December is a lot. Real talk. The kids are on level 10. We have assessments, report cards, dress-up days, and many other activities happening. Plus, all the holiday things outside of school. So, first things first, deep breath. Do what you can/what you want and know that whatever you do is enough! And HAVE FUN these few weeks! Hopefully, these December lesson plans and ideas will reduce your stress!
This year is a little different for me because I get to be a stay-at-home dad, so I can spend more time with our daughter and prepare for our second daughter, due on December 15!! So, each week for Schedulin’ Sunday, I will post ideas and resources that I use in my classroom for that week in the school year. Each post will also contain links to previous years’ lesson plans!
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 15
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2024-2025
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Kindergarten December Lesson Plans: Phonics and CVC Words
We are continuing to work on CVC words in phonics. We are using Word Family Bootcamp for explicit phonics instruction. With Word Family Bootcamp, we are segmenting, spelling, decoding, and writing CVC words and reading them in decodable text! One of the gaps or areas of weakness that we start to see at this point is the middle vowel sound. Our students struggle with this so we now switch our focus to the middle vowel sounds. Our circle charts are now medial vowel circle charts so we are focused on that sound!
This week we are using our newest creation to work on CVC words! We are using our new mnemonic sound cards for word building! These cards use embedded mnemonics to help students remember sounds and decode and encode easier! They’re not only aligned to the science of reading but they’re so cute and fun!
Teaching Sight Words
Here’s what I want us to remember: don’t memorize words. We segment the sounds, blend the sounds, decode the word, spell the word, write the word, and use the word in context, all to help our brains map the word so we actually learn it!
Each week, we learn four words. We learn the word on Monday, and on Tuesday and Wednesday, we use the words in sentences. On Thursday, we do a sight word grid, and on Friday, we play a game to practice the word!
Kindergarten December Lesson Plans: Math-Making 10
This week, we are working on making 10! This is our required curriculum, so we used the same themes for the lessons. However, instead of using slides, we made the lessons hands-on. These lessons focus on helping kids recognize the ways to make 10 and understand addition and equations.
Kids love this lesson because they get to make towers of 10 and then break the towers! I mean, who doesn’t love breaking things?! They color their worksheet and write the equation!
We use ten frames to make 10 with red and yellow counters. Students make 10 and write the equations.
Of course, we go bowling to make to! But since it’s December, we make it a little more festive! We use inflatable ornaments and green cups! Students count how many cups fall down and how many are standing and write the equation!
But my favorite making 10 lesson of the week is using our Math Stackers! We use these math tools all year but they are amazing for making 10! Students show all the ways to make 10, and then color their worksheet and write equations. These blocks are a powerful visual representation of all the ways to make 10.
CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR OWN MATH STACKERS!
December Lesson Plans: Holidays Around The World
December means Holidays Around The World. This is a vital unit or theme because it allows us to learn about various places, cultures, traditions, customs, foods, and languages. Plus, it’s a great way to keep kids engaged and learning in December.
Here’s how holidays around the world work in the classroom! Each day we visit a country and learn about how they celebrate Christmas or what holiday they celebrate. We learn the customs, food, traditions, and more. Each student gets a plane ticket, we “fly” to the country. We do a read-aloud that relates to each country, we use an informational PowerPoint to learn about the country, we complete a graphic organizer, and students color their worksheet. We even get to stamp our passports! Then we do a craft for the country.
Our Holidays Around The World resource has been updated to include easier-to-use formatting and hats for each country!
December Lesson Plans: The Year At Maple Hill Farm
Our required text this week is The Year At Maple Hill Farm. This is a challenging book for kindergarten so we focus on the main text on the pages. This week we read the story a few times and work on what we notice, key details and we do a clothing sort!
This week we
December Lesson Plans: Grinch Day!
December means lots of great, classric read alouds so we try to incorporate them as much as possible. This week we kick off with Grinch Day! We do an entire day of Grinch activities. Grinch comprehension, math, phonics, snacks, art and more!
We read the story and do a story map. Then we do some writing activities about what makes us grouchy!
Our phonics lesson is Grinch words! We use hearts to spell CVC words! Students segment the sounds, spell the word, write the word, and blend the sounds!
Our math lesson is sorting and graphing Grinch Hershey Kisses!
We even do a green grouch directed drawing!
WEEK 14 RESOURCES
Here are some more resources that can make your planning and prep easier!
December Lesson Plans And Activities: FREE RESOURCES
Click the images to get the freebies!
