Saturday, February 24, 2024

CKLA Free Language Arts Curriculum


I found another free reading and language arts curriculum I want to share:  CKLA Skills series.    This is a full language arts curriculum, but I've mainly used the reader (which are included from KG Level 4 up, and are decodable and engaging and have great illustrations .  I really adore the free printable readers and have been using them to supplement the readers from the other curriculum I use with the kids I tutor in reading.    New skills are added gradually and in the earlier grades are marked in the text.   While I haven't used the rest of the curriculum, it looks solid (at least at the Kindergarten level, which is what I've mainly looked through). 

But man, I wish they made these easier to find on their site.   They aren't all listed in one place  (at least that I could see).  In stead you have to use their search function to find them, and they don't always come up in order.   So, I thought I would link to these resources in order to make it easier for you all to find.

The curriculum covers grade KG - 3.   They have other curriculum on their site that goes further which you can also find here.   Also, this site has interactive online versions of  3-4 of the stories for these levels.


CKLA Language Arts Skills Series


Kindergarten Skills

Note:  Readers are not offered until KG Unit 4.  The names of the readers are included next to the unit link.


KG Ancillary Materials (Used in various levels)

KG Unit 1

KG Unit 2

KG Unit 3

KG Unit 4 - Pet Fun

KG Unit 5 - Ox and Man

KG Unit 6 - Kit

KG Unit 7 - Seth

KG Unit 8 - Sam

KG Unit 9 - Zack and Ann

KG Unit 10
- Scott



1st Grade Skills
 

1st Grade Ancillary Materials

1st Grade Unit 1 - Snap Shots

1st Grade Unit 2 - Gran

1st Grade Unit 3 - Fables

1st Grade Unit 4 - The Green Fern Zoo

1st Grade Unit 5 - Kate's Book

1st Grade Unit 6 - Grace

1st Grade Unit 7 - Kay and Martez


2nd Grade Skills

2nd Grade Ancillary Material

2nd Grade Unit 1
- The Cat Bandit

2nd Grade Unit 2 - Bedtime Tales

2nd Grade Unit 3 - Kids Excel

2nd Grade Unit 4 - The Job Hunt

2nd Grade Unit 5 - Sir Gus (Chapter Book)

2nd Grade Unit 6 - The War of 1812



3rd Grade Skills

3rd Grade Ancillary Material

3rd Grade Unit 1 - Classic Tales

3rd Grade Unit 2 - Rattenborough's Guide to Animals

3rd Grade Unit 3 - How Does Your Body Work

3rd Grade Unit 4 - Stories of Ancient Rome

3rd Grade Unit 5 - Adventures in Light and Sound

3rd Grade Unit 6 - Gods, Giants and Dwarves

3rd Grade Unit 7 - What's in Our Universe

3rd Grade Unit 8 - Native American Stories

3rd Grade Unit 9 - The Age of Exploration

3rd Grade Unit 10 - Living in Colonial America

3rd Grade Unit 11 - Intro to Ecology


Saturday, January 13, 2024

Paper Penguin Craft



I've done this craft with several kids I nanny or tutor, ages 4-7.   All enjoyed it and had fun.  It's a pretty quick one...takes 10-20 minutes.

The first time I tried this we cut out paper circles for eyes...the kids really struggled cutting those small circles, even the 7 year old.  That's why I switched to googly eyes the next time I did this.


SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Cardstock or construction paper in the following colors:  

  • Black
  • White
  • Orange
  • Light Blue

Glue (I prefer glue sticks for this one)
Large Googly Eyes


It's fairly straight forward.

1.  Cut off the bottom of white sheet of the paper, about 2-4 inches up for the snow in the background.   You can make the cut a little curvy, or go straight across.   Glue this to the bottom of your light blue paper.

2.  Cut a black tall oval a little bit smaller than your blue paper.   Glue it on the paper so it's sitting on top of the snow.

3.   Cut a white oval shorter and less wide than your black oval.   If it doesn't look big enough to put a face on the black, cut it down a little more.  Glue it towards the bottom of your black oval.

4.   On the edge of a black paper, cut two thin semicircle to make the wings.   They should be about half the length of the black circle that makes the penguin body.  You can cut them separately like in the penguin above, or fold the paper  in half first so you can cut two wings at once.  Glue those on the edge of the black and white circle, so that the top part is fully in the in the black area, and the bottom sticks out into the blue background. 

5.   Glue your googly eyes to the top of your penguins head. 

6.   Cut a small triangle for the nose.   With younger kids I just had them cut a corner off an orange paper.   Glue it under the eyes.


And you have a penguin!