Fall Math Centers and a Quick, Fun Math Game

I am loving that it is fall...even if it doesn't feel like it.  It's 80 degrees here and that is not how I think of fall.  But, our classroom is beginning to look and feel alot like fall.  :)  We are doing fall centers this week.  This is my newest packet and I have to say I love it!  And, so do the kids which is even more important.  I'm posting picture of our math centers this week.  Stay tuned for our fall literacy centers.  I'm also posting a few pictures of a fun and quick math game we are playing this week.  :)  If you like the centers they can be found in my Fall-tastic Fun Unit.

Okay, so this is the most fun center this week.  The students walk around and count the falling leaves.  Then, record it on their paper.  I like to have at least 1 center group up and moving.  

 Here's what they look like close up.

Here's the response sheet.

We are already testing on number words (crazy, I know) so we are practicing really hard!

Need a quick math game?  I made tree mats...one per 2 students.  I used some leftover scraps of foam to die-cut mini leaves.  You could use any type of counter for this and call it leaves.  

Next, I gathered my kiddos at the rug and partnered them up.  I gave each group a counting mat, a die, and a handful of leaves.  

I modeled how to play the game a couple of times and let them loose.  They had a ball!

How to play:  Each partner rolls the die and adds that many leaves to their tree.  We are comparing numbers this week so they had to decide which tree had less/fewer leaves.  We played for about 10-15 minutes and then cleaned up.  Quick & Fun!  Who doesn't love that?

Stuff...Pictures and Ideas!

This post is kind of a mish-mash of stuff.  The pictures in this post don't really go together...just a little of what we've been doing lately.  

We are using Abby's RTI packs during intervention along with my Intervention  Notebook.

I'm lovin' it so far!  

 How do you do your class name chart?  We use this several ways.  We have studied our names up and down and in between...I refer to this chart SO much during whole group lessons.  Do you sing If Your Name Has the Letter by Shari Sloane?  It's on her Get Ready CD and we love it.  This chart really helps us out on that song!  :)

I had a Duh moment this year!  I know every single one of you must do this, but I made pictures of my kiddos and printed them out really small.  I laminated them and then taped each child's face to the first letter in their name.  AH!  They love seeing their face on and their friends faces on the letters!

We made these cute little crayon people from Cara at The First Grade Parade a few weeks ago!  They are hanging in our classroom and they make our room so bright and cheery!  You can find this activity HERE.

I am making myself MAKE time for interactive charts this year.  I've always loved doing them, but sometimes I let other things get in the way and push them to the side.  I love how Cara suggests to put them in the reading center once you've made the chart and practiced reading it.  She talks a little about predictable charts HERE.

My kids are loving reading these in our reading loft!  

I added face pictures to the end of each sentence.  :)

Here's our first Hands-On Alphabet Journal page from my new pack.  They seem to love it so far!  

They marshmallow painted the Mm's if you're wondering what the purple paint has to do with the letter Mm.  :)  I'm excited to have this new center each week!

And...one of my favorite activities that we do ALL year long!  Our little "mini me's".  

You can find the directions to this in my All About Me unit.

Thanks for reading!!  

Cats, Buttons, & Colors

Last week we finished up our Cats, Buttons, & Colors Unit.  I have to say, it went so well!  They loved it.  Of course, we read Pete the Cat to go along with the cat theme, and oh my goodness!  The kids are dying over Pete.  They love him and all they want to read are his books and sing his songs.  I don't blame them!  :)  

I must say my newbies are really getting the hang of learning their way around our center chart and learning how to "do" centers.  Check out some of what we did below.  You can find all of the activities below HERE.

As you can tell from the pictures below, I always try to have a variety of things the children are working on.  I like to have them as engaged as possible with manipulatives, games, spinners, cubes, etc.  And, I also like to have at least 1 center where they are "on the move".

Just had to post this...I think my favorite spot in the classroom and some of my most favorite times in the classroom are spent at the rug.  I LOVE doing whole group activities here and whole group games. I just feel connected and like they are getting the most from me.

*Comments make the blogging world go 'round*  ;)

Dot BOWLS?

Soooo...I'm NOT a "dot plate" expert.  In fact, I had never heard of dot plates until last year.  I always meant to make a set of them, but a lot happened last year and I never got around to it.  This year...I'm really trying to stay of top of things so I was heading to make my dot plates and got to looking under my cabinet for my plates and, well, I had no plates.  BUT, I had bowls...and "dot bowls" were born.  Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to make dot bowls, but it's a totally new idea to me!  :)

First you will need the sturdy paper bowls.  You could use styrofoam bowls possible with stickers...maybe...not sure how well that would stick.  But, these dotters were super fast!!

I used the skinny bingo dotters you can sometimes find at Dollar Tree to make the dots.  The ones from Dollar Tree make smaller dots so these were perfect for the small area of the bowls.

I made 2 sets.  You will see that one set is black.  For the next set, I used colored dotters so students could hopefully distinguish between the colors and recognize that 2 and 1 is 3, 3 and 1 is 4 and so on.

 As you can see in the picture below, students will use these bowls to create sets that match the set in the bowl.  Of course, you can use any manipulative.  Seasonal erasers would change it up a bit and this can be a "forever" center!  I heart forever centers because it requires little to no maintenance.  DING!  :)

Here are the rest of my bowls...

Ooops!  This picture is sideways so tilt your head to the left.

Students can simply throw objects in the bowl, stack them and make towers, or match the dots 1:1.

I hope you find this helpful, easy, and FUN!  

I would love to read your thoughts below!!  :)

Whole Body Listening

If you read this blog regularly, you know that we spend a ton of time at the beginning of school on rules, prodedures, routing & LISTENing!  :)  I wanted to do an extra lesson and activity on whole body listening and this is what I came up with. 

First, this song popped into my head and I quickly made a chart for us to use.  

I gathered my kiddos at the rug and taught them the song.  We used the picture clues to help us remember which body parts we can use to listen.  We pointed to each body part as we sang.  

Then, we made these little Whole Body Listeners & labeled them.  We did this at the rug together.  

This whole lesson took about 45 mins to an hour to complete.  We did it in 2 sessions.  

I hope you find this post useful!  

If you do, how about some "comment" love!  :)

And, if you missed it, I made a post on how I organize my Intervention Notebooks.

Click next post or keep scrolling to read it.  :)

Intervention Notebooks

Happy Thursday!  We have had the best week!  My kiddos are really adapting to our rules and routines and they've just been awesome this week...keeping my fingers crossed!  We have spent a ton of time on procedures, expectations, & PEACEmaking!  

During my free time I've been getting things ready for small groups and intervention.  My helper (Yes, our district hires all K teachers a helper for the first 2 weeks...SO. NICE.) put together our intervention notebooks for me.  Check out the pictures and explanations below.

This year, I'm trying my best to be more organized in planning and giving instruction.  I'm keeping most of my intervention materials in these notebooks.  Games with pieces won't be stored in this notebook.  I made 6 copies because I usually have 6 students in my intervention group.

Here are some of the pages we will use during the week.  Notice the colored "splash" at the bottom of each page.  I color coded each little section so if I want my students to go to a specific page I can say, "Turn to the green section".

I will use these pages in several ways!  I explain ways to use the pages in the packet which you can find HERE.

Naming Upper and Lowercase Letters

Building Names, Naming Letters & Sounds in our Names

All three ways to build the name are stored in envelopes.

Beginning Sounds

Practicing Colors and Color Words

Math Skills

Writing Skills

All of this is in my September Intervention Pack.  I really think this will be a great way to make the best of my intervention time.  I will be updating all of my intervention packets so that the skills included in those months can be added to this notebook.  By the end of the year, I will have 6 notebooks full of skills for each month.  Next year, all I will have to do is pull them out and they are READY!  That makes me happy!  :)

Hopefully this post helps!