ONE and DONE Kindergarten Homework or Morning Work! {Editable and Reusable for the WHOLE YEAR!}

{Click to find in my TpT store!}

Hi friends!

I am so excited to share with you my newest product on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Are you interested in changing up your homework this year?  I have created this homework set for teachers who never seem to have enough time…or paper!  Simply set up your homework folders once, and most of the work is done for you…for the whole year!  I don’t know about your school or district, but my school loves it when we step away from the traditional weekly packets and add more meaningful and engaging activities.  I love this homework set, because it makes it so easy for me and my team, and the kids love it, too!

These pages are so versatile, you can use them as homework, morning work, extra practice, or work for early finishers!  While you can certainly use these pages as standard worksheets, each page is intended to be placed in a sheet protector.  Students should write directly on the sheet protector with a whiteboard marker.  When they erase their writing…it’s as good as new!

The best part about this set is that it is SUPER flexible and customizable to fit your needs!  It is SO EASY to differentiate, too!  Students work at their own individual pace and keep the pages for as long as you would like them to!  I’ve also included a nice variety of activities that include flash cards, flash card games, and fun family activities!

On each student page, there are parent instructions, as well as more challenging extension activities for when they are ready to move on.  Some students may need to practice one skill for a week or even a month, but they have the option to do activities that become increasingly more difficult…all while using the same page!

If you were already planning to give your students a homework folder or binder, these pages will fit in perfectly!  Here are some of the suggested materials to use with this set that will make your life easier:

- Binders or folders

(My favorites can be found here and here)

- Sheet protectors

(My absolute favorites by can be found here)

- Whiteboard markers 

(I love these ones found here!)

- Card Stock (for flash cards – I love these sturdy ones from Astrobrights, which can be found here!)

- Avery Labels 5263

(My favorite label size can be found here!  They are great for everything!)

I love to add in some fun extras, as well!

- Cute, colorful, sturdy, and CHEAP pencil pouches – I use them for everything!  I love these by Bazic.  They come in both bright and primary colors, and can be found here!) 

- Colorful paper for differentiating pages and especially sight word lists!  (Who doesn’t love Astrobrights???)

- Cute pencils, wands, googly eye rings, or spooky Halloween fingers to be used as pointers

- Felt cut into smaller squares (to be used as erasers!  They work amazingly well!)

{Disclaimer: Some of the above links are Amazon affiliate links.}

Please note that these homework pages are just a “snapshot” of what many teachers feel are the main foundational kindergarten skills for the beginning to the middle of the year, with some extension and challenge activities thrown in.  This does not include all Common Core standards for kindergarten, only the most essential! 

There are so many options available in this set!  Many of the pages are editable to fit your needs and NONE of these pages need to be printed in color.  There are black/white and color versions of every page with illustrations. 

Here’s what’s included:

Parent Letter Template - includes my example

Monthly Signature Page - Parents just need to sign and date before you want your homework due each week, and the page has signature lines for one whole month.  This also includes a section for writing in comments.

Reading Logs – Your students just need to color in one picture every night that they read with their families!  I’ve included one that is generic to be used all year, and several cute monthly logs! (Apples for August or September, pencils for September, pumpkins for October, leaves for November, gingerbread men for December, snowflakes for January, hearts for February, shamrocks for March, raindrops for April, flowers for May, suns for June, and stars for July)

Extra Activities Page – I’ve come up with several additional reading and math activities for your kids to do with their families, but there is a fully editable option if you’d like to add in your own!  These get them moving around outside and searching around their house for everyday things that can help them with practical applications of the standards!  There is also an option for you to add in website or app login information!

Binder Covers or Labels for Folders – Includes covers/labels for Homework or Morning Work, and labels for the inside of their binders/folders (Keep at home/Return to school if you’re using it for homework, Finished/Not Finished/Still Working/All Done labels if you’re using it for Morning Work).  ALL of these are available in either color or black and white!

Student Pages – These cover both ELA and math standards.  The activities included are:

Name, Alphabet, and Number Tracing

(The name page is editable – I’ve included a list of recommended fonts if you need a tracing font!)

Alphabet Practice

Students practice letter recognition, as well as letter sounds.  These include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and mixed up letters.  I’ve also included the “fancy a” and “fancy g”!  I’ve added a picture page with illustrations for each beginning consonant sound.  There are two versions – one that correlates with Zoo Phonics and another that is more generic (A – apple, B – ball, C – cake, etc.)

Reading and Writing

Both Dolch (Pre-Primer/Primer) and Fry (1-100) lists are included.  You can give your students only the lists that they need to practice.  I’ve also included an editable page if you’d like to add your own words!  The writing page includes a space for drawing a picture and one line underneath to write a word or sentence.  There is also a Book Report page where they can draw/write about the characters, setting, and their favorite part.

Math Activities

Students can practice reading numbers to 30, counting to 100 by 1’s and 10’s, recognizing Ten Frames to 10 and Tally Marks to 20, and practice writing their own Ten Frames and Tally Marks.

Shapes and Colors

Students can practice recognizing colors and color words, as well as 2-D and 3-D shapes and words.  These pages are in color and black/white.  On the black/white pages, you or your students can color the page in with crayons/markers, and then use it for practice!

Flash Cards

I’ve included a list of games and activities that you can give to families.  There is also a blank editable page for you to add in your own words or pictures!

The flash cards include:

Uppercase letters

Lowercase letters

Sight Words – Dolch (Pre-Primer/Primer) Fry (1-100)

Numbers to 30

Number words to 20

Colors

Color words

2-D shapes

3-D shapes

Shape words

Addition facts with sums up to 5

Subtraction facts with differences from 0-5 (the minuend does not go higher than 5)

Here are some more product photos of my favorite features:

Thank you so much for reading, and I’m hoping you’ll find this homework set as helpful as I have!

Click on the picture below to purchase!

Happy Teaching!

0

Avery Label Template Hack for PowerPoint!

Hi friends!

Have you ever wanted to create super cute labels in PowerPoint, but aren’t able to find a template?  EVERY SINGLE TIME I search for Avery label templates, they only work in a Word document or in programs I don’t have on my computer.  I haven’t even used Word in about 3 years!  Moving clip art takes about four and a half hours.  Ain’t nobody got time for that. 

So I have absolutely no idea if this has been talked about before, but just this morning, I figured out a {relatively easy} way to make my own templates in PowerPoint!  This happened while I was in the shower, where I seem to do my best thinking.  {Am I the only one?}  And then I got really excited to label stuff.  

Here we go!

Step 1: We can have lots of fun.  {J/K.  If you know what I'm referencing here, we NEED to be besties. #stepbystep}

Step 2: Scan a blank copy of the labels you want to use.  This will work with any type of label!  Then, save the scan as a JPEG or PNG, and send to your computer.

Step 3: Open PowerPoint, and make sure your page is set to a height of 11 inches and width of 8.5 inches {standard paper size}.  Set the orientation to portrait.  {If PowerPoint gives you the message that it wants to “fix” the new size because it doesn't fit into the printable area of the paper, just click “OK”. If you click "Fix, the dimensions might change.}

Step 4: Insert the JPEG or PNG of your scan on the slide, and make sure to align the label page EXACTLY with your slide dimensions.  Check to see if there is extra space around the image that was added when you scanned it.  My HP scanner adds a little bit of extra white space at the bottom after it scans everything, so I have to make sure to pull the bottom of the picture down a little bit once I add it to the slide.  I always make sure to line up just the label page exactly with the bottom of my slide.  I can still see the white space on my screen, but it won't be printed if it's not on the slide.  You can also edit the picture beforehand to cut out any extra space your scanner may have added around the edges.  Once you have it sized correctly, it might be a little hard to see the lines of the labels, but if you zoom in on your slide, it will be easier!

Step 5: Create a table and place it over your scanned image.  Make sure the table cells line up with each label the best that you can.  On the 5163 label I used, there is a blank space in between the two columns.  I had to create two identical tables and line them up with each column.  You can add individual text boxes instead of a table.  Or, if your labels are a different shape {like circles}, just add a circle shape over each original label!

Step 6: Edit your table {or shapes} to get rid of the outside lines.  If you do this on a table, you’ll still be able to see a very faint gray line where the table cells are, but those lines won't print.  

Step 7: Create your awesome labels!

Step 8:  Click on the scanned label image on your slide, and DELETE it.  Now, you'll just see your awesome labels.  

Step 9: Now, you can print!  Here’s where it might get tricky, because it's not a completely foolproof method.  Print a test page in either grayscale or b/w, or try printing onto regular paper first.  This way, you won’t waste a ton of labels.  That happened to me today!  I ALWAYS have problems with alignment when I print labels, even with those darn Word templates.  You might have to tweak the tables or shapes you made, or move them around a little bit after you test print, especially if you’re a perfectionist like I am.  {The black Homework line at the top was KILLING me today when I tried to print!  At first, it was just a line at the top, but it wasn't fully lining up with the edge of the labels.  So I just decided to add another black line at the bottom, too, so that I wouldn't have to worry about any annoying blank spaces}.  

If you are able to print PowerPoint slides without any sizing problems, that’s awesome!  I’m jealous.  I have a few tips, but your computer and printer might function differently than mine or have different standard settings.  Sometimes, my printer likes to leave a white border around the edges, which makes everything shrink just a little bit when it is printed.  Super annoying.  I can get around that by choosing an option called Custom Borderless printing.  I always make sure to either choose that, or to manually make the margins 0” on every side, so that there isn’t white space around the edges. And make sure you don't choose the “Shrink to Fit” option, because that does the same thing!  I’ve tried printing to a PDF document, and then printing from there, which also works {as long as I use Custom Borderless there, too}.  I’m not the greatest with solving these technical issues, but I just try to figure it out through trial and error and it usually works!

Remember to save your PPT file, so you can use this template again!  

I hope this helps!  If you have any additional tips, leave them in the comments below!

Happy labeling!  #LABELALLTHETHINGS

P.S. If you love these labels, stay tuned for my next blog post about how I'm doing my kindergarten homework this year!  It's gonna be a game changer for me!

6