Literacy Archives

Kindergarten Cafe

Welcome to Kindergarten Cafe - your home for teaching ideas, activities, and strategies across all content areas! I am Zeba McGibbon and I love creating resources for teachers and sharing my teaching experience with others. Kindergarten Cafe is aimed for kindergarten, but teachers of Preschool-First grade can find resources here for their students! I love to connect with other teachers so please reach out and say hello!

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Teaching Tips and Tricks

5 Easy things to prepare for next school year

Zeba McGibbon

I know that the end of the year is fast approaching, for some faster than others (like myself… who still has 1...

Teaching Tips and Tricks

3 Simple Ways to Prevent the Summer Slide

Zeba McGibbon

Teachers and parents alike are always looking for ways to prevent the summer slide. We work so hard all year to help...

Teaching Tips and Tricks

How to Teach Classroom Procedures and Routines

Zeba McGibbon

As you start to get ready for back to school, establishing classroom procedures and routines should be in the front of your...

Social Emotional Learning and Supports

What does Empathy Mean to a Kindergartener?

Zeba McGibbon

Empathy is the hardest social emotional skill for young children to learn because developmentally young children have difficulty taking perspectives. Knowing the...

Dramatic Play

Easy, Peasy, Pizza Dramatic Play Center

Zeba McGibbon

Students love changing out the dramatic play center and one of my students’ favorites is a pizza dramatic play center! They love...

Integrating Science and Literacy

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

Some of the most authentic learning that happens in my classroom comes from integrating the different subjects. Young children are not designed to learn in silos, in separate subject areas. They learn best when these subject areas can be combined when learning about different...

The 7 Most Underrated Gingerbread Man Story Versions

HolidaysZeba McGibbon

We all know and love the Gingerbread Boy and Gingerbread Man story originals, but what if I told you there was more than just those two versions! There are so many different versions out there, but today I am breaking down my top 7...

Easy Kindergarten Home Support for Struggling Students

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

We always want what is best for our students, and some students just need more practice than what we can provide during the school day. Enter the kindergarten home support bag. Kindergarten home support bags have definitely helped many of my students and their...

A Kindergarten Name Project to Help Value Student Names

Classroom Activities and LessonsZeba McGibbon

A kindergarten name project is critical to the start of the year in kindergarten. Learning student names is important for both teachers and other students. Names are a very important part of a person’s identity, and it is important that as teachers we value...

End of the Year Writing Prompts

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

With the end of the year approaching, I like to think about what end of the year writing prompts I can provide that help my students reflect on all that they have learned, the classroom community we have built, and all the fun we...

4 Tips for Teaching Sentences to Beginning Writers

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

When teaching beginning writers, it is important to teach them how to write a sentence. I have 4 tips for you when teaching sentences to beginning or struggling writers! Hearing comes first when teaching sentences https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonemic-Awareness-Interventions-5550853

Teaching High-Frequency Words in Kindergarten

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

When learning to read and write, learning high frequency words quickly and purposefully can make all the difference. In this blog post, I will go over my best tips for teaching high frequency words in Kindergarten so they actually stick! Want to read other...

Phoneme Segmentation

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

The best way to increase your students’ reading and writing development is to work on phoneme segmentation. There is a clear order to work on these skills to best support the students in your classroom. For all the skills, you want students to be...

Letter-Sound Correspondence

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

One of the most important concepts for kindergarteners to learn for their early literacy development is letter-sound correspondence. Children need to know that the written letters are connected to sounds we speak and they need to be able to match the two.

Benefits to Reading Strategy Powerpoints

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

I love using reading powerpoints to enhance my reading instruction. Reading powerpoints showcase different reading strategies, use powerful shared reading technique, and encourages transfer of the reading skills. Reading strategies There are so...