Back to School and Numbers

Happy Saturday!  I'm stopping by to tell you about a fun number pack I created for Back to School!  In this pack I focused on working with numbers 1 to 10 in a variety of different ways...one to one correspondence, number identification, five frame, ten frame, dot plates, dice, and dominoes.  Here are some pictures to help you get a "feel" for the pack. 

These are the "dot plates" included in the pack.  I printed the circles for numbers 1 to 6 and taped them onto paper plates from Target.  The mini erasers are also from Target (more about those in a second.)

How to use the "dot plates"

I asked my little man/helper to first point and count the pencils.

 



Next, I had him use the mini erasers to cover the pencils and count again.  (This is another way to practice that one to one correspondence.)

Since I know his math ability already, I had him tell me how many after he had covered and counted.  That's the cardinality piece some kids need additional support/practice with.

 

These numeral cards and mini erasers could be used to work more on that one to one correspondence.  Pull a card and count out the number of apples.

 

These cards are a friendly and fun way to introduce the five frame. 

 

Pull a card, figure out the number represented, and then mirror the number on own five frame with the mini erasers.

 

After a comfort level is reached with the five frame, these are great for introducing the ten frame.  They will offer that challenge for your fast learners as well.

 

They work the same way as the five frame. 

Pull a card, identify the number on the ten frame, and mirror the number with the mini erasers.

 

You can click on any of the pictures to pick this pack up in my store.  It will be on sale for the big TPT Back to School sale.  Like past TPT site wide sales, don't forget to enter the code before checking out for additional savings.

 

 

 

Don't forget to like my Facebook page.  There will be a surprise on there today, but you will have to like the page to be part of it.  :)

 

Erin



 



The Beginning of Addition, Engaged Graphing, and a Reminder!

 

It is terribly cold here in WI!  When I say "terribly cold" I'm talking in the negative numbers with wind chill.  My owls have been stuck inside all week due to this extreme cold, but I really must say they are handling it well.  We will see how next week goes, seeing as it the week just before winter break.  :)

In math, I have slowly been exposing my owls to the idea of addition.  We did some vocabulary introduction and a little dice in dice action to get warmed up.  The owls nailed it!  Today we stepped it up a notch and did some actual "here is a group of objects" and "here is a group of objects" and what is the sum work.  I did this through some winter themed, hands on fun.  Each owl got two foam snowmen, a bag with 12 cubes, and a die.  They rolled the die and that was the number of cubes that went on the first snowman.  They rolled again and that was the number of cubes that went on the second snowman.  They then counted all the cubes by moving the cubes onto the carpet above the snowman.  The owls LOVED this and caught on really quick!  Teacher's dream!

 

 

In a math station this week, I wanted to have my owls do a little independent graphing.  This is what was inside the station basket- a superhero spinner set, a princess spinner set, and the graphing pages.  The owls picked which spinner and graph they wanted to work with and away they went.  Super easy and the owls loved being able to make a choice.

 

 

 

Please note that when my owls turn in recording pages, I don't just collect them and check for right answers.  They have to answer questions for me first, so I can check for actual understanding.  :)  If you would like the spin and graph set, click on any of the pictures and download it for free.

 

Don't forget that my one year blogiversary giveaway is still going on.  It ends this Saturday so make sure to click HERE and enter for your chance to win one of two amazing prize packs!

 

~Erin

 

 

 



Numbers, Numbers, and More Numbers

We are reaching that point in the year where I expect my owls to have a strong handle on numbers, not only identifying them but really understanding them.  I really focus on numbers and sprinkle in other math skills, like shapes and basic measurement, up to this point because I dive into addition after our little Thanksgiving break.  We will still work on numbers in math stations, but my whole group instruction with them is now on the back burner.

To have a bit more fun with our last days of numbers, we have been playing around and working with the two following activities-

For this activity, the owls spin a spinner with numbers they needed work on and then built the number onto a ten frame mat.  Super simple and little prep needed!

My owls L-O-V-E playing this game!  We started the year out by playing the alphabet version of this game and the owls were beyond engaged.  When I brought out the math edition, they went crazy!!!  To play- Divide the class into two teams.  Two players come up at a time and each will get a "splatter" (fly swatter.)  Teacher calls out a number and the first player to "splat" the correct number gets the point.  Again, super simple and little prep needed!

 

Click on the pictures to take a better look at the activity in my TPT store.

 

~Erin

 

Teen Numbers

My owls are in full swing with their learning about teen numbers.  Each year, these teen numbers provide a not so pleasant bump in our learning.  :(  On the positive side of this, my owls are not letting the teen numbers get them down this year.  They are working hard to get them down and to push ahead. 

When I noticed that these particular numbers were going to cause some issues, I went ahead and found everything I could that dealt with teen numbers.  I have at least one if not two math workstations that include an activity that revolves around either identifying the teen numbers or counting the teen numbers.  We are definitely working them until they are stuck in our heads!

I put together this little activity and introduced it with this past week's stations.  The owls are having a blast with it.  Right now I have them identifying the teen number, counting the pictures until they find a match, and then using buttons to double check their counting.  Here's what it looks like in action!

 

Click on either of the pictures to grab this simple yet engaging station for free in my TPT store. 

 

I have a couple sets of these cards printed and I'm thinking that after our little Thanksgiving break, we will play "Go Fish" with the cards.  Otherwise, my owls love a good game of "Memory," so that is always a possibility.  The truth is that there are so many options with just one set of cards, you just have to really go by what your students are showing an interest in. 

 

~Erin

Now I Know My 123's

Just like with the alphabet, I start my math with a quick number recognition activity.  This again is a quick, action packed 5 minutes and it is done.  It wakes up their brains and gets them thinking "math" in the afternoon.

During this fast paced time, I use dot plates, ten frames, five frames, number cards, fingers, counting the circle, basically anything that is fast, fun, and number oriented.  I recently brought in this little activity and the owls ate it up.  The owls are big fans of any BANG like game, so this was an instant hit.

All I did was printed and laminated the numbers I wanted the owls to focus on with a few additional challenging numbers, hot glued them to wide craft sticks, and POOF! I had a fun game that allowed my owls to get the extra number practice they needed.  The trick is to put small Velcro pieces at the bottom of each stick and on the back of the "coned" cards, so you can change what numbers have the game ending piece.

My little man has lots of construction trucks, so I just found a small enough one that I could fit the sticks in and we pushed it around the circle as we played.  (Sorry, I didn't get any pictures.  Silly camera battery died!)

Click on the picture to download this super fun and super free game for your little ones!  Comments/feedback always appreciated.  :)  (The dot cards and ten frames I use during this time can also be found in my TPT store.)

~Erin

* I also noticed that I have been blogging over a year now.  Boy, time flies when you are having fun.  If you would like to help out with a giveaway in the very near future for this milestone, please leave me a comment.  Thank you in advance!

A Little Look at Math!

Happy Sunday!  This week was parent/teacher conferences and to say that was exhausting is an understatement.  Thankfully, we were given Friday off to attempt to catch up on sleep and everyday life.  However, the catching up on sleep part doesn't typically happen in our house especially with a little 3 year old man running around.  He has other plans for his day with mommy!  :)  Love him so much! 

I am finally planned for next week's full week of learning and wanted to share some super easy and inexpensive math workstations that the owls will be doing.  The little man was my tester and was having a blast so I am certain my owls will get a kick out of them as well!

First one up is a super simple, very little prep, identifying numbers and one to one correspondence.  The large felt pumpkin is from the Dollar Store, as are the pumpkin seeds.  The little pumpkin bucket is a Target dollar find.  The little cards I made quickly to add an extra learning piece.  The owls pull out a pumpkin number card, identify the number, and count out the matching number of pumpkin seeds.  SIMPLE but effective!  *Pumpkin cards are programmed for numbers 1 - 20, which will allow for challenges.*

Second one is another simple, very little prep, counting workstation.  Pumpkin bucket again is from Target dollar spot, the black "tree" is from the Dollar Tree, and the little owls are from Hobby Lobby.  This time, the owls roll a die or dice depending on abilities and count out the matching number of owls.



Third one is simple and requires little prep.  Spider bucket is from the Target dollar spot, felt web from Jo-Ann Fabrics as well as the spider buttons, and the pocketed cubes I bought in Vegas (forgot the vendor.)  Focus once again is on identifying numbers and one to one correspondence.  The owls roll the cube, identify the number, and count out the matching number of spiders.  *I do have another cube programed with higher numbers for the owls that need a challenge.*

This last one is a freebie in my TPT store.  Click the picture to go snag it!  This is for identifying numbers and for putting them in counting order.  I included numbers 1 to 20 and four different recording pages to allow all learners to feel successful. 

 

Hope you found something that you can use this week or next! 

 

~Erin

More apples and a freebie!

I must begin this post with a big thank you to the few that left comments on the last post!  Thank you for taking time out of your day or night to read this here blog and to leave a comment.  I have emailed you each a copy of the "Letter Pickin" activity.  Enjoy!

Like I had mentioned in my last post, I am introducing themes a week in advance this year with the whole class and then adding it into their workstations the following weeks.  Today for our whole group math lesson we used the following poem to work on numbers and the idea of taking away.

http://www.alphabet-soup.net/dir2/applesong.html

 

You can click on the picture to go to the website where I found the poem.  All I did was type it up and put it onto a large piece of posterboard.  If you look closely, you will see that there is a small piece of Velcro in the first spot.  This is where the numbers were changed as apples fell down.  After we read through the poem, I called on owls to tell me what the new number was and to find the correct number card. 

 

To make this more concrete, the owls each drew a tree and were given five "apples" to start with in the tree.  As we read the poem, we moved apples down out of the tree to allow for counting and visualizing.

I also got a little jump on next week's planning and put together a simple reader that stuck with our apple theme but also helped reinforce our work with the sight words I, like, the and color words.  Head over to my TPT store and grab it for free!

Have a wonderful evening and remember tomorrow is WEDNESDAY!
~Erin

You Know...That One Cool Cat!

I am in love with all things, Pete the Cat!  I will admit it!  I'm guessing most of you enjoy reading these super fun, sing song books with your class as well.  Please tell me I'm not alone. 

Anyways, I'm really grabbing ahold of this little guy and building him up during that first week of school.  I love how the owls pick up on the rhythm of the book and can start to "read" along with me.  What a great motivator and way to show the owls that they really can read!

I will be including this cool cat in not just my literacy time but will also have him pop up in some math workstations as well.  I put together a little freebie for you all to help your littles work on their number identification and counting with numbers one to ten.  Click the picture below to grab it!  Please leave some love if you do.  I love hearing that what I spent time creating is enjoyed by others! 

 

 

 

And don't forget I am running a Buy One, Get One Free SALE in my TpT store through next Saturday, August 17.

 

Click the picture below to take a look!  If you end up buying something, send me an email (andeair@hotmail.com) with your TpT name, product bought, and what you would like for free!  Super simple!

 

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

~Erin



Fairy Tales-Math Style

Today we stared our readings of The Three Bears.  We started out with Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall.  Since today was our first day, I read the book and then the owls named the characters, the setting, and we talked about the plot.  We will build upon this information each day as we read other versions of this fairy tale.

For math today, I started our whole group portion with the construction of a graph.  We graphed, Which porridge would we eat?  The owls could pick from hot, cold, or just right.  They used their knowledge from the story and made a choice from there.  Each owl got a little porridge card to write their name on.  We then took turns sharing our choices and adding our name to the correct place on the graph.  For the final step, I had the owls analyze the data independently!  We ususally do this step orally.  I felt it was time to cut the teacher strings and to let them have a real go at it.  Most did well but there were a few owls that were lost.  :(

Here is our graph and a data page up close.

 

 

At math stations time, the owls worked on my recently posted Golden Subtraction.  You can click here to grab this freebie.  In this activity, the owls grab a money bag card, count the number of dots, roll a die, cover over the matching number of dots with jewels, and then write the subtraction problem.  My owls rocked this!  Engaged the whole time!

 

 

 

 

This next station is my newest freebie on TPT.  My owls have worked with tens and ones a little here and there, but I was still worried about how strong their understanding was.  I put together this activity to help them practice the skill a little more.  The owls grab a number card, identify the number, on their work mat they build the correct numbers of tens and ones, count it to a friend, and then record it as groups of tens and ones.  I was super happy with the level of work and understanding that my owls were showing.

 

They counted out ten sticks and then rubber banded them together for the groups of tens.

 

If you grab this freebie, please remember to rate it and follow my store.  It is always appreciated and helps me to create the best activities I can.

 

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week! 

 

~Erin

 

 



 

Subtracting Gold

While I'm attemping to multi-task on a beautiful Saturday, I came up with a great subtraction station that I will be adding to my lesson plans this final week of school.

On Friday, we finished our readings of the various Jack and the Beanstalk books that I could find or had collected over the years, so I wanted to include a Jack and the Beanstalk themed math station this week.  I have uploaded this subtraction station to my TPT store as a FREEBIE.  Click the picture below and stop by to download your copy.  If you have finished school, as I know many have, just save it for next year.  :)

(If you grab a copy, please rate the freebie and follow my store while you are there. :0)

 

 Pictures of this station in action to come next week. 

 

 

~Erin

Math Station Mash Up

I wanted to stop by quickly and share our weekly math stations with you all.  Our stations are more about skills right now than about theme.  This being said, prepare yourself for a picture show of a little of this and a little of that.

This station works on our counting skills.  The owls had a a couple different choices with how they could work in this station.  They could grab a fishbowl, recognize the number, and then count out the matching number of goldfish.  They could roll a die, find the fishbowl with the same number, and then count goldfish.  They could roll the die in die, find the fishbowl with the same number, and count goldfish.  Number focus was 1-20.

 

This station works on our graphing skills.  The owls rolled a die in die, practiced a bit of addition, and then recorded the number rolled on the graph.  Smelly markers made this station a hit!

 

This station works on subtraction.  They work as a team to use the mustache foam stickers to find the total to the number sentence on the card.  Side note- we are still in the beginning stages of subtraction so the mustache stickers really helped the owls see what was happening.  The mustache cards came from Kindergarten Smorgasboard's Mustache Mania pack.

 

This last station works on addition. The owls pulled an addition card, which is shown with superheroes.  They counted the heroes and placed the numbers in the correct places on a recording page.  From there, they counted all of the heroes to find an answer.  In the bottom picture, I found some Buck Rogers ships at our local Science and Surplus store and knew they would work perfectly with this.  Superheroes and ships, what's not to love!  Those were put in for my owls that need to touch and move.  If you are interested in this, just click on either of the pictures to go to my TPT store.





 



(While you are there, don't forget to follow my store!  I have a few things in the works right now.  Just trying to find time to finish them up with end of the year craziness.  :))

 

~Erin

Cha-ching! A Subtraction Wonder!

We have been hard at work the past days with subtraction.  Let me tell you, subtraction is a hit or miss kind of skill in our little owl filled room.  Yesterday, the skill was going in one ear and making a mad dash out the other.  Today, totally different story! 

I have a feeling the shift had something to do with my basket of plastic food that made its appearance during math.  I was making my weekly run to Wal-mart and came across this great basket of plastic food for $10 and knew it was going to come in handy.  I brought it home and right away began writing various prices on the food.  We were going to review money (pennies) and subtraction all in the same lesson.  Bonus points for me!   

Here is how the lesson went down today!  Each owl got a baggie with 10 pennies inside.  Side note the baggies became wallets for the boys and purses for the girls because we were shopping.  :)  Each also got a piggy bank mat for the counting of pennies step.  We took turns buying different foods, taking away pennies, and figuring out how much we still had left to spend.  After I felt the owls had a good handle on this, we broke into table groups and started working together in a smaller group setting.  I also included a recording page at this time. 

 

 

 

 

I have a feeling that if we had an hour to spare in the day, they would have shopped and subtracted until they dropped.  What a fun activity for them!

 

~Erin

 

Greater than and less than=Hands on FUN!

My little owls are finally, and YES I SAY FINALLY, getting their heads around this more and less concept.  Now that there is more of a solid understanding, I challenged them further this week with the ideas of greater than and less than.  So far, so good!  If I had a victory dance, today would have been a good day to show off my moves!  :)

Now how did we tackle this, well that part was fun.  Awhile back I had read other blog posts about greater than and less than, but the post from Greg over at the Smedley's Smorgasboard of Kindergaten really got my wheels turning.  You can read more here. 

I borrowed the idea of making the sign using pocket folder strips and a brad.  This allowed the owls to move the sign with little to no frustration.  On Monday, we worked with rolling a die, counting the matching number of mini erasers out, and then placing the sign so that it was "eating the bigger number."  To make this a bit more kid friendly, we have decided to call this an alligator chomper.  :)  The owls were then asked to tell their partner a sentence about what they saw.  For example, the 1 eraser is less than the 4 erasers.

Today we revisited the skill, still using our alligator chompers but this time with playing cards.  I sorted out the 2 through 10 cards in various decks of cards.  Each group was given a baggie with these cards.  They took turns picking the top card off the pile and then placing the sign in the correct direction.  Like yesterday, they needed to say a sentence about what was done.  For an evidence of learning piece, I had each owl complete a recording page. 

 

 

Well that's all for now.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I will return by the end of the week with our lion books/informative writings.

 

Enjoy!

 

~Erin