SUMMER Learn at Home Pack for Kindergarten and First Grade
It is the end of May, which here in Idaho that means we are done with school!
This year has been a whirlwind to say the least. If anything, we truly have learned that as teachers and parents, we can do anything life throws our way.
I have grown by leaps and bounds, and watching educators, parents and students adjust to a new normal has been nothing short of astounding.
When we first learned that schools were closing, I was in shock like most people. I immediately went to work trying to help our teacher community adjust.
This page contains affiliate links. Read Full Disclosure
After I put out the first two free learn at home resources, I had to sit back and truly think.
What would be most helpful for teachers to implement distance learning?
How can we continue to teach students at home successfully?
How can I make sure the resources I send home are not frustrating parents?
Let’s be honest… parents are in the trenches. I have four little ones and I now work from home. To suddenly have no help at all was really hard.
After reflecting for about two weeks, I came up with my Print and Teach - Learn at Home packs.
Learning at home, or distance learning, does not have to be stressful for everyone involved.
*** UPDATED JULY 2020 - CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR DISTANCE LEARNING HOMEPAGE
I knew that in order for learning at home to be successful, it had to be a simple, straight forward format that parents could easily help with. Parents cannot be expected to sit down and give full length lessons every day.
This is why random worksheets do not work, rather they only cause frustration.
Students must recognize the format and know exactly what is expected each day. This is why I keep my format the exact same, and the standards/skills that they work on only change once every 1-2 weeks.
This way they can practice the same skill, over and over again until it is mastered. Parents may have to assist some the first time students see a new skill (usually on a Monday) and then the format stays the same for many days in a row.
Watch student confidence go through the roof and parents will appreciate how the curriculum progresses.
READ TEACHER FEEDBACK FROM OUR LEARN AT HOME PACKS
“My parents loved being able to print these learn at home packets and stay on top of learning while being at home. They are so easy to follow and self explanatory. For the students each day the format is the same, so they know what to do! Love Love Love this! I’m getting the May packet!”
“I love Keeping My Kinders Busy resources. I am always very pleased.”
AMAZING resource that fit right in with our remote learning plan.Easy to use and students enjoyed it!”
WHAT SKILLS ARE WE COVERING FOR JUNE?
CVC words, word families, sight words, reading short stories with comprehension questions, fill in the blank sentences, and writing a complete sentence using a picture word bank.
Writing numbers 1-20, ordering numbers, writing numbers in sequence (not always beginning at one) addition, subtraction, story problems, 3D solids, counting and identifying coins, and more than/less than.
I want my kiddos to be ready for first grade in August. These learn at home packs have become a monthly series. I target very specific skills and standards each month that kindergarteners are ready for. Throughout the school year, we will cover the kindergarten standards.
I titled this packet “Summer” so teachers and/or parents could use it anytime during the summer months.
DAILY READING JOURNAL
Each day, students can fill out their daily reading journal. They can read for twenty minutes or be read to.
This can be optional, but it is a quick and easy activity for them to complete. I just have my daughter write one sentence for a summary. She loves drawing pictures of the character and setting, and then she retells the story to my four year old.
We absolutely love the First Little Readers. Level D is appropriate for most kids at the end of kindergarten, but just look at the reviews for photo to see which level your child is at.
GETTING STUDENTS EXCITED TO DO THEIR WORK
A pain point I often hear from parents is that they cannot get their child to do their school work.
So I created My Tasks Today pages where students can see the exact pages they need to completed that day.
It is always the same:
Math
Language Arts - phonics, reading, writing
Reading Journal
Once students complete a task, they get to color the star. They absolutely love watching their stars fill up.
At my house, my daughter gets thirty minutes of iPad time once all her stars are completed. Super easy motivation, so students get their work done and parents don’t feel exhausted.
WHAT ARE THE THREE BLANK BOXES AT THE BOTTOM?
These task cards make it simple for you or parents to differentiate. I have included bonus activities (summer goals, nature walk, scavenger hunt and a summer word puzzle - see phots below) as well as household chores and additional academic activities.
Students can cut out and paste them into those squares, and they are totally optional. Parents absolutely love this feature, because it incorporates other daily tasks before children can earn screen time or other rewards.
My own daughter loves being able to see what we will be doing for the day so she knows what to expect.
If you’re homeschooling or using these for distance learning, having household chores and activities makes planning your day super simple.
If you’re using these in the classroom, you can just add additional academic activities to plan out your day or just leave them blank.
If you’re in the classroom, and you would like additional educational activities, I made little additional task card that correlate perfectly with my kindergarten review pack.
You can just cut and paste which assignments you want children to complete each day.
This makes it so easy to differentiate if a certain student needs to work on specific skills more.
BONUS ACTIVITIES FOR SUMMER
These each can be added to the additional daily tasks for kiddos. I love having children fill out the goals for summer. We refer back to them often, and I have them fill this out a couple times throughout the summer.
The summer goals printable shown above is a freebie towards the bottom of this blog post.
STAYING ORGANIZED
When I first started these packs with my daughter in the spring, I put them in a binder. This worked great, but then I saw a video about ProClick spirals. I am in love!
I love spirals because they are so much less bulky than binders, and with these they click open and closed so I can add pages, take pages out, etc. It is SO easy to use!
Once I had the packet printed, it took me about 5 minutes to punch and assemble.
Using the ProClick system is perfect for these distance learning packs, because you can then open the spirals and add the additional activities wherever you need.
The spirals come in different sizes, but for these packs I bought the ones that hold 85 pages HERE
If you’re making these for students - for distance learning or in the classroom- you could assemble the packs for the month, and then you can add pages or take them out as needed.
WATCH THIS QUICK VIDEO TO SEE HOW SIMPLE THIS RESOURCE IS TO IMPLEMENT
Print a day for FREE from the summer pack along with the setting summer goals printable!
FREEBIE! KINDERGARTEN CLICK HERE
FREEBIE! FIRST GRADE CLICK HERE
This will be a year-long series soon! I currently have April, May and June/Summer available for both kindergarten and first grade.
Check back for the other months soon.
You can also print an entire week for FREE from May’s pack HERE
KINDERGARTEN LEARN AT HOME PACKS
FIRST GRADE LEARN AT HOME PACKS
