and use an Ellison machine to put the first letter of each child's name around the tree. On each letter, write the child's name. The bulletin board reads: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look Who's in Our Room." Take a picture of each child on the first day of school. When developed, have the child find his/her name by the tree. Tape the photo next to the letter and save it for their portfolios when the board is changed.