We are hoping that some time within 2012 we will be able to include the Katie & Kimble Activity Packets in an online, computer lab system. Keep a look out for the big announcement!  Happy Birthday, Shannon!

The Katie & Kimble books come with free downloadable Activity Packets at third-grade reading level for teachers to use as they see fit. There are six Activity Packets per book. Each Activity Packet contains 7 pages, all of which can be adapted for use in ways other than printing out in order to stretch your paper budget. Download Stretching Your Paper Budget here.

The No-paper Alternative

Transparencies: To put the no-paper alternative into practice, have each reader bring a spiral notebook from home. Call it a reading notebook.

The first teacher to use the Katie & Kimble books can take the Activity Packets and burn a set of transparencies that can be passed around from teacher to teacher with the classroom sets of the books. These can be placed on an overhead projector for readers to use.

At the beginning of each Activity Packet, the reader will copy the Content/Getting Started (prediction) page into his or her notebook. Then as the reader completes each of the activity pages that follow, he or she can check off the completed pages.

Readers can write the answers to many of the activity pages in the notebook. In some cases, they will need to write the questions in their notebook and then write their responses. In the case of the floor plan of Katie’s bedroom, readers can sketch it in to their notebooks and then fill in the labels that way, or one reader would stand at the projector as they fill in the worksheet as a group with an erasable marker. This would no doubt be the best way for the crossword puzzle activity pages, too.

PDFs: The reading notebook can also be used in a similar fashion if readers have access to computers. The teacher is welcome to download the PDFs of the Katie & Kimble Activity Packets to as many computers as is necessary and to rename the files to suit her/his purposes. Readers can then work at their own pace and use the above system.

Computer plus projector: If your classroom is equipped with a computer and a projector, you can show the pages on the screen from the PDFs. You are free to download these PDFs into any computer.

The Three-page Alternative

Similar to the no-paper alternative above, the three-page alternative involves running off copies of the Content/Getting Started page for each of the six Activity Packets, front and back, on three sheets of paper. This may make the Activity Packets seem more “official” in the mind of the reader.

Readers can also draw the Awards Ribbons into their notebooks at the end of each packet or draw them on scraps of paper to put up on the wall or the bulletin board.

Download the free Katie & Kimble classroom materials here.