turkey fact families

Didn't these turkeys turn out so cute? The girls have fact families down pat now and I am so proud of them! They are such hard and smart little learners :) They make this Mommy proud! I saw these super cute turkeys on The First Grade Parade ~ surprise, surprise!

fact families

I came up with this idea today during math for the girls to have more practice with writing fact families.

even/odd numbers

I downloaded this cute math mat activity from The First Grade Parade a couple of months ago and saved it up for our apple week. I've had the girls do this activity a couple of times already this week.

number line addition with mr. froggy!

Last week, I taught the girls how to use a number line as another method to add numbers together. I glued frogs to popsickle sticks and used him as a visual. I also taped the numbers 1 - 10 on the wall as our number line. I think Froggy was a fun way to introduce the concept of using a number line! This is how I taught this lesson:

5 + 3 = 8
start hops answer

"Put Froggy on the number 5. He needs to make 3 hops to get to the answer. What number does he stop on? So, 5+3=8."

sums of 10

I saw this cute idea on The Sharpened Pencil and fell in love with it! You probably didn't know this about me, but I have a thing for rainbows! If it is rainbow colors, I will probably buy it even if I don't need it! I'm just sayin'! Anyway, as part of our review this week and a way to reinforce sums of 10, we did this rainbow visual. They make me smile just looking at them :)

red fish, blue fish

Yesterday, I had the kids color fish for a venn diagram activity. They could only use their red and blue crayons. After they cut their fish out, I told them we had to group our fish on the diagram. I asked them what fish we should put in the red circle, what fish should we put in the blue circle and what fish should we put in the middle? They did this activity two or three times. For the second time, we turned the fish over and they "fished" one and placed it in the corresponding circle.

war!

This week we have been reviewing math concepts that we learned last year. To review greater than/less than, we played the classic card game - War! The kids really enjoyed this game too! They even challenged their granddad who is visting us this weekend to a game! I think they enjoyed how animated he made the game :) We only used playing cards 2-10 and took out the face cards.

go fish!

This week we have had fun playing Go Fish! during math. I can't take credit for this idea because it came from our math curriculum - Singapore Math 1a. It's a great idea and easy to make. While the girls can recognize numerals 1 - 10 and can count (one-to-one correspondence), they still needed help reading the number words. So, this game was perfect and fun for them!

materials -
30 blank index cards
magic markers

a set of 3 cards is a match!

math journals

This year I want to focus a little more on math than I did lastyear. We will be doing math journals every morning during our math time. Can I just say that the girls LOVE math journals (so far)! It's simple and inexpensive and a quick way to reinforce math skills already learned.

Monday's journal entry was to draw different shapes -

Ella, age 5

Gracelyn, age 6

Today's journal entry was to do 25 tally marks -

Ella, age 5

Gracelyn, age 6

greater than/less than

One of our kindergarten learning goals in math is to learn about greater than/less than. Before doing this activity, we have talked about which number is more and which number is less. For example, to pass the time in the car and to take advantage of that time, I will call out 2 numbers like 14 and 21. Then I ask the girls to tell me which number is bigger/greater or which is smaller/less. Once they got the hang of this, I thought it was time to introduce the greater than/less than sign to them. Gracelyn did very well with this concept. I haven't done it with Ella yet, but I don't think she will have any trouble with it either.

If you are interested in the mat, you can download it here.

calendar math

Our calendar time was getting pretty boring so I decided to clip out some pink and white mittens. Now during calendar time, I have the girls predict which color of mitten will come next in the pattern. I have also been putting special days on the calendar and asking questions like, how many more days until...

Next month, I will choose a different pattern to go along with our monthly header!

foam ornament math

I put this simple math activity together for the girls this morning and they thought it was fun. So, I thought I'd share it with you, too!

materials-
foam light bulb ornaments (Dollar Tree, I think!)
glue
dice

directions-
1. punch out the light bulbs and all the little pieces from the foam
2. have child roll the dice and then add up the number of dots
3. have child glue the correct number of pieces onto the light bulb

It's that simple and inexpensive! A winner in my book!

coin recognition

One of our math kindergarten learning goals is to learn about money. I made this game for the girls to play when we start talking about money. It is similar to the Mr. Toolbox game that I made for my little guy.




materials:

(click on the thumbnail to download the file)

- 12x12 piece of cardstock
- glue
- scissors

directions:
1. cut out title, song verses, coins and pig
2. glue the pieces on to the piece of cardstock
3. sing the song to the tune of Darlin' Clementine

*I think I'm going to add a few more coins so we can sing the song a couple of times through.

**I got this idea from a book I have (Hey! I Can Read This! by Donna Sabino and Kathy Barlow Thurman).

number dog

This was our number line this year for preschool (1-20). I think he is just too cute!








materials -
several different colors of paper
laminator
sharpie
circle cutter
*I used a music note for his feet.


I think a caterpillar would be so adorable, too!

"center" board with pictures!

I wanted to incorporate centers into our school day and since I have very limited space, I needed something that was easy to get out and didn't take up much floor space. So I came up with the idea to make a "center" board. This was very easy and cheap to make because most of the supplies came from The Dollar Tree!







materals:
foam poster board
large pockets
laminator
exacto knife
dry erase marker
die cuts

ideas:

sight word matching - write 1 sight word on each pocket and 1 sight word on each die cut, have child match the sight words together



number correspondence - write a number on the pocket and have child put that amount of counters in the pocket



counting money - write an amount on the pocket and have child put the exact amount in the pocket



telling time - write a time on the pocket and have child put the corresponding clock in the pocket or vice versa





jeopardy (great for review with science and social studies) - for each pocket: write 1 review question on an index card and put the card in a pocket, give each pocket a value (100 points, 200 points, 300 points, etc), if the child answers the question correctly, award that child with the points on the pocket
*as an extra teaching bonus, have child do mental math to keep up with their score!

directions:
1. laminate 20 large pockets
2. cut them out
3. use an exacto knife to slit the openning of the pocket
4. use double stick tape to adhere the pockets to the board
5. write on the laminated pockets with a dry erase marker
6. wipe off the pockets to reuse again and again and again!

"center" board

I wanted to incorporate centers into our school day and since I have very limited space, I needed something that was easy to get out and didn't take up much floor space. So I came up with the idea to make a "center" board. This was very easy and cheap to make because most of the supplies came from The Dollar Tree!






materals:
foam poster board
large pockets
laminator
exacto knife
dry erase marker
die cuts

ideas:

sight word matching - write 1 sight word on each pocket and 1 sight word on each die cut, have child match the sight words together

number correspondence - write a number on the pocket and have child put that amount of counters in the pocket

counting money - write an amount on the pocket and have child put that exact amount in the pocket

telling time - write a time on the pocket and have child put the corresponding clock in the pocket or vice versa

jeopardy (great for review with science and social studies) - for each pocket: write 1 review question on an index card and put the card in a pocket, give each pocket a value (100 points, 200 points, 300 points, etc), if the child answers the question correctly, award that child with the points on the pocket
*as an extra teaching bonus, have child do mental math to keep up with their score!

directions:
1. laminate 20 large pockets
2. cut them out
3. use an exacto knife to slit the openning of the pocket
4. use double stick tape to adhere the pockets to the board
5. write on the laminated pockets with a dry erase marker
6. wipe off the pockets to reuse again and again and again!

** I plan to post pictures of the different ways to use the board as soon as I get some batteries for my camera.

For more preschool ideas and activities, check out The Preschool Corner!

addition

Here is another idea that I love for math! I think math should be concrete in the beginning for kids to gain a firm foundation to build off. I got the star cut outs at my local Dollar Tree(they went with our letter s activities, too!). I laminated them and then wrote simple addition problems on them. We used beans as the manipulatives since I have a ton left over from making bean bags! But, you can use anything you have access to. Gracelyn did really well with this and I plan to do it with Ella, too.

Here is a short video of Gracelyn doing a couple math problems:

number pre-writing mats

I made some number pre-writing sheets to use for math and Ella really enjoyed working on these! I made 0-9 number sheets. You can use any type of manipulatives you have on hand. We used platic lids because it's something we can reuse and doesn't cost much money and doesn't use up all of my ink!

materials -

(click on the thumbnail to download the file)

manipulatives or Do-A-Dot markers

educational benefits -
number recognition
number writing

learning styles -
visual
tactile

plastic lids

I'm really trying to recycle, reduce and reuse things around our house. And, I've been brainstorming some ideas for more math ideas. Is it just me, or does there seem to be not a lot of ideas for math out there? So, I've been saving my plastic bottle/milk jug lids and came up with a few ideas to use in school.


patterns


number pre-writing practice sheets


pictures

boom!

Here is another fun math game called "Boom!". This is a great game to reinforce learning and have fun while doing it.

materials -
BOOM.docx
large craft sticks
small or large envelope
sharpie

directions -

1. on as many craft sticks as you wish, write basic math problems.

2. on one or more of the craft sticks, write the word "BOOM!".

how to play -

1. players take turns drawing a craft stick and giving the answer to the problems written on them.

2. if the player answers correctly, he/she may keep the craft stick. If he/she answers incorrectly, he/she must return the craft stick to the envelope and play continues.

3. when a craft stick with "BOOM!" is drawn, the player must return all of his/her sticks to the envelope and play continues.

4. the winner will be the player with the most craft sticks either after a set period of time or after all the craft sticks have been captured.

educational benefits -
mixed operations
basic facts practice