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FREE resources and curriculm for Kindergarten and Preschool


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Hi there! There are already threads that list free curriculum, but they focus more on the older kids, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread with free curriculum for preschoolers and kindergartners. These are some of the resources I used as a teacher and now as a mom. Please add on and list any free curriculum or resources you are using or that you know of.

I taught 4 year old Kindergarten before homeschooling, and I worked closely with the 5K teacher to mesh our programs. For my son, we just have fun doing phonics, handwriting together, math games, and take lots of field trips around your area! Also, read, read, read! At least 3 read alouds a day, more if you can. Kids at this age really need hands on play with materials like blocks, play dough, ect. to develop their cognitive and motor skills. We also do monthly themes based on the seasons, holidays, etc. I don’t use a boxed curriculum, just tons of good books and free printables and ideas from the internet.

 

 

www.starfall.com

Starfall is wonderful and free online, it has an ABC section for early phonics and reading going all the way up to 4th or 5th grade. They also sell a complete Kindergarten curriculum, but you can just use the ree activities and alphabet printables on the website for phonics and handwriting.

 

 

Here is a program with lesson plans for presenting Nursery rhymes to work on phonics and literacy skills, it is called Rhyme a Week:

http://www.teach.virginia.edu/go/wil...and_rhymes.htm

Just to let you know, it is a program that was developed for Head Start. Some homeschool families might not approve of the source, but I used it in the Catholic school I worked in and I didn't find anything objectionable about it. The also have a program called "Book a Week" that has lesson plans for activities to go along with a children's book. It is also used to increase literacy and reading skills, and expose kids to picture books.

http://www.teach.virginia.edu/go/wil...#A_Book_A_Week

I don't use these faithfully, but if you wanted to it could constitute a complete language arts curriculum, I would just add in a bit more formal handwriting and/or phonics.

 

 

Don Potter’s website has a phonics program called Blend Phonics that I think would work well at this age, as long as the child knows the alphabet. http://www.donpotter.net/Blend%20Phonics.htm

 

 

 

www.littlegiraffes.com

This is a website that was maintained by a Kindergarten teacher until she retired, it has great ideas for hands on activities and projects in language arts, math, science, reading, etc. The monthly themes section has great ideas units you could use as an integrated curriculum, also it has great ideas for hands on projects and centers that relate to science, social studies, as well as math and reading. Lots of fun crafts too! Again, you could use the themes to plan your activities for the whole year.

 

www.jmeacham.com

This is another public school teacher who still maintains her site. Although she teaches older kids now, she started out in Kindergarten. I really like her “roll a games” for math, which you can find here:http://www.jmeacham.com/roll.a.games.htm

 

 

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/abc_centers.html

This website is from a former teacher who is now a homeschooling mom. She has tons of resources for preschool and Kindergarten. These are her ABC centers, which have some great games. She also has printable reading books that coordinate with great Children's lit:

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/printable_booklets.html

This site also includes a link on the left for Christian resources and printables, and there are plenty of ideas for math games and language arts games if you follow the links.

 

 

 

http://www.first-school.ws/

This is a preschool site with tons of free printables, but they are also great for the Kindergarten level. They have handwriting worksheets in either Zaner-Bloser or D'Nelian. They also have some great flashcards, coloring pages, and they have lesson plans for various children's books and themes. Their site can be a little hard to navigate, but their free printables really are great. Their alphabet handwriting sheets also include pages with Christian and biblical themes if you wanted to incorporate religion, though most of their resources are secular. Here is the link to their handwriting printable section:

http://www.first-school.ws/theme/handwriting.htm

 

 

 

This site has a handwriting worksheet generator you can use to print out your child’s name in dot letters for them to practice. You can use Zaner-Bloser or D’Nelian, or cursive. www.handwritingworksheets.com

 

 

 

Here is a page with free learning activity sheets for math, writing, reading, etc. You need to register at www.learningpage.com, but it is free. They also have lesson plans and printables to go with themes units, such as ocean animals, that integrate all the different subjects around a science topic with resources for grades prek-4. Here is a lin

k for the activity sheets they have by month in an archive:

http://www.learningpage.com/member/p...thly-sets.html

Here is a link for their themes units:

http://www.learningpage.com/pages/me...ct_oceans.html

And here are the basic sheets that have great math and letter practice:

http://www.learningpage.com/pages/me..._dnealian.html

 

 

Here is a site with fun ideas for theme units, they also have songs and fingerplays listed by theme that you can incorporate into whatever you are studying. This is the section with recipes for things like playdough, paint, etc. http://www.preschooleducation.com/recipe.shtml

They also have great ideas for games and activities to go along with phonics and math. These are all hands on activities and games, not worksheets.

 

 

 

If you wanted a more traditional math program, I know that MEP math has a kindergarten program. I haven't used it, but it is free online and a lot of families on this board really like it. It is a British site so the Kindergarten year is called "Reception." Here is a link:

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/proje...ry/default.htm

 

 

 

If you are looking for a CM approach, Ambleside Online has free Kindergarten suggestions and reading lists as does Tanglewood Academy, and Mater Amabilis (Catholic CM approach). You could also look at the booklists on the Living Books curriculum website or Memoria press for more literature ideas, and then just use your library card to check out the books.

 

I know there are a lot more out there, let's keep em coming!

Edited by MyFourSons
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Lesson Pathways has Pre-K and K material, and Brightly Beaming Resources has the free Letter of the Week curriculum.

 

Ooh, I really like the Brightly Beaming website, never seen that before.

 

Here is another site with free story props, or printable pictures you can use to make puppets or felt boards to go with story books. They also have phonics and other activities. It is no longer available, but you can go to an archived site here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080822022332/http://www.kizclub.com/

 

Thanks for ideas, keep em coming!

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Thank you dear! You have provided a good list of free curriculum for parents who has small kids at home. I think these resources will helpful to both moms and teachers but I prefer to send my kids to a reputed preschool because I am doing a job and very busy. So I don’t have too much time to read the things online. 

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How to Teach Your Preschooler to Read

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/blumnfeld_home_primer.pdf

 

Hoenshel's Language Lessons pages 11-26

https://archive.org/details/hoenshelslangua00hoengoog

 

Don Potter Manuscript handwriting

http://donpotter.net/pdf/shortcut-to-manuscript.pdf

 

Ella Frances Lynch

Educating the Child at Home

https://books.google.com/books?id=uX5ATXh2mEgC&dq=ella+frances+lynch&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

Ambleside Online Year 0

https://www.amblesideonline.org/00.shtml

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Thank you dear! You have provided a good list of free curriculum for parents who has small kids at home. I think these resources will helpful to both moms and teachers but I prefer to send my kids to a reputed preschool because I am doing a job and very busy. So I don’t have too much time to read the things online.

This forum is for moms/ dads who do have time for reading things online, like this forum. ;)

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