Fun and Learning in English and Spanish: April 2019

Hi y'all,
How fun was yesterday (April Fool's Day) in the classroom? My kids and I had so much fun playing silly tricks on each other throughout the day. Remember...learning shouldn't only be educational, it should also be lots of fun! Well, it's time to look forward to the next few holidays. For us, it's Easter and Earth Day. Time for some "hoppy" April fun centers!

I'll list a bunch of my favorite read-aloud books that go along with themes for this month at the bottom of this blog. The following center activities supplement the read-alongs very well!

Here are a few of my favorite April centers:

Center 1: April Reading Comprehension Passages with "WH" Questions

This is a traditional reading comprehension center. The kids grab a quick sheet, read the short story, and then answer the WH questions listed on the bottom. Sometimes I put this in a buddy reading center and the kids can read the passage together, then they can ASK EACH OTHER "WH" questions related to the passage. Let me tell you...the kids get very creative with their WH questions. They often times answer the pre-written WH questions and then even write new WH questions on the back of the paper - then they exchange the papers with their buddies and the buddies have to answer the new WH questions. This way, the students are able to both ASK & ANSWER WH questions! This packet includes a total of 10 stories (5 fiction and 5 nonfiction). Click here or on the picture above to learn more!

This next packet is a smaller packet of the same types of stories as above. It includes completely different stories than the packet above. It only includes 4 stories. Click here or on the picture below to learn more!

Center 2: Easter - 2 Digit Addition & Subtraction Within 100 Color by Code

Most of my kiddos are experts at single digit addition and subtraction by now, so I've made them a packet for double digit addition and subtraction. And...did I mention...it's a "Color by Code" activity?! My kids absolutely LOVE these! Not only do they look forward to completing these for centers, they even ask to do them for homework! Yep, you read that right. They ask for homework! Can we all say YES?! They are also differentiated, so you can have your whole entire class working on the same picture at the same time, and they're all differentiated! Yep, there are 6 different pictures included. Each picture has 4 differentiated sheets, so really it's 24 sheets. This packet will seriously last you long enough for the whole month! For each of the 6 pictures, the following sheets are included:

addition without regrouping to 100 (great for K/1st)
addition with regrouping to 100 (great for 1st/2nd)
subtraction without regrouping within 100 (great for K/1st)
subtraction with regrouping within 100 (great for 1st/2nd)

Click here or on the picture above to learn more!

This next packet is the same as above, only it's "Earth Day" related. Click here or on the picture below to learn more!

Center 3: Color by Comprehension - Spring Stories

Sure enough. You read that correctly. Color by COMPREHENSION!!! What is that, you ask? Well, since my kids love color by code activities for math, I had to come up with a way to incorporate literacy into it. So...I invented Color by Comprehension. Woohoo!!! This is better for my lower readers that may not have the vocabulary and language skills to write out the answers to comprehension questions by themselves. The students will read a short passage, then they'll read the questions listed along with the color code at the bottom of the page. The students get to interact with the text as they correctly color the evidence in the text, and then they find the answer to the comprehension question and correctly color it in the picture. This is definitely another one of my kids' favorites! This packet has so many different fun sheets included that I have more than enough for the whole Spring season! I often lay this out as early finisher work, morning work, and sometimes as optional homework. Click here or on the picture above to learn more!

This next packet is almost the same as above. The difference is that these color by comprehension stories are "Easter" related. Click here or on the picture below to learn more!

Center 4: Sight Word Bingo - Easter

Any excuse to use colorful and yummy candy is a plus for me! Yep, I'm talking about jelly beans. I'm pretty cheap (yep, teacher salary, ya know?), so I usually opt to buy the generic store brand. Besides, it's not really meant to be eaten at this center anyway since I re-use the jelly beans every day for this center. I definitely have some high flyer readers, but this center is ideal for my lower level readers. My high flyers are still able to play as they call out the words. Sometimes they even like to buddy up with a friend so they can help them. They use the jelly beans as bingo chips. The kids love this center, and they're practicing their reading at the same time. It's a WIN-WIN! Did I mention it's editable?! Click here or on the picture above to learn more!

Favorite Read-Aloud Books for April: