My Mouth Is a Volcano Book Companion Preschool Kindergarten 1st 2nd Special Ed

About this resource

One theme, one week. Read the same story every day at circle time — words build up inside, like

lava inside a volcano, until they want to erupt — and pull one simple activity after the read-aloud

each day: sort, count, find the letter, wait for a turn to talk in order, then build a craft. Every

student page has one short instruction with a picture, so a paraprofessional can run the room from

it too.

This week pairs with **My Mouth Is a Volcano! by Julia Cook** (or any story about waiting your turn

and listening that you already have). Not affiliated with the author or publisher. You need your

own copy of the book; nothing from it is reproduced here, and every picture in the file is our own

drawing or a licensed picture set, not the book's artwork.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (54 pages)

• 1 Start Here week plan: what to do after the read-aloud each day, plus what else it practices
• 1 book-and-words page naming the read-aloud, an original circle-time chant ("Words Inside,"

written for this unit — no song or story text is reprinted), and the 9 circle-time vocabulary

words

• 9 smartboard slides for whole-group circle time on a projector or interactive board: the cover

art, name the pictures, sort, count (3 slides), the letter hunt, the life skill in order, and the

core word

• 9 circle-time vocabulary cards to cut out and use at the carpet (volcano, mouth, words, hot, ear,

hand, stop, quiet, friend)

• Day 1, Sort (something you do with your mouth, or not?), at 3 levels: Level 1 errorless matching,

Level 2 the standard two-group sort, Level 3 a third group added (mouth thing, face part, or toy)

— 10 cut-and-glue pieces on every level

• Day 2, Count the words, at 3 levels: Levels 1 and 2 count sets of 1 to 5 with a 5-piece numeral

strip to cut and glue; Level 3 counts sets of 6 to 10 and writes the number, no cutting

• Day 3, Letter V, at 3 levels: Level 1 glues 5 matching V's, Level 2 finds V among 10 look-alike

letters, Level 3 says 10 pictures aloud and glues the 5 that start with the /v/ sound in "volcano"

• Writing, at 3 levels: Level 1 traces the big letters, Level 2 traces letters and the word

"volcano," Level 3 writes the letters and the word independently on primary lines

• Day 4, a life-skill sequencing page: 5 picture pieces (4 real steps for waiting your turn to talk

— stop and take a breath, raise your hand, wait to be called on, use your words —

first/next/then/last, plus 1 that does not belong)

• Day 5, a book craft: color and cut a 7-piece volcano for the eruption (the cone, a lava burst, two

smoke puffs, a rock, a sun and a star — every cut a straight line), then glue it together and onto

an island-and-ocean scene

• 2 fine motor pages: a tracing-paths page (4 dashed paths helping the words reach the ear: straight,

wave, zigzag, loops) and a cutting-practice page (4 strips, easiest first)

• 4 core-word pages for the word of the week, "wait": a big word card for the talker or core board

and a 12-word find-and-circle grid (6 of the 12 are the target word)

• 1 "Who Did What This Week" data page (one row per student, a prompt-level code for each day —

handy for IEP notes and progress reports)

• 1 family letter to send home on Day 1
• 1 credits page (art and font licenses)
• Ink-saver twins of 18 picture-based student pages (the craft pages are color-only) in outline art

for a photocopier, so the color pages above are optional, not required

Three Levels On Every Academic Task

Sort, count, letters and writing each come in three levels, marked with a small shape instead of

a number so children don't compare theirs to a neighbor's: a circle for starting (errorless

matching), a square for building (the standard task), a triangle for ready for more (a real step

up — a third sort group, counting 6 to 10 with writing, or beginning sounds).

Cutting Built For Small Hands

Every cutting page carries 5 or more pieces, lined up edge to edge so each cut is one straight

line. Pre-cut them yourself for students who are not cutting independently yet.

Color Or Ink-Saver

Print the color pages, or use the ink-saver twins at the back on a photocopier — most

picture-based student pages have both (the craft pages are color-only by design).

Who This Is For

Any teacher starting a self-contained preschool or early childhood special education classroom who

wants a whole week of circle time built around waiting, raising a hand, and listening, ready to

pull and go: one theme, a different simple activity every day.

What This Is, And What It Is Not