Building Number Sense

Working on number sense is very important.  We do daily number talks to help us understand how others understand math concepts and to expand our own thinking.

I also like to give my kids many opportunities to build number sense.  Here we are playing a favorite game called "Bears in Caves".  It's from the Math Their Way curriculum and I've been using it for years and years and years.  It is a fantastic activity for working on composing and decomposing numbers.

To play the game: Each child gets 5 bears, a bowl to serve as the cave, and a wall to shield the players as they set up their caves.  One student holds up the wall and they each player chooses an amount of bears to put inside the cave and to leave outside.  I have my kids put the bears on top of the bowl so they can see them easier.  When both players are ready, the wall gets removed and the students study the other player's cave deciding how many bears are hiding inside the cave based on how many they see outside.  They ask each other, "How many bears are in the cave?" and lift the cave showing the amount after the other player answers the question.

My kids could play this for hours.  In kindergarten we expect number sense mastery to five so this game really helps build that for my kiddos.  

After they have a firm grasp of number concept to five, then I will add 5 more bears and we will work on composing and decomposing numbers to 10.  You can take this simple activity and adapt it for centers or add a recording sheet, but I like to keep it pure.  I always have the bears and caves materials in a handy location and I will deploy this game if we have a few extra minutes in our busy schedules.  It's a great sponge activity with tons of learning packed inside.

Leave a Comment Common Core, Fun Stuff, Math

Pajama Day Fun

It was just Pajama Day at my school.  Parents love this day because they don't have to hassle with their kids over what to wear.  It also gives them a few extra minutes to sleep in.  I personally don't like teaching in my pajamas, but a teacher's gotta do what a teacher's gotta do- so jammies it is!

We started our morning with yoga stretches.  The kids had so much fun that we decided to begin every Friday morning with yoga stretching.

Later in the day, we tasted popcorn and graphed the results.  To keep the activity interesting, I went to a local popcorn shop and got 4 different brightly colored popcorn that would be new flavors for the kids.  They were intrigued to say the least.

For this activity, I put the popcorn on plates for my table groups to share.  We started by choosing a color and tasting ONE piece.  The kids guessed at the flavor and then we did a drumroll on our desktops before finding out what the flavor REALLY was.  After they knew the real flavor, they tasted it again.  It's surprising how thinking what it might taste like versus knowing what it should taste like makes it taste differently.  We did this for each color/flavor and the kids had a blast!

We finished our tasting activity with a graph.  

It was a positively perfect popcorn party.

Leave a Comment Math, PE

Attribute Block Turkey Patterns

Every year my kindergartners work on patterning.  

Here is a fun way to showcase their knowledge of patterning!

I have my kiddos build different patterns on the rug, and then I have them move the pattern to form a circle.  This reinforces that the pattern must continue uninterrupted.  You would be surprised how many kid really don't get that concept.

After we build our patterns in a circle I then send them to their desks and they rebuild that same pattern using paper pattern block pieces.  Luckily my school has a die cut machine with these shapes so prepping them is very easy.  We glue these to construction paper and that becomes a turkey tail.

We finish the turkeys by gluing on a turkey body, legs, eyes and a beak.  They alway turn out so cute!

The last part of the project is to count the shapes that we used and add them up. 

I have this activity on my TpT store if you want to grab it.

Leave a Comment Bulletin Boards, Holidays, Math

Pancakes on Pajama Day

Each year my school has a pajama day.  This is the parents most favorite day as they don't have to argue with kids about clothes or breakfast.  The kids love it because it's fun to wear their PJs to school.  I like seeing the kids so excited for the day and I like all the fun activities that we do, but quite frankly, I don't like wearing my pajamas to school, but I'm a team player so I do it with a smile.

On pajama day we cook pancakes in my classroom.  The kids try them different ways, plain, with butter, with syrup and with butter & syrup.  Kids decide which way is their favorite and then we graph the results.  

First we lay out the strips making a bar graph.  This is a very easy way to interpret the data.

After that we put the strips in a circle to make a pie chart.  It's a different way of looking at the data and a lot of fun to see how it all breaks down.  By using a pie chart you can see the percentages of how the data breaks down.  We figured out that half of the class likes their pancakes with both syrup and butter.  Yum!

Leave a Comment Cooking, Fun Stuff, Math

Glyphs

Do you use glyphs in your classroom?  I love to use glyphs in my classroom.  Why?  Well, glyphs are a great way to collect data about my class.  I ask kids some questions, and based on their answers they build a cute art project.  You display this art in your math center and go back to the art to collect and analyze the data.  Here is my view of what a glyph is in a nutshell...

I make seasonal glyphs:

I connect glyphs to my units of study.

I also love to make glyphs just for the fun of it.

My kindergartners always need more cutting activities to strengthen their fine motor muscles and glyphs are a great (and fun) way to do that.

Here is my latest glyph... a Teddy Bear Glyph.

It comes with all this and will be available for only $1 for the next 3 days.  

If you have never made a glyph before, this is the perfect opportunity to give one a try.  Kids love them, they make an adorable bulletin board, and the bulletin board is not static; you will revisit it time and time again to collect and analyze the data displayed.  Administrators love it!

Leave a Comment Bulletin Boards, Common Core, Fun Stuff, Glyphs, Math

Oh Snap! It's Almost November!

Oh Snap! It's Almost November!

It feels like it October just started, but when you look at the calendar, November is right around the corner so it's time to start planning.

I'm linking up today with the bloggers over at Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals for their fabulous monthly linky party.  I don't know about you, but I absolutely LOVE that blog.  It's a great place to get deals on some wonderful products.

Thinking ahead to November, here is one of my favorite bulletin boards.  It's my TURKEY GLYPH.

If you don't know what a glyph is, it's a pictorial way to collect and organize data

Kids answer questions and based upon those answers they build a turkey. The turkeys come out really cute and they make a beautiful bulletin board.  We like to decorate the front office with ours.  All the parents who come into the office get a chuckle from the signs the turkeys are holding.

The Turkey Glyph contains:

 directions and black line masters for making the turkeys, a glyph key, a glyph book, a poem, a literacy center idea, a data collection sheet, and photos of completed turkeys.

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I also have a fun Turkey Tail Patterning activity.  

In this activity, kids use pattern blocks to make a circular pattern around the turkey tail.  Then they glue the turkey body on top and add the beak, eyes and legs.  This also looks great on the wall and covers so many skills.  Kids have a lot of practice making patterns in a straight line, but can they transfer that knowledge to a circular shape?  You will be surprised at how this simple activity really stretches their thinking.

Aren't these cute?

Grab them now and get ready for November.

Thanks for stopping by.  You can click here to head back over to the link up.

Leave a Comment Bulletin Boards, Glyphs, Holidays, Math, Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals

Oh Snap! It's Almost October!

I'm linking up with the fantastic bloggers over at Teacher Deals and Dollar $teals for their fun (and helpful) Oh Snap! It's Almost October! linky party.

I know that school just started, but it's already the middle of September and that means that October is right around the corner, (YIKES) so it's time to start prepping and planning for next month. (Some people might find that a chore- but I secretly love it!)

Here is one of my favorite activities for October.

I love having my kids work on Logic Puzzles.  It helps them with critical thinking skills and problem solving.  My kiddos love it because they only have to read simple words and follow the picture clues. The cards are self-checking so when they are done they just need to turn the card over to check to see if they got it right.

I also love this activity for October because the Wild Kids are dressed in costumes (like Halloween) but it's connected to literature so it's not Halloweeny (is that a real word?).  So if you aren't allowed to do Halloween related things, you can still do this!  Win-Win!

Pop on over to my store to grab this for yourself.

Once you use these logic puzzles, you will want them all.  

I keep one of my math center bins filled with logic puzzles.  I change them out to keep it fresh and interesting for the kids, but the beauty of this task is that you only have to explain it once and they can do them all!  Just change the theme of the puzzles and you've got a new center- voila!  Easy peasy!

And the best part is that you can grab these for only $1 for the next two days.
That's the perfect way to try them out to see if you like them.

Thanks for stopping by!
Click here to head back over to the linky party.

Leave a Comment Common Core, Linky Party, Math, Math Centers, Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals

Oh Snap! It's Almost August!

Can you believe that it's almost August?  Where has the summer gone?

If you are like me, you are starting to plan for the upcoming school year.  Join this fun link up and find some great resources for the upcoming school year.

The wonderful bloggers at 

are starting a monthly link up where we can all share our favorite resource for the upcoming month.  Isn't that perfect?!  It's just what I need to stay ahead of the curve and on my game.  

Since it is almost August, I'm thinking about the start of the new school year.  I contemplate what worked well last year and what things can be improved.  

Last year I really LOVED my calendar wall.  Why, you ask?  Well, I took my old standard calendar and updated it with more math stuff.  I began with the standard monthly calendar where we turn the cards over each day to reveal the number and the pattern.  We do Yesterday was ____, Today is ____, and Tomorrow will be ___, (those are the teddy bears).  I also have the daily add a straw count that groups ones, tens and hundreds.  I have the months of the year (train) and the days of the week.  The teddy bears in the trains are the kid's birthdays (they each decorated a die cut teddy bear and I put them in the train far for the month).  And of course we have the 100 chart and the weather.

Most of the items were purchased at teacher stores, but I got the weather from here and the day, month, year strips and the days in school from this website.

The number of the day and the shapes are part of my Calendar Companion.  I also have worksheets that my students use to learn about the different parts of the calendar.  

I also have a daily schedule cards that we review in the morning so the kids know what things we will be covering that day.  You can grab these for just $1 for the next 3 days!  I laminated these and put them on velcro.  I can rearrange them based on the day and the things that we will be doing. (The schedule cards are the pencil shaped cards that are hanging under the clock).

I encourage you to browse around the links to see what things you can add to your calendar wall.

Click here for a FREEBIE!  It's just one small part of my Calendar Companion.

Just slide it in a page protector and staple it to your calendar wall.  Use a dry erase marker to count the number of girls and boys at school each day.  I have my calendar helper do this each day.

Check my Freebies section for more fun FREE stuff.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Hop on over to the next great blog and get more great STEALS AND DEALS for August.  Link up your own great product/tip for August.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

An InLinkz Link-up

Leave a Comment Back to School, Bulletin Boards, Classroom Set Up, Common Core, Math, Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals

Saturday Swap

Hi Everyone!
It's Product Swap Saturday!

One of my fun "I Have.. Who Has?" games is featured on Bri's Knowledge Mobile Blog.  She tutors kids of all ages and tried out one of my "I Have... Who Has?" games with her kiddos.  Hop on over to her blog to read all about it and enter to win a copy of your own!

You can also find more versions of these fun and engaging games at my TpT store.  

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Teacher Appreciation Sale in a couple of days, so now is a great time to add these games to your wishlist.  

I have them for CVC words,  Fry's lists,  Blends,  Long vowels, Rekenreks, Ten Frames,  Adding Ten More...

You get the picture!  I have them for all sorts of skills.  Go to my TpT store to take a look.  

All of my items will be on sale for 20% off.  You can use the code ThankYou and get an extra 10%!

Leave a Comment Common Core, Fun Stuff, Literacy Actvities, Math

Lunch Count on the Door

Every morning on their way in the classroom, my kindergartners move their clip from the "I'm not here" section to either the "Bringing" or "Buying" lunch section.  This is a quick way for me to visually take roll and since it is located on my door, if we ever have a fire drill or a real emergency, then I can quickly scan the door as a reminder about who is absent for the day.

Here is how it works...

I got the jumbo ten frame magnets from Lakeshore Learning and put those on my door.  They come as a set of four so you'll only need to buy one.  They also have the magnetic circles that you can write your kid's names on if you don't want to get the IKEA magnets.

But I got the white circle magnets from IKEA and wrote the kids' names on those.  These come in sets of 4 and are nice because they have a raised area that makes it easy for my kids to grab and move.  I had planned to put their photos on the magnets, but then I thought that I would rather they be able to identify their name instead, so that's what I went with.  I just wrote their name with a permanent marker.

To complete the area, I put up a picture of a lunch bag for the bringers, a hot lunch tray for the buyers, and a sick child for the kids who didn't make it in to school.  I used a strip of magnetic tape to separate the areas.  You could use colorful duck tape or even masking tape, whatever works with your classroom decor.

When the morning bell rings, I greet the children and their parents at the classroom door.  It's nice to say good morning to everyone and to touch base with parents before the day starts.  My kindergartners move their magnet from the bottom area to the appropriate ten frame under the bringing or buying side.  Then they stow their backpacks, lunch boxes, etc and go sit on the rug.  I have music playing for them to sing along to until we are all situated and ready to begin our day.  You could easily have the kids do morning work at their desks as well, but I like to have everyone gathered on the rug so that we can do the calendar and other opening activities right away.

At the end of the day, I have a student move all the clips down to the home area and the door is ready to go for tomorrow.  Simple, fun and a great visual for organizing data.

Leave a Comment Back to School, Classroom Management, Math, Organization

Graduation

In my school district, we don't have graduation ceremonies, well, really we do, we just don't call them graduations.   Instead we call them promotion ceremonies.  

At my school we don't even call it a promotion ceremony,  we call it a "Celebration of Success."

I teach at an all Kindergarten school.  When kids promote from my school, they go off to their next school where they will stay from 1st through 5th grades.

It's a bittersweet time because we teachers grow so close to the kids and their families and unlike traditional schools, we won't see them as they grow.

That is the one thing that I really miss.  I miss saying hi to the kids and their parents and hearing about what things they are up to.

Here are photos of my Graduation Kids Glyph.  My kids robe color is determined by the school that they will be attending next year.  They are holding either a book or a pencil, depending on if they like reading or writing the best.  The shoes denote how they go home after school each day.  The tassel color tells if they are a boy or girl.

After we complete the glyph we analyze the data.  It's a lot of fun and the parents think it's super cute.  By doing this glyph the kids learn who will be going to the same school as them next year.

I have adapted the glyph to be used by any school.  Take a look at the preview.

Leave a Comment Art, Bulletin Boards, Fun Stuff, Glyphs, Math

Adding Doubles- Spring Math Fun

Here is a fun spring craftivity.  I don't know who came up with the name "craftivity" but I sure do love it.

As we are studying insects for science we are also learning about adding doubles in math.  I have combined the two into this cute craftivity.

Kids make a ladybug then roll the dice to find out how many spots to add.  You don't have to add doubles really, they could also just roll the dice and put that many spot on one side, then roll again and put that number on the other side then add the total.

Lots of possibilities and lots of fun!  Happy spring!

Leave a Comment Art, Bulletin Boards, Fun Stuff, Math, Science

Leprechaun's Lunch

Look what Silly McGilly brought for us... a magical leprechaun lunch!

He left bags of pudding, milk and spoons.  All we had to do was record our observations, mix and enjoy!  The kids were amazed watching the white powder turn green right before their eyes.  They even discovered small pieces of gold in the green pudding- yes, they found gold!  (Don't you love their imaginations?)

After tasting this treat, I asked them if they liked it or not and we graphed the results.

You can grab the directions for mixing your own Leprechaun's Lunch here.  It's a great math and science activity.  You can pre-measure or have the kids do it, depending on time.

2 comments Cooking, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Math, Science