The Joy of Teaching

If your children are like mine, they open their holiday gifts in a frenzy of activity, spend two days playing with them, and then move on. Give yourself the gift that keeps on giving with fun educational books that will entertain your children for weeks. Perfect for holiday travels, indoor activities, and boredom busters, these hands-on activity books turn learning into fun and entertaining activities. Get creative and pair your activity book with a game or themed activity for the perfect gift duo.

Find your child’s favorite subject and plan away with our educational holiday gift guide:

Science/STEM Theme

Wrap up these activity books with a science kit for a fun gift idea for kids!

Skill Sharpeners: Science 

Build your child’s understanding of physical, life, and earth science with colorful and engaging science activities. The short stories and hands-on activities will turn your child into an investigator.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: Science for grades PreK–6

Smart Start: STEM 

Smart Start: STEM introduces important science concepts through science stories, activities, and STEM challenges. Each activity engages young learners in creating simple projects of their own unique design. 

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Smart Start: STEM for grades PreK–1

Skill Sharpeners: STEAM
Skill Sharpeners STEAM workbooks use real-world problems and project-based learning to teach  engagement, empathy, problem-solving, and collaboration. Your kids will become real-world problem solvers all while creating fun, hands-on projects.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: STEAM for grades PreK–6

STEM/STEAM Theme Gift Pairings

Add critical and creative thinking games, toys, and puzzles for a fun STEM-themed gift. Keep in mind that STEM toys should be age-appropriate and offer longevity for long-lasting entertainment and creativity.

Here are some fun examples of STEM gifts that stimulate creativity and encourage learning:

• Magna-Tiles or Magformers
• The Gravity Maze
• GoldieBlox Ruby Rails Coding Action Figure
• Kanoodle
• Creative Kids Flakes
• Project Mc2 Chemistry We Heart Chemistry

Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Theme

Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking 

The variety of fun and creative activities in this series will challenge your child to use higher-order thinking skills based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Every page provides a new and interesting activity that will help your children think outside the box and tap into their creativity. 

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking for grades PreK–6

The Never Bored Kid Book 

This is my top gift pick for young children for an all-around educational gift that is also entertaining. Each full-color book provides mazes, riddles, hidden pictures, things to cut out, dot-to-dots, and other engaging, age-appropriate activities.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Never-Bored Kid Book for ages 4–10

Brain Games and Activities

Over 80 games and brain teasers provide screen-free fun to boost critical and creative thinking skills! Keep kids engaged with activities that include sticker activities, logic and reasoning, word play, puzzles, mazes, graphs, hidden pictures, tongue twisters, and more!

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Brain Games and Activities for Ages 4–11

Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Gift Pairings

Wrap up age-appropriate games and art supplies with the activity book to boost kids’ critical thinking skills. Examples include:

• Uno
• Qwirkle
• Shut the Box (dice game)
• Dominoes
• Sudoku Puzzles
• Mastermind Game: The Strategy Game of Codemaker vs. Codebreaker
• Markers
• Paste
• Scissors

Reading Theme

These activity books along with a favorite story book or novel make the perfect gift to nurture a love of reading!

Smart Start: Read and Write 
Give your kids a head start on next year’s reading and writing skills with Smart Start: Read and Write. Kids will improve their reading and writing abilities with alphabet games, spelling activities, word searches, and other fun learning activities.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Smart Start: Read and Write  for grades PreK-1

Smart Start: Sight Words 
Improve reading fluency by teaching your kids sight words and high-frequency words with Smart Start! Through entertaining, full-color stories and interactive learning activities, kids will learn new sight words, high frequency words, and improve their reading abilities.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Smart Start: Sight Words  for grades PreK-1

Skill Sharpeners: Reading

Foster your child’s love of reading with colorful stories and activities. Accompanying activity pages provide engaging activities such as rhyming, word searches, and crossword puzzles.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: Reading for grades PreK–6

Listen and Learn: Animals

Help your child learn to read with the help of fascinating animals! From chameleons to kangaroos, the beautiful animal photographs and stories in this activity book will take little learners on an animal adventure around the world, while they practice reading and writing skills.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Listen and Learn: Animals for grades PreK–6

Reading Gift Pairings

Wrap up the reading activity book with a new novel, storybook, flashcards, or book of poems. Some holiday favorite books, include:

Grades K-3

• Arthur’s Christmas by Marc Brown
• Franklin’s Big Book of Stories (Kids Can Read) by Sharon Jennings and Sean Jeffrey
• Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

Grades 2-6

• Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson
• Garfield Fat Cat by Jim Davis

Writing Theme

Fun activity books, journals, and games that build vocabulary are wonderful educational gifts for kids of all ages.

Skill Sharpeners: Spell and Write

Colorful themed stories and activity pages motivate even the most reluctant writers, while also building spelling skills.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: Spell and Write for grades PreK–6

Writing Gift Pairings

Wrap up the activity book with a writing journal or new game, such as:

• Scrabble Junior
• Bananagrams
• Apples to Apples Junior
• Lulu Jr. Illustory Book-Making Kit

Geography Theme

Skill Sharpeners: Geography 

Engage your child in exploring the world while learning important map skills and geography concepts. The reading selections and activities take children beyond basic geographic understandings and into unique ecosystems, biomes, places and regions, histories, cultures, and social movements within our world.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: Geography for grades PreK–6

Geography Gift Pairings

Wrap up the activity book with a new geography-themed game, map puzzle, kids atlas, or globe.

• Gamewright Scrambled States
• Children’s Illustrated Atlas
• Waypoint Geographic GyroGlobe 4″

Math Theme

Skill Sharpeners: Math

Practice important math concepts with colorful games and puzzles. Topics cover grade-appropriate math practice in fun and engaging thematic formats. The fun games and puzzles included make practicing math facts so much fun your children won’t even realize they are learning.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Skill Sharpeners: Math for grades PreK–6

Smart Start: Math

Make math fun with engaging and colorful learning activities that teach math using a variety of subjects and activities!

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Smart Start: Math for grades PreK–1

Learning Line: Flashcards

Each flashcard set provides sturdy, colorful cards that practice basic math skills, as well as ideas for games to use with the cards. As a bonus, each set provides a unique link to corresponding online timed tests for interactive practice!

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Learning Line Flashcards: Counting 1–20 for grades PreK–1

Math Gift Pairings

Pair a math activity book with math and logic games and puzzles for a creative stocking stuffer.

• Sudoku
• Spot It
• Set
• Rubik’s cube
• Math for Love Prime Climb
• ThinkFun Zingo 1-2-3 Number Bingo Game

Take your gift buying to the next level and provide endless opportunities for your child to learn, grow, and play.

Jumbo Activity Books

Top Student 

Discover a variety of entertaining and educational activities for children in the Top Student jumbo activity books. Hundreds of colorful and engaging activities allow children to strengthen their skills across all curriculum areas. The mindful moments activities and reward stickers create enjoyable and fun learning opportunities for children.

Shop at Evan-Moor.com: Top Student activity book for grades PreK-6.

Parents, sign up for Evan-Moor’s monthly education e-newsletter to receive free learning activities!

View all Evan-Moor activity books for kids here: shop now.

Happy Holidays!

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

Have you ever been whale watching or seen a whale up close? They’re amazing creatures to see in their own habitat, but if you don’t live near the ocean there are still plenty of ways you can bring whales to the classroom!

Check out these fun facts, free downloadable activities, and other projects to learn about whales! Click here to download all of the free whale activities listed below.

Fun Facts about Whales:

• Whales are marine mammals, which means they require oxygen, are warm-blooded, and feed milk to their young.
• Whales can hold their breath for more than 20 minutes.
• Blue whales are the largest known animals to ever live on the planet—reaching 110 feet in length.
• Whales migrate in order to feed and mate.
• Humpback whales communicate through complex whale songs.

Whale Shape Book, Grades K–2
This shape book unit provides five reproducible forms in the shape of a fat whale, directions for students writing at three levels, a three-line poem, and literature connections. (From The Ultimate Shape Book)

Pocket Book on Whales, Grades 1–3
Students create a “pocket book” about toothed and baleen whales. Includes picture cards, whale haiku, minibooks, size comparison chart, and additional activities. You can pick and choose activities or have students complete the entire book. (From Theme Pockets, September e-book)

Whale Activity Pages, Grades 1–5
These ready-to-use pages include illustrations of ten types of whales, a whale skeleton, and a whale writing form. (From Giant Science Resource Book)

Life in the Ocean Pocket File Folder, Grades 3–6
This unit provides ideas, directions, and patterns for creating a science report about a marine animal, adaptable for whales. It includes ideas for a pop-up page, a minibook, a word web, and other activities. (From Easy File Folder Reports e-book)

Whale Bulletin Board
This link includes teacher directions and caption letters to create a fun bulletin board to display students’ work. (From Bulletin Boards Every Classroom Needs)

Whale Watching

If you do live near the ocean, in locations where whales live or migrate through, you may be able to go whale watching and see some real whales up close!

Measuring Whale Lengths

In a hallway, or on blacktop or another outdoor space, gather students to measure various lengths of whales. Using a measuring tape, chalk, or some other marking method, have students draw out and label the following whale species and their lengths:

• Pilot whale – 20 feet
• Gray whale – 40 feet
• Humpback whale – 50 feet
• Sperm whale – 55 feet
• Finback whale – 70 feet
• Blue whale – 100 to 110 feet

Compare the lengths to other things, like the classroom length, car lengths, truck lengths, etc.

Whale-Blubber Activity

Many marine mammals have blubber to keep them warm in the extreme cold. Whales are no exception to this! You can make your own blubber glove and test it out in cold water with this activity! Check out this hands-on STEM blubber glove project from Evan-Moor.

Egg Carton Whale Art Craft

For this simple and fun craft, you’ll need the following materials:

• Egg cartons
• Light blue paint
• Paintbrushes
• Light blue construction paper
• Blue pipe cleaners
• Googly eyes
• Black markers
• Glue
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Cut the egg carton into individual sections. (You may need multiple egg cartons depending on the number of students.)
2. Paint each individual carton piece light blue and let dry completely.
3. Carefully cut or poke a hole at the top of the egg carton for the whale’s blowhole. Cut an X if possible, or just poke a small hole.
4. Cut a blue pipe cleaner in half. Then take each shorter piece and bend that in half, intertwining the bended portions together and placing those in the blowhole so that four ends of the pipe cleaner stick out at the top. Bend those pieces to look like a water spray!
5. Cut a whale tail shape and fins out of the construction paper and glue it onto the egg carton.
6. Glue on the googly eyes and draw a mouth on the front of the egg carton whale.

Whale Reading Recommendations

In addition to hands-on activities and lessons, you can read about whales in the classroom. Check out our book recommendations for a variety of reading levels:

A Whale Is Not a Fish by Melvin Berger (Grades 1–2)

The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson (Grades Preschool–2)

Humphrey the Wayward Whale by Ernest Callenbach and Christine Leefeldt (Grades 1–3)

How the Whale Got His Throat by Anna Milbourne (Grades K–2)

If you can’t go to the whales, bring the whales to you! Turn your classroom into a whale watching unit with decorations, lessons, activities, and more!

These whale-themed units were pulled from Evan-Moor’s online lesson library, TeacherFileBox. There are many more available, including whale-themed units from Reading Informational Text, Daily Science, Creative Writing Ideas, and more. Take a look!

For related ideas and free printables, see: Under the Sea Classroom Theme and Activities.

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

Help students enjoy writing with clear lessons and activities that simplify the writing process. As a writing tutor for university students, I see a lot of common mistakes that originate in early writing instruction. Grades 4–6 is an important time for students’ writing development, specifically in developing their own writing voices.

Correcting common mistakes in early writing instruction will benefit children as their writing progresses. Learning how to break down the writing process into simple steps will prevent students from getting overwhelmed by longer writing assignments as they get older .

Here are some things to focus on for writing in grades 4–6:

Organization

Organization is one of the most important pieces in writing longer paragraphs or essays. Well thought out planning and organization can make an essay really stand out.

• Preplan writing structure with graphic organizers – Graphic organizers help children plan out the structure and purpose of their writing so it has a consistent introduction, supportive statements, and conclusion. It also helps them stay on track during the writing process. Check out these free note-taking outlines and graphic organizers from Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs below:

Download this free note-taking guide for narrative writing.

• Plan out paragraphs individually – Students should plan out paragraphs, whether they are separate from their overall outline or within it. Writing out topic sentences, claims, and supporting details will help them combine their paragraphs when they’re actually writing. This outline from Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs is a great example of how to help children organize information before starting the writing process. 

• Write your body paragraphs first – While it may seem counterintuitive to start in the middle, the body paragraphs of an essay are the most important parts! The intro and the conclusion should reflect your whole essay and are often easier once an essay is written.
• Practice different types of writing – Narrative, informational, and persuasive writing are the three main types of nonfiction writing that students will learn in elementary school. Each style requires different types of organization; check out the graphic organizers for each kind below:
  
  • Narrative Writing asks children to write a true story about a real event that happened to them.
  • Informational Writing is written to inform the reader about a specific person or topic.
  • Persuasive Writing is written to persuade others to agree with the writer and take action.

Grammar and Punctuation

Simple grammar mistakes, especially homophones and similarly spelled words, can be the deciding factor between a good essay and a great essay. Teaching these grammatical concepts early on will save students from making these mistakes in their writing.

• Then vs than – Then is used for time or sequencing, and than is used for comparison.
  
  • I put on sunscreen, then jumped in the pool.
  • I like mint chip better than vanilla ice cream.
• You’re vs your – You’re is a contraction of you are, while your is used to show possession.
  
  • You’re the fastest runner in the class.
  • You dropped your lunchbox.
• Their, there, they’re – Their is used for possession, there is used to show location, and they’re is a contraction of they are.
  
  • The blue backpack is their backpack.
  • That backpack over there is blue.
  • They’re excited about their backpack.
• Two, to, and too – Two is the number or amount, to is a preposition, and too is used to say in addition or also.
  
  • I have two brothers.
  • I am going to the store.
  • Do you want to come to the store, too?
• Affect vs effect – An easy way to remember this is: Affect is the action, and effect is the end result.
  
  • The weather will affect our plans tomorrow.
  • The weather had an effect on our plans.
• I vs me – I is used as the subject of the sentence, and me is used as the object or recipient in the sentence.
  
  • I went to the store earlier.
  • John got me ice cream at the store.
• It’s vs its – It’s is a contraction of it is, and its shows possession.
  
  • It’s the first day of school tomorrow.
  • The cat hurt its paw.
• Semicolon vs colon – Semicolons are used to join independent clauses. Colons are used to show something like a list or quotation is following.
  
  • I need to go to the store today; I also need to go to the dentist.
  • I need to get three things from the store: milk, ice cream, and bread.
• Properly using commas – Commas are used in a variety of ways in writing. They are used between items in a list, to separate dependent phrases and clauses that aren’t necessary to the sentence, or to join independent clauses. Here are a few examples:
  
  • I need milk, ice cream, and bread from the store. (list)
  • I have a friend name Robert, who goes to a different school. (dependent clause)
  • I went to the store, but they were closed today. (conjoining comma)
• Eliminating run-on sentences – Being able to identify and correct run-on sentences will make students’ writing more concise. A few ways to break up run-on sentences are with semi-colons, commas with conjunction words, and periods.
  
  • It’s the first day of school tomorrow; I need a new backpack.
  • It’s the first day of school tomorrow, I need a new backpack.
  • It’s the first day of school tomorrow, and I need a new backpack.
  • It’s the first day of school tomorrow. I need a new backpack.

Other Tips and Recommendations

• First drafts are just a draft – Students often stress about their first drafts not being good enough, without realizing that a first draft is just that—a draft! It’s much easier to revise and edit a draft than to start from scratch, so embrace first drafts! Whether the draft is fully written, half prose/half outline, or just a detailed prewrite, it’s better than nothing!
• Substitute for more academic words – In first drafts, don’t stress about word choice and diction. As students revise and edit, encourage them to substitute for words like “really” or “very” and find synonyms that sound more academic or are more concise or descriptive. Provide students with a child-friendly thesaurus and challenge them to replace three words in their essay!
• Let students write about their interests – You can’t fake enthusiasm in writing! When students write about things they care about, it shows in their writing and makes essays or longer writing assignments more interesting for everyone.
• Write Often! – This can’t be stressed enough! The best way to encourage strong writing is to write often and in a variety of ways. From journaling to essay writing to poetry to freewriting—any type of writing will encourage students and improve skills. Check out these seasonal daily writing prompts!

20 October and Halloween-Themed Writing Prompts

Winter-Themed Writing Prompts

Teaching the writing process is a long marathon throughout elementary school, beginning with simple sentences in first grade and ending with multi-paragraph essays by sixth grade. Guide students through this process with step-by-step lessons and practice. Encouraging correct grammar and punctuation, clear organization, and a love of writing will propel students forward in their writing as they continue through middle school and beyond.

For more writing tips and ideas check out: Ten-Minute Language and Writing Activities for Grades 4–6

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

Help children stay focused and motivated lesson checklist bookmarks! Evan-Moor’s free customizable bookmarks are a great way to help children stay-on-track with independent activities. Help children stay on task and find their places easily with bookmarks created just for them! Choose from eight different colors of bookmarks organized by weekly units or create your own lesson checklist. Discover new ways to use these free and customizable bookmarks below.

Download your free bookmarks here!

Organizational bookmarks help to:

• Quickly find your place between lessons
• Keep children focused and motivated
• Save time and teach organization skills
• Use the variety of colors to color code by subject or child
• Keep track of weekly progress with checkboxes
• Organize multiple subjects
• Encourage independent study by having children keep track of their own progress

Watch this video and see how a homeschooler uses bookmarks to keep her kids organized:

Keep track of weekly assignments

For resources that come with preplanned, week-based lessons, like Daily Geography Practice, the pre-printed bookmarks help children keep track of their weekly progress and save their place. They can check off each week and use the bookmark to keep their place so they can easily pick back up where they left off.

Customize bookmarks

If you’re using a workbook that comes in units or individual lessons, like Skill Sharpeners: STEAM, you can customize and print your own bookmarks so children know which lessons or units to complete that week. They can keep track of their own progress and know exactly where to start and stop. These bookmarks can also encourage independence by having children fill-out their own weekly and daily plans! Alternatively, you can use these for customizable units, such as History Pockets, which may not fill an entire bookmark by itself.

Build Your Homeschool Curriculum with Evan-Moor 

Evan-Moor’s TeacherFileBox printables are a great tool to help you organize your homeschool curriculum.  With over 80,000 lesson units available across PreK–6 grades, TeacherFileBox makes it easy to create your curriculum around your child’s interests and learning needs. TeacherFileBox includes lesson units across the curriculum in math, language, writing, science, geography, social studies, STEM/STEAM, SEL, and more! Save your favorite printables in your personal account and print lessons or project them onto a screen. Try TeacherFileBox for free for 14 days and browse reading printables and activity ideas.

With Evan-Moor’s Homeschool Curriculum Bundles you can pick and choose your options!  Choose from complete homeschool kits or “mini bundles” for spelling, math, social studies, science, writing, STEM, phonics, reading, vocabulary, and language! Each bundle provides the right amount of flexibility to help you to build your schedule around your family’s needs. (These bundles are 25% off here.) 

Stay organized and on-track this year with these easy-to-use free bookmarks and curriculum options from Evan-Moor!

For more tips and ideas, sign-up for the Evan-Moor’s free e-newsletter here! 

Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.

Thank you for your interest in Evan-Moor materials! We appreciate how hard teachers, parents, and homeschoolers work to provide quality instructional materials to give children the best learning experiences. Today’s media has created wonderful opportunities for individuals and businesses to become creators and consumers of content. With this new influx of online content comes a greater responsibility for authors and purchasers to understand and follow important copyright laws. In this article, we want to provide relevant copyright information, as well as tips on how to practice ethical purchasing and content creation. We hope that the information we provide here will serve as a resource for you to build your knowledge on how to use Evan-Moor materials in your home or classroom.

Did You Know?

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What Is a Copyright?

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What Are Evan-Moor’s Copyright Rules?

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Evan-Moor’s material is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced, shared, or stored in any form without written permission from Evan-Moor. If you would like to use Evan-Moor e-books or interactive lessons and games for additional purposes not outlined in the single-classroom license (described above as a fair-use exception), please submit an application form here.

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Lisa Vitarisi Mathews serves as Publisher of Evan-Moor Educational Publishers. She has over 20 years’ experience in PreK–8 education, and has worked closely with teachers across the United States through Evan-Moor product training and workshops.

Writing is an important skill that teaches children how to effectively and clearly communicate information and is very important within any career field. Early writing activities should begin as early as preschool and kindergarten to help children become comfortable with expressing ideas.

Establishing consistent writing instruction at an early age is a great way to help children develop effective communication skills. These writing tips below highlight the most important writing skills for each grade level and activities to practice them.

Tip 1: Provide Practice with Writing and Tracing Letters

Mastering printing is a key steppingstone to becoming a writer. Providing lots of quality practice that includes writing letters and beginning words will allow children to become more comfortable with the writing process and reduce their frustration. Also, providing plenty of opportunities to practice tracing and writing letters will give children time to become comfortable with expressing their thoughts through writing.

Once children have mastered their upper- and lower-case letters, you can start to introduce one-syllable words such as “cat,” “run,” and “sit.” Have the children practice tracing new letters, words, and sentences before asking them to create their own.

Tip 2: Encourage Inventive Spelling

Sometimes young children are reluctant to write because they are unsure of spelling rules. Early writing instruction should de-emphasize spelling and encourage young children to use their own inventive spelling patterns in their stories. Inventive spelling patterns are children’s best spelling guess based on word pronunciation. There are no wrong or right ways to use inventive spelling. The more children learn their alphabet letters and sounds, the more recognizable their words will become. Using inventive writing allows children to focus on the purpose of their writing, which is communication. Celebrate each time they can sound out a spelling word.

In recent years, spelling instruction has been de-emphasized, but learning basic spelling patterns and high-frequency words is an important aspect of quality writing and helps children become comfortable with using words quickly and efficiently. Incorporating weekly spelling words into lessons and activities is an important foundational skill.

Tip 3: Give Pre-Writing Experiences Through Stories PreK–1

Good writing foundations begin before children can read or write. Helping children develop consistent writing habits can be as simple as reading aloud to them and practicing oral storytelling.

Introduce these fun activities at home to help your children learn to organize information:

• Read stories aloud.
• Ask them to tell stories aloud.
• Write down their stories for them and create memorable books.
• Create positive writing connections by celebrating their efforts.
• Ask them to draw stories.
• Have them practice writing, coloring, and scribbling with crayons or
• markers.
• Teach them to write their name.
• Observe and point out writing and letters in your environment.

Smart Start: Read and Write activity books for grades PreK-1 provide lots of colorful and fun activities for reading and writing to help children develop strong writing foundations. The stories and activities help create positive connections with learning.

Tip 4: Focus on Basic Writing Skills

The writing process officially begins in kindergarten and progresses with each grade level. Writing instruction is intricately blended with reading, spelling, and vocabulary. All of these elements support the writing process by helping your child become familiar and comfortable with expressing thoughts and ideas through writing.

Here are some simple writing goals for each grade level. It is important to note that every child progresses at a different pace. Reviewing skills in earlier grade levels will help children build confidence as they become more comfortable with the writing process.

Basic Writing Skills for Kindergarten

In kindergarten, writing goes from zero to sixty. Children begin the school year learning upper- and lower-case letters and then transition to dictating (or writing) simple sentences with inventive spelling.

Dictation example: This child created a picture and a teacher typed the child’s description of it.

Even though children cannot write long sentences or paragraphs yet, it is still important to help them learn to express thoughts, summaries, and information. One way to do this is through dictation. Children orally retell a story or provide an opinion on a topic. A parent or teacher will then write down their words so they can see their thoughts on paper.

Advanced dictation example: If a reluctant writer struggles with writing longer sentences, have the student dictate a story aloud to practice story telling skills.

The activity below helps children practice how to summarize and retell important information in order. Read books aloud and engage children with the following questions:

• Read books aloud and ask questions about it.
  
  • Ask who, what, when, where, and why.
  • Ask what three things your child learned from the book.
  • Ask what happened in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the story.
  • Ask them to recall information about a book read, such as the author’s name, the title, or the main characters.
  • Ask your child to form an opinion based on a reading selection.

Basic Writing Skills for First Grade

In first grade, children begin to consistently write simple and expanded sentences. By the end of the year, most children will be able to convey an idea, story, or opinion using multiple sentences. This is an important time in children’s writing, as they become more comfortable with writing new words and putting their thoughts on paper. It is a good time to focus on learning how to write a complete sentence, as well as how to organize writing.

Here are a few ways to help children master these skills:

• Identification of a complete sentence with its subject and verb.
• Word-choice exchanges. For example, trading simple verbs such as “run” for more descriptive ones such as “rushed” or “zoomed.”
• Guided writing activities that provide a sentence starter with a main idea.
  
  • Guiding children through the writing process provides lots of exposure to the structure of writing without the pressure of creating the main idea. Provide a topic sentence and ask them to write about it by providing details and interesting facts.

Teaching children how to write an interesting or expanded sentence is the first step to building children’s writing confidence and understanding. Many children want to focus on the proper punctuation and grammar (which should always be encouraged). However, early writing practice should really focus on the structure and word choice for writing, rather than on the mechanics.

Write a Super Sentence for grades 1–3 is a great resource to help children learn a pattern for writing more compelling sentences. It includes activities for brainstorming, oral sentences, and descriptive sentence writing, as well as hands-on activities.

Tip: Even though children are beginning to write longer sentences, it is still a good idea to practice oral storytelling and summarization aloud.

Help children bridge the gap between oral and written skills with frequent and focused practice. Regular discussions, consistent read-alouds, and fun writing activities are wonderful exercises to help children become excited about and confident in their writing abilities.

For additional writing tips and ideas check out: Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs: How to Teach Beginning Writing

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

Sending your children to kindergarten is exciting, but it can also be stressful. How will they know what to do? What will they do without me? Will they listen and follow directions? You can alleviate some of these worries by teaching your children simple life skills that will prepare them for kindergarten and help them succeed at school. Tackle the life skills outlined below, one at a time, spending a week on each category. In three weeks, you’ll have helped your child be more self-sufficient and prepared him or her to be part of a kindergarten class!

One of the best ways parents can prepare their child for kindergarten is to encourage independent self-care skills. Children need to develop their social and emotional intelligence and develop personal self-care skills in order to learn and thrive in school.

Here are a few ideas to help you foster your child’s self-care skills to get ready for kindergarten.

Download your free printable kindergarten life-skills checklist here!

1. Doing Tasks Independently

Encouraging independence is a great way to strengthen children’s self-help skills. Before entering kindergarten, children should know how to do tasks independently. Start practicing these new skills a few months before school starts to give your child time to get comfortable with them.

Bathroom and Self-Care

• How to flush the toilet
• How to use toilet paper properly (how much to use)
• How to wash hands (and knowing its importance)
• How to give others privacy (when bathrooms have more than one stall)
• How to blow his or her nose

Clothing

• How to get dressed
• How to unbutton and unzip clothing
• How to take off a jacket and shoes
• How to tie shoes

Mealtime Etiquette

• How to open and close lunch boxes and containers
• How to open packaging such as straws, milk containers, and juice boxes
• How to use utensils and to not play with food
• How to use napkins to clean hands and wipe face
• How to stay seated while eating

Cleanup

• How to pick up toys after playing
• How to put pieces to a game or puzzle back in the box
• How to clean up room

As your child practices these important milestones, remind him or her that it is always okay to ask for help, but encourage your child to try them alone first.

2. Managing Emotions and Other Social Skills

Teaching kids how to manage their own emotions, be respectful, and learn what it means to be a good friend will help them learn important social and emotional skills for life. These skills are important for children to understand and manage their emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish healthy relationships, set positive goals, and make responsible decisions.

Here are a few tips to focus on with your child:

Listening

• How to listen when someone is talking

Self-Control

• How to keep hands to self

Manage and Self-Regulate Emotions

• How to deal with emotions and use words to express them
  • Knowing when to tell someone how they feel
  • Walking away from someone or something that’s making them upset
  • Finding a quiet place to color, read, or sit quietly
  • Closing their eyes, taking deep breaths in and out, and counting to ten or tracing their fingers
  • Doing something they love that makes them happy

*Make sure children know to always tell a teacher if someone is hurting them.

Social Skills Activities for Today’s Kids is a fun activity book that helps children learn important rules about friendship and school. The meaningful activities give children a safe space to think about how to handle social situations and provide guidance and suggestions for them to consider. 

3. Following Routines and Rules

When children enter kindergarten, their days will be structured with routines and rules they will need to navigate. Help your child get used to this by beginning these transitions at home.

Start Weaning Your Child off Afternoon Naps 

• Start a few weeks ahead of the first day of school, cutting the nap time in small increments until your child can stay up without a nap. You may need to transition your child to an earlier bedtime.

Start a Bedtime Routine

• Getting a good night’s sleep is important and helps children feel energetic and ready for school the next day.
• Have a consistent bedtime and routine, such as taking a bath, brushing teeth, changing into pajamas, and reading a bedtime story.

Set a Time Limit for Eating Lunch

• There is only a limited time to eat lunch or snacks at school. Try having your child finish eating lunch within 15–30 minutes, while staying seated.

Download your free printable kindergarten life-skills checklist here!

• Create a Schedule
  • Display your schedule and have your child look at it after each activity is completed.
  • Use poster board, Velcro, and construction paper to create your own schedule.
  • Illustrate pictures of each activity and write out what the activity is on the construction paper. Place Velcro on the back of your pictures and have your child stick the day’s routine on the poster board and then remove activities when they are completed.

Download this free activity for grades PreK-K about a creating a morning schedule.

Activities to Help Your Child Learn Rules and Follow Directions

Point out the importance of following directions. Rules and following directions help keep children safe.

• Play Simon Says (great game to practice being a good listener)
• Follow a simple recipe together
• Do an art project with multiple steps, such as origami or step-by-step-drawings
• Play duck, duck, goose (teaches children not to get up until it’s their turn)

Activities that Practice Self-Help Skills and Fine Motor Skills

• Play dress up with stuffed animals, having your child practice using buttons or zippers.
• Hole punch a piece of cardboard. Have your child weave a string or shoelace through the holes.
• Let your kids help clean up the table when they are done eating (wiping tables, throwing trash away, placing dirty dishes in sink, and washing hands afterwards).
• Opening and closing a backpack: This is a great activity to start when you purchase your backpack for school.

Kindergarten Song 

This fun song “I Go to Kindergarten,” is an entertaining way to show children what to expect when they head to school.

Download the words to I Go to Kindergarten here! (Sing to the tune of “You are My Sunshine”)

Additional Safety Skills 

Although it is not expected that children will know their parents’ phone numbers when they enter kindergarten, it is a good idea to work with your child to know:

• First and last names
• Phone number (of one or both parents)
• Home address

For more tips and ideas to get ready for kindergarten, check out:

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist: What Does My Child Need to Know for Kindergarten?

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

Choosing your homeschool writing curriculum can seem daunting, but plenty of homeschoolers have found it easy with Evan-Moor’s writing resources! Check out what veteran homeschoolers had to say about some of Evan-Moor’s Homeschool Writing resources.

Daily Writing Lessons

Use Daily 6-Trait Writing for 125 quick, easy, and straightforward lessons to teach your child how to improve her writing skills.

The teacher’s edition guides homeschoolers through the teaching process, provides main teaching points for each concept, and offers detailed scoring rubrics for assessment.

Check out Project Happy Home’s review of Daily 6-Trait Writing Grade 1 here.

Daily Paragraph Editing provides targeted practice in grammar, punctuation, spelling and grade level language skills in short, daily activities. These skills lay a foundation for self-editing that will prove useful for students throughout their academic careers.

Find Purposeful Homeschool’s review of Daily Paragraph Editing Grade 2 here.

Creative Writing

Write a Super Sentence
Does your child need support writing more interesting sentences? Write a Super Sentence guides you and your child through the writing process and provides fun and easy practice without overwhelming children.

Click here to check out Caffeine & Lesson Plans’ full review of Write a Super Sentence and YouTube Channel.

How to Write a Story

Is your child ready to write stories? How to Write a Story teaches children about different story patterns that they’ve likely seen in their favorite stories and provides activities to practice writing their own short sentences to match those patterns. The writing prompts encourage creativity and ease children into creative writing.

Check out Project Happy Home for more reviews and YouTube videos

Homeschool Writing Curriculum Bundle

Did you know that you can get Evan-Moor’s writing curriculum bundle for grades 1–6? Each grade level has a unique selection of Evan-Moor books that are developmentally appropriate for the writing skills of that grade level.

Simply a Steward reviews Homeschool Writing Curriculum Bundle Grade 6 here. Inside the grade 6 Homeschool Writing Curriculum Bundle, there are three writing books.

Giant Write Every Day
This book provides a full year (12 months) of writing practice and activities for different types of writing. With creative prompts for every season, holiday, or event in the year, this resource is exciting for homeschooled children.

Daily 6-Trait Writing
In just 25 weekly units, your child will have focused, daily practice with an end-of-the-week prompt. Both the teachers’ edition and student edition are included in Evan-Moors’ writing bundle. The student version of Daily 6-Trait Writing provides student pages for each day’s activity, while the teachers’ edition offers a brief lesson for the teacher to teach the child before the activity, as well as, an answer key.

Text-Based Writing
The engaging stories that preface each writing activity will motivate children to complete activities, even if they struggle or dislike writing. Each unit provides a text in different areas to engage different interests for children.

There are plenty of resources that can help you and your child have confidence choosing your homeschool writing curriculum! You can trust Evan-Moor’s resources to help you and your child have an enjoyable writing experience.

Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.