Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

kindergarten

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a Geronimo Stilton book list because we love the series. Be sure to grab more Geronimo Stilton Books ideas and crafts on my page.

First, the books originated in Italy and were written by Elisabetta Dami and use the name Geronimo Stilton as the author. Clever pen name, right?

Geronimo Stilton is written from the point of view of a young nervous mouse who keeps finding himself drawn into adventures (and sometimes in a pickle) in all sorts of different places around the world.

For example, he travels to the Outback, Egypt, New York, into the jungle, and sailing with pirates to name just a few of his adventures.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

They are great books for visual learners, young readers transitioning to chapter books, struggling readers, reluctant readers, and pretty much any other type of reader.

Additionally, they are recommended for ages 7-10 but depending on your child’s age I feel like that span can go a little wider in either direction.

Besides, you can see from the list below that Geronimo has quite a variety of adventures.

Geronimo Stilton Spin-Off Series

Too, we are just talking about the first 20 in the original series today but here is a quick overview of the different spin-off series and how many in each.

  • Geronimo Stilton-82
  • Geronimo Stilton Journey Through Time-8
  • Geronimo Stilton: Cavemice Series-15
  • Geronimo Stilton Reporter Series-11
  • Thea Stilton Series-35  
  • Thea Stilton Graphic Novel Series-8 
  • Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novel Series-19 
  • Geronimo Stilton: The Graphic Novel Series-4 Books
  • Geronimo Stilton and the Kingdom of Fantasy Series-16 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Special Edition Series-7 
  • Geronimo Stilton Classic Tales Series-1 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Spacemice Series-12 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Creepella Von Cacklefur Series-9 
  • Geronimo Stilton: Micekings Series-7 
  • Thea Stilton: Mouseford Academy Series-8 
  • Thea Stilton and the Treasure Seekers Series-3 
Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

Next, look at the top 5 reasons to love the Geronimo Stilton book list.

Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton

  1. They are super fun to read. And they are written in a comic book or graphic novel style with bright and fun illustrations. This helps kids get a better picture of the locations and keeps their interest. The different sizes and styles of fonts help put emphasis on words, phrases, and themes throughout the book. Often these highlighted words make for a great introduction or review of spelling/vocabulary words.
  2. Teaches great life lessons- Geronimo’s books tend to have some kind of lesson woven in like being open to adventure, recycling, being brave, friendship, family, and other character concepts that are laid out simply for kids.
  3. Loaded with great facts and information- While telling the crazy stories they naturally weave in facts about people, places, and things so your child can’t help but learn while they enjoy the tale. Each of these elements is casually introduced in the story so your child is learning as they enjoy a story without it being a textbook at all. There is special emphasis on geography and history and make for a great history series for younger children.
  4. Great for boys and girls- While they do have a spin-off series about his sister Thea Stilton, Geronimo is written to appeal to both boys and girls, no matter what theme the adventure. If you have multiple kids in the house you are going to get a lot of bang for your buck on these books.
  5. They cover a variety of topics and locations- Whatever you are learning about or piques your child’s interest there is a great chance that there is a Geronimo Stilton out there for them. Looking for a book for them to read on the flight to a family vacation in Hawaii? Try book #72-The Hawaiian Heist, need something to supplement your Egypt study? Go with #2 The Curse of The Cheese Pyramid.
Top 5 Reasons to Love Geronimo Stilton And Geronimo Stilton Book List 1-20

Moreover, I have many hands-on activities to go wiith many of the books.

Geronimo Stilton Book List Activities

Also, look at these other crafts to go with the books.

Finally, look at the list of Geronimo Stilton books.

Geronimo Stilton Books 1 - 20

It is not necessary to go in order, each book is its own stand-alone story, and the main characters are properly reintroduced each time.  So, you can choose the books based on your child's current interest, the season, or a unit study topic.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This adorable shark and oceans for kindergarten fun sight word activity is such a fun activity for practicing sight words, letters, or even numbers. Also, grab my other tips, ideas, and crafts for kindergarten on my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum and look for ideas on my page Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook.

Do you need a learning activity that feels more like play and less like school?

For example, how about one that is themed to go along with a study of oceans for kindergarten?

I’m sharing a list of other helpful resources to round out your day like videos and hands-on activities.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Our shark is made from just one piece of foam board and a little paint.

It will give your child hours of learning that is fun and memorable.

Creating an activity that feels more like play is a great way to teach your child basic skills that they need to learn.

I created this activity to be used with sight word recognition but then realized that there were so many more possibilities with it.

You can have your child also feed the shark letters, numbers, and sums to orally given math problems, or have them choose the math problem that matches the number you give, and have them feed cards with rhyming words, and beginning letter sounds.

It can be a blank canvas for learning skills, anywhere your early learner is.

8 Awesome Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Facts

  1. There are over 500 different species of sharks, and almost 150 of them are listed on the at-threat list.
  2. The largest sea mammal, the blue whale, is also known as the largest animal in the world.
  3. Sharks live in almost all ocean habitats from tropical coral reefs to the Arctic, and down in the deep parts of the seas.
  4. Sharks are apex predators, which means that they are at the very top of the food chain with very few to no predators.
  5. Most sharks are cold-blooded, but a few are warm-blooded, like the great white shark for instance.
  6. Here is a super gross fact about marine animals that kids will love. Lobsters pee out of their faces, and they pee on each other to communicate. (Their urine nozzles are located under their eyes).
  7. Octopuses have three hearts. Two of those hearts move blood beyond the animal’s gills, and the third heart keeps circulation moving for the organs.
  8. Dolphins can sleep with one eye open and with one-half of their brain in use.

Then, hands-on activities to teach kindergarten is the best way for children to learn.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Look at some hands-on activities below to learn about sharks and oceans.

 More Activities For Shark & Oceans for Kindergarten

Include a great book as a resource for your child to look at that has great illustrations and information.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

I think Oceans Anatomy by Julia Rothman is a must-have addition to your science stack.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Everything is included in this book, from ocean tides to shark sizes, and sea grass to small and large ocean creatures.

More Kindergarten Homeschool Resources

Also, add some of these fun books and resources to learning about sharks and oceans.

Kindergarten Ocean Unit Study Resources

Add a fun ocean unit study resource for kindergarten to your study for the day.

Finally, look how to make this fun feed the shark activity to use for learning.

Shark & Oceans for Kindergarten Sight Word Activity – Feed The Shark

Supplies needed:

  • Foam board
  • Grey and black craft paint
  • pencil
  • Scissors or straight-edge razor
Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Using a pencil, lightly trace a shark head shape using most of the board.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Cut out one side and flip it to the other side of the board matching up the corner.

Next, trace it so that both sides match exactly and set these pieces aside. We’re going to use them later.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Use sharp scissors or a straight-edge blade to cut around the top of the shark’s head.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Then, draw an open mouth in the middle that is flatter across the bottom with an arch at the top.

Cut this out and set it to the side.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Paint the border of your shark gray and paint a thin black border around the mouth. Allow the paint to dry completely.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Too, while the paint is drying, take the excess piece from the mouth and cut a bunch of triangles for the shark’s teeth.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Once the paint is dry, hot glue teeth on the back side of the shark’s mouth on top and bottom.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Paint eyes on either side of the head.

Flip the board over and take the two scrap pieces you cut off in the second step, hot glue them on either side of the opening.

Be sure they are both lined up with the bottom as these will serve as your stand.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Now, for the activity itself, you can either make cards with your sight words, letters, numbers, or whatever you want to work on, or use purchased flashcards.

Additionally, you can also use alphabet magnets, scrabble tiles, or whatever else you already have to work with.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Moreover, spread a few out on the floor and call them out to your child, who then picks up the corresponding card and “feeds the shark”.

Easy, fun, and enjoyably repetitive, this activity will help sharpen skills and create a memorable learning experience.

Shark and Oceans for Kindergarten Fun Sight Word Activity

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

| 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Look how to make these fun red eyed tree frog manipulatives to use for rain forest math. And I have more ideas on my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon, and Rainforest Amazon Activities for Kids

Besides, creating these adorable red eyed tree frogs can be used for a multitude of fun rain forest math activities.

This is a wonderful way to incorporate math with a matching theme into your rainforest unit study.

Also, you sneak in some science, fine motor skills, art, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

For example, if you are having your child create the frog manipulatives take a moment to research Amazon lily pads.

Rather than the typical small lily pad with a notch in the side, the Victoria Amazonica is the largest member of the water lily family.

And is a massive round shape with upturned edges which can reach up to 8 feet in width.

This is why we are going to create a perfectly round shape for our lily pads to go along with our red-eyed tree frogs.

Before jumping to some fun rain forest math, look at a few fun facts about red eye tree frogs.

7 Facts about Red Eyed Tree Frogs

  • They are nocturnal.
  • A red-eyed tree frog will change its skin color to blend in with surroundings.
  • The big red eyes are a defense mechanism.
  • Red eyed tree frogs are in the Hylidae family of frogs known as tree frogs.
  • They have bright leaf green bodies.
  • They are small, about 1 inch and have sticky pads on their toes and fingers.
  • The red-eyed tree frog has three eyelids.

9 Rain Forest Math Concepts

Next, look at some rain forest math ideas to add to your study for the day or your rainforest unit study.

1. Addition/Subtraction Rain Forest Math

The obvious way to use them for addition is to count them but there are many ways to mix it up to keep it from becoming boring. 

  • Take the green circles you cut out and write numbers or use dots to represent the numbers then have your child place the matching number of button frogs on the lily pad.
Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math
  • Write simple addition or subtraction problems on the lily pads and have your child use the frogs as manipulatives to solve the problem.
Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math
  • Roll dice to get your two numbers and use them to create addition or subtraction problems.

2. One-to-One Correspondence Rain Forest Math

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Your youngest learners will first need to learn this skill to help them grasp the value of objects. Have them point to each one as they count-1,2,3, etc.

3. Number Line

Grab a piece of blue paper (for your Amazon River of course), cut it out in a strip and write out your number line 1-10 or make it higher by taping strips end to end if you need to. This is yet another way to practice addition and subtraction.

  • Have them start their frog on a particular number and have them add/or subtract by another smaller number.
  • For older children, you could even make negative numbers on the left side of the number line. 

4. Sorting

Have your child sort from

  •  largest to smallest or small, medium, large, or even just small and large.
  • They can even simply sort by color shade if you have a mix of light and dark green buttons, sorting colors is an important early math skill.

5. Arrays

Use your button tree frogs for multiplication. One of the ways we can teach the concept of multiplication is through arrays. Arrays are simply an arrangement of evenly spaced columns and rows to demonstrate a number.

  • For example, show 2×3 by placing two rows and three columns of buttons to equal 6.

6. Fractions

Create fractions with the frogs.

  • Lay out 4 frogs and have your child show you what ½ or ¼ of the frogs are.
  • Write fractions on the lily pads and use the frogs to figure them out.

7. Skip Counting

Lay out as many frog manipulatives as you like and have your child skip by 2’s or any other number by pointing to the objects, this helps make it a concrete rather than an abstract process.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

8. Number Chart

Use the frog manipulatives to move around on a 100’s chart to count, skip count, or find 1 less and 1 more.

9. Greater Than/Less Than

Draw an Inequality symbol on one of the lily pads and create problems by placing various amounts of frogs on either side.

Then, have your child turn the symbol to so that it is in the correct orientation.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Also, look at this list if you want to add a few rain forest books or resources to your study.

16 Rain Forest Animals For Kids Books & Resources

Add these rain forest animal books, games, and toys to round out your study of the animals of the rain forest.

More Rainforest Activities for Kids

Finally, look how to make cute red-eyed tree frogs to use to teach rain forest math.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Rain Forest Math Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives

You will need:

  • Green buttons in various sizes
  • Red cardstock/construction paper
  • Hole punch
  • Craft glue

Additional items for activities:

  • Dice
  • Blue construction paper
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Gallon zippered bag

Gather as many green buttons as you think you will need. For younger children start with 10 for simple math problems. Once you get going the process is quick and you can have dozens made in no time.

Hole punch red paper two times for each button you have.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Add a small slit down the center of each dot with a pen. You may find it easier to do this step after they are glued in place but either way is fine.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Add two dots of glue and attach the eyes.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Set aside to dry.

While the glue is drying on the eyes, trace a circle object about 3”-4” wide onto green construction paper to make lily pads. It’s up to you how many you cut but I recommend starting with 10. There are so many ways you can use these.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

Now, once your frogs are dry you can use them for math for multiple ages from toddlers up to kids working on multiplication and fractions.

You could also grab these cute and colorful Amazon frogs to use as manipulatives if you wanted to skip making them and still use the additional items we create with them.

 Pop all your supplies in a gallon ziploc bag to keep them together and then you also have a math pack that you can take on the go and practice with anywhere.

Waiting at the doctor’s office, or at a restaurant, or take them on a trip to the park for homeschool on a blanket.

Creating Fun Red Eyed Tree Frog Manipulatives for Rain Forest Math

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have 12 pick up and go homeschool kindergarten history curriculum. Also, grab my other tips, ideas, and crafts for kindergarten on my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum.

Teaching history to a young child can be daunting.

And sometimes we may not have a handle on what is and isn’t important to teach in kindergarten.

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

Additionally, you want to understand what pick up and go means. It can mean different things for each person.

For me it means the resource gives me in a capsule the important parts to teach.

Day-to-day lesson plans are what some families thinks of pick up and go.

With the resources I’ve listed, you’ll have a chance at both of those approaches along with others.

First, you need to determine what is the best way for you to teach history to your kindergartner.

For example, kids this age do best by hands-on learning.

That lesson was a hard one for me to learn because I felt comfortable with worksheets.

3 Ways to Make Homeschool Kindergarten History Relatable

And was comfortable thinking that completing a worksheet equated with understanding. It does not as I learned.

Worksheets do not teach anything, but they can guide you as the educator.

For instance, worksheets can condense important parts into smaller parts, and you can use them to construct a lesson plan for the day.

Or you can use the worksheet question and answers to summarize important points from the curriculum.

However, beyond choosing homeschool kindergarten history curriculum it’s more important to make history relatable to your child.

Look at these 3 ways to make history relatable to your young child.

1. Use a story telling method.

Because young kids don’t really have a significant grasp of time like the past other than the day they were born, a story is a fun and relatable way to bring history to life.

For example, Story of the World uses a reader to tell the story.

The rest of the work in the activity guides can be saved for next year when a child can write.

However, the activities can guide you how to flesh out the topic.

Too, living books are some of the best stories.

The Geronimo Stilton series of books is about a scaredy mouse Geronimo who goes on many adventures through history.

He’s a timid single guy afraid of new adventures yet finds himself reluctantly traveling the globe with his friends and family solving mysteries and completing research for his next big story.

They bring history to life without too many details which can be distracting to young learners.

2. Do Hands-on Activities.

This next point is hard for new parents to accept. It was for me.

I didn’t have enough experience to know that hands-on activities makes learning stick.

True I was quite judgmental thinking crafts was fluff learning.

But when you know better you do better. My kids showed me the way.

When we did hands-on activities, points in history stuck.

Also, we would do coloring, lapbooks, and use these hands-on lap packs.

Next, is one of the most important ways although I didn’t fully appreciate it in the beginning.

3. Through play learning.

Play is how children use their imagination to connect information.

Simply, children are learning about the world around them when they engage in play.

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

Use a diorama like Rocky Mountains Oregon Trail Fun Large Diorama Craft for Kids to teach kids about the early pioneers, learn about Daniel Boone through creating an edible cabin, and learn the difference between myth and true happenings by making the lost city of Atlantis diorama.

12 Easy Pick Up And Go Homeschool Kindergarten History Curriculum

More Kindergarten Homeschool Resources

Finally, look at some resources for teaching kindergarten homeschool history.

12 Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

12 History Curriculum for Kindergarten

You can get as much help as you need or as little with these resources. Sometimes we want lesson plans laid out and other times we want just a framework.

How To Determine The Best Beginner Reading Books For Kindergarten & Recommendations

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I’m sharing tried and true tips for how to determine the best beginner reading books for kindergarten while homeschooling. Also, grab my other tips, ideas, and crafts for kindergarten on my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum.

Besides, reading is one of the most important subjects to teach well.

Teaching other subjects in kindergarten is important.

How To Determine The Best Beginner Reading Books For Kindergarten & Recommendations

However, if a child doesn’t read well, he could struggle lifelong in all subjects.

Also, I have a free reading journal you can download below to help you track reading time.

As he grows and has interests in other subjects, like history or science, he may struggle with comprehension.

So, what we do in the beginning or while homeschooling kindergarten matters.

For example, beginner books for children should not only meet them where they’re at but be engaging and delightful.

3 Questions About Beginner Reading Books for Kindergarten

With that being said, look at these ways you can meet your child where he is in understanding phonics and growing in reading.

Some kindergarten aged children are ready for beginner chapter books or higher and others are still very much finding delight in repeated texts and phonics readers.

Being at either level is very much normal as well as anywhere in between.

Now, look at these 3 questions to see if your child needs more prereading help or if he is ready to tackle beginner chapter books.

1. How well does your child understand or master rhyming?

Rhyming is not just a fun childhood pastime, but learning to rhyme helps him to see patterns in reading.

After that when you point out the similarities in the word pattern, he learns to make other words quickly.

For example, if you print CAT on a card, then write FAT.

After you show him how the first letter is different, but the end is the same, he sees and hears the pattern.

This is an effective and simple way to have a strong foundation in reading.

Next, identify his knowledge of letter sounds.

2. How well does he know letter sounds?

That is more important than the shape of the letter or knowing the name of the letter.

While recognizing the shape of the letter is important, your child will need to grasp that it represents or stands for a sound.

Thereafter, you want to be sure of his print awareness.

3. What is his understanding of print concept?

For example, does he hold the book right way up, looks at the pictures and knows we read from left to right?

Even if he doesn’t understand his left from his right (even as adults we get confused) does he point with this finger or lead with his eyes and track left to right to read?

If you can answer yes to these prereading concepts, then barring any special needs he is ready for beginner reading books.

Additionally, if your child is still mastering some of the concepts listed above, then keep his reading diet steady with phonics readers and mixing in easy chapter books.

The books listed below will help him to not only reinforce basic reading concepts but challenge him to continue moving on in reading levels.

How To Determine The Best Beginner Reading Books For Kindergarten & Recommendations

More Homeschool Kindergarten Reading Tips

I have chosen to mix both phonics readers and fun readers so you have a choice to mix and match.

Too, look at more activities for kindergarten.

More Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum And Crafts

Beginner Reading Books For Kindergarten

A homeschooled kindergarten child’s reading diet should still be a mix of repeated texts or phonics readers and beginner readers.

This way your child’s basic reading skills continue to be strengthened while your child’s reading level is advancing.

However, I also have a way for you to track your reading time, or help your child track his time in 15 minute increments.

Free Reading Journal Tracking Reading Time by 15 Minute Increments

Free Reading Logs by tracking reading time in 15 minute increments.

How to Get the Free 7 page Reading Logs With Journal Cover

Now, how to grab the freebie. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this freebie.

 1) Sign up on my email list to get my emails.
 2) Get your freebie instantly.
 3) Last step. Look for my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following..