Playdough Letter Mats [Freebie!]

Summer school began on Friday and I am nothing short of exhausted. I only teach until 12:45 each day but I am spent and ready for a nap as soon as I get home. Is this what having 3 weeks off does to a teacher? I'll go ahead and blame it on the 95 degree weather.

Meeting my incoming kinder kiddos was very exciting! I have a fabulous class this year... I've got a good mix of kiddos and, unlike last year, an even mix of boys and girls. Meeting my kiddos reminded me how much we have to teach kinders before we can actually teach them. I asked my kiddos to trace their names today and a few students stared blankly at me. Thus began the "how to trace" mini-lesson. I've already taught the "appropriate use of the restroom" mini lesson, the "how to sit on the carpet" mini lesson, and the "how to open my milk and use my napkin instead of my shirt" mini lesson. Once we get the basics of being in kindergarten down, we're diving right into academics. We have ambitious literacy and math goals this year and not a minute can go to waste!

I introduced a few, very basic literacy centers today so my kiddos could work busily as I assessed each student. I introduced our play dough letter center and it was a hit! We use play foam instead of play dough though. Play foam is easy for students to mold and never dries out...its just perfect! Anyway, I posted the playdough letters mats to TpT and you can grab them for f-r-e-e by clicking the picture below. They'll make a great addition to your literacy centers for the beginning of the school year!