Free Christmas Writing Prompts for Kids in Kindergarten

Download free Christmas writing prompts for kids in kindergarten and first grade. Encourage your students to write with these Christmas themed vocabulary cards and make story-writing fun and engaging this festive season.

Explicit Teaching, InvestigationsJanelle McArdle20 November 2023Christmas, writing prompts, kindergarten writing, first grade, grade one Comment

9 Christmas Games for the Classroom - fun and easy

Check out these easy prep Christmas games for the classroom and celebrate the holiday season with your students. You will love these fun and easy prep Christmas games. They are perfect for younger kids in preschool, kindergarten and first grade.

Explicit TeachingJanelle McArdle13 November 2023Christmas, kindergarten, preschool, grade one, first grade, gamesComment

Free Halloween Writing Prompts for Kindergarten

Get your students excited about writing this Halloween with my Free Halloween Writing Prompts for Kindergarten and grade one. Quick, easy prep and educational too!

Explicit Teaching, InvestigationsJanelle McArdle13 October 2023kindergarten writing, halloween, writing prompts, grade one, first grade, prep, foundation stageComment

Investigation Area Ideas for the Start of School

Are you looking for some simple yet highly engaging investigation areas and learning invitations to start the school year? In this blog post, you’ll discover a heap of Investigation area ideas for the start of school. These tried and tested learning invitations are my go-to setups year after year, so you’ll be sure to find some that you can use in your classroom too.

Investigations, Classroom EnvironmentJanelle McArdle15 January 2023investigations, investigative play, learning invitation, kindergarten, first grade, grade one, starting school, foundation stage, back to school, play based classroom, play based learning, classroom setup, investigation areaComment

The Transforming Schema

The transforming schema is all about change and how things transform in substance or appearance. If you have children in your classroom mixing sand with water or drawing and painting on their bodies, you might have children developing their transformation schema. This blog post will explain exactly what this play schema is and give you a heap of playful hands-on activities to support it.

InvestigationsJanelle McArdle17 October 2022play schema, play based learning, play based classroom, developmental play, child development, transforming schema, schema play, kindergarten, grade one, grade 1, preschool, hands-on learning, investigative playComment

The Connecting Schema

The connecting schema is all about how things connect and separate. If you have children in your classroom tying things together, fascinated with tape or building and knocking over towers of blocks, you have children developing their connection schema. This blog post will explain exactly what this play schema is and give you a heap of playful hands-on activities to support it.

InvestigationsJanelle McArdle21 September 2022play schema, play based classroom, connection schema, connecting schema, developmental play, play based learning, kindergarten, preschool, grade one, first grade, child development, early childhoodComment

Science Provocations – Properties of Materials

Teaching the early years chemistry strand and looking for some engaging and educational science provocations? This blog post has 5 hands-on learning invitations to help you teach about Materials and their Properties. There are also tips and ideas to help you set up your very own purposeful early childhood science learning provocations.

Classroom Mindful Monday

Mindful Monday is a great way to start the school week. If you are looking for a way to bring some mindfulness into your classroom, you are going to love this Mindful Monday activity.

Social and EmotionalJanelle McArdle7 March 2022social and emotional, mindfulness, social skills, mindful classroom, mindful kids, kindergarten, prep, preschool, early childhood, classroom, grade 1, grade one, first gradeComment

Counting the Days of School

If you are not already counting the days of school, I encourage you to do it!!. This fun math activity is popular in kindergarten and grade 1 because it is such an engaging way to teach and consolidate early number concepts. Your students will love this predictable daily counting practice and you will be surprised at how many early numeracy skills and concepts can be taught when you count and celebrate 100 days of school.

Explicit TeachingJanelle McArdle17 January 2022100 days, counting, numbers, early years, kindergarten, grade 1, grade one, maths, counting the days, math activities, early numeracyComment

Blog - Life in a Play Based Classroom

I’m Janelle and I’m here to help you implement an engaging, play based curriculum

that STILL has your children meeting academic standards and benchmarks!