Joyful Learning Through Math, Art & Play!

29 April 2022

Fact Robot Craft - Addition and Subtraction Facts

robot math craft

In the free coloring club library we have a triangle-robot fact-family craft for your little learners. Use it after teaching your students about addition or multiplication fact families! 

They can
  • record the operation/s on the robot's button
  • create a fact family with 3 numbers and record them in the circles
  • write the matching related facts on a whiteboard, on paper or in their math journal
triangle addition and subtraction fact family

Create a class display of robot facts so students learn from each other!

We also have a new digital activity that can be easily distributed to students via Easel by TpT over in our store. It is perfect for reviewing related addition and subtraction facts with numbers up to 20.

digital math for first grade

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25 April 2022

New Week Tiger

Did you get the new screen wallpaper? It's still available if you're not on my list yet. Just sign up and when you get the welcome email back from me, hit reply and let me know you'd like the tiger! Pop him up on your classroom board to greet your students and challenge them to be gently courageous in their learning this week! 

tiger wallpaper

If you're in the Premium Coloring Club you'll see I've added a May calendar page to help you get ready and organized for the new month.


Have a great Monday friends!

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23 April 2022

Tiger Goals

In the coloring club today I have added a tiger quick craft for your learners. They can add a stripe on their tiger friend each time a goal is met. Perfect for learning or behavior goals. They might be goals set for the whole class or individual student specific goals. 

Once colored or painted, display them and let students earn their stripes! 

This page was a request from Nicole, a teacher over on Instagram. Be sure to let me know if I can make something available for your students too!

tiger goal setting

The stripes can be short black crayon strokes around the edge of the head, tail, legs and body. 

A clear easy line is provided for your little learners to cut! 

tiger craft

Find this activity page free in the Coloring Club! If you'd like to see our full range of Quick Crafts, hop over to the website page!

tiger earns their stripes
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22 April 2022

Newspaper Bee Art Project

To help celebrate Earth Day this week you may like to complete a newspaper bee art activity with your learners! 

Find out interesting facts about bees using some picture books like Nature's Tiny Miracle Bee by Britta Teekentrup.



You will need:

  • newsprint (or use some scrap paper from the recycling bin)
  • watercolors or food coloring mixed with water
  • crayons
  • scissors
  • paintbrushes


To make:

  • freehand draw some bees, flowers and hearts with crayons
  • paint them
  • after drying, trim around the edges



Create a bee garden display with your lovely creations!

Find more ideas for Earth Day HERE on the blog!


How to Writing

After making your bees, implement a whole-class collaborative writing lesson. Teach the structure of a procedural text.

This free activity can be accessed over in my TpT store and you can project it onto your electronic board to complete with the class. 

  • talk about the purpose of a procedural text (to learn to do something)
  • discuss who writes them, who reads them, where do we find them
  • ask students to verbally recount the craft activity before you look at the text
    in your class discussion, gradually encourage a summary of the ideas the students share so some clear steps emerge (e.g. what do we do first, what do we do next)
  • where appropriate show students how 2 sentences can be joined with a linking word - e.g. Draw a bee. Use black crayon. Draw a bee with black crayon.
  • now look at the model text
  • show students the heading and tell them it's at the top of the text
  • read the heading together
  • point out the 4 sections and together read the sample text
  • encourage students to help you drag the text into position, encouraging an awareness of the structure as you go
  • read and reread, encouraging students to read with you as you build the text




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20 April 2022

Number Bus Games

In our TpT store we are sharing a free digital number activity with you! It will help students understand the relationship between numbers and quantities by drawing them on a ten frame. 

They will:
  • say the number on the bus
  • draw dots or kids on the window ten frame to match
  • count to check the total
You can use it digitally through the Easel by TpT tool (which integrates with any LMS you're using). 

Each bus on the slides shows a number from 1 to 10. 

numbers to ten

Here are some bus-themed math warm up ideas for you too!

On the Bus - Ordinal Position of Numbers

Select some students to play. They line up 'on the bus'. Give verbal instructions such as 
  • the 5th child on the bus must stand up
  • the 3rd child on the bus must clap 7 times
  • the 4th and 10th children on the bus must swap seats

Swap Seats

Make a line of chairs for a selected group to sit 'on the bus' - e.g. 6 students.
One child is chosen to be the bus driver and stands to the side, facing away from the group.
Point to any 2 children on the bus who swap seats.
The bus driver turns around to face the group who count slowly to ten (practice counting). 
The driver must attempt to guess the 2 students who have swapped seats on the bus.
A new driver is chosen.

Place Value Bus - Extension

Seat 2 children on chairs side-by-side. They are drivers on 2 buses next to one another. One is the Tens Bus, the other the Ones Bus. If you have a board, seat the students in front and write these names on the board.

Each child holds up a different number of fingers - e.g. the Tens Bus child may hold up 5 fingers, the Ones Bus child may hold up 2 fingers. The rest of the class say the number - e.g. 52. 
Optional: have a student build the number with place value blocks in front of the bus drivers. 




In the Pond Coloring Club free library I have shared with you a free Number Bus worksheet to help your students practice writing numbers - and to color of course! 

I hope you and your learners love these ideas!
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16 April 2022

New Coloring and Activity Pages

I want to share some of the new pages we have in the Pond Coloring Club for you this week!

Happy Easter Coloring Page

This one is in the free library! Encourage your little learners to draw patterns on the eggs in the basket and trace the sun rays!


Good Morning Bunny

Have your students trace bunny and the handwriting pattern lines for practice in writing and making neat strokes ready for letters and numbers!

Frog Song

Frogs have a special place in my heart, especially for my work with From the Pond! I sketched this one as a few frogs were singing outside my window as the sun was setting.

Draw a cute cow

Your learners can draw a cute little whimsical cow on the directed drawing activity page. Alternatively, get them to create their own style in the space provided!

Hen and Chicks

Your students can trace the path for the chicks to walk on! Rosie's Walk is a favorite of mine to read to kindergarten - especially to encourage positional language in math. Why not read that before completing this page or letting your students draw their own path of chicks (drawing page included too)!


Sunset with Snail

And a lovely big snail, perhaps to paint with watercolors!

If you're not yet a member of the club, I'd love to have you join!
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13 April 2022

Bunny Banner

Hop back to this blog post from 2018 to find a big beautiful bunny template to color, paint and cut! Your learners can make a lovely classroom display or banner once they're completed. 

bunny cut and color

With just a few corners and wedges of the page to cut (from the edge of the paper in), it is perfect for beginning scissor skills! 

bunny color and cut

Print it on a variety of colored papers or let your students paint with watercolors!

bunny paper craft for easter

Find the free template on this past post: Easter Bunny Color and Cut
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12 April 2022

More Ways to Use Carrot Crunch

We have a free spring addition game over in our TpT store for you. It will help your students master addition with the counting-on strategy. They roll 2 dice and you will encourage them to count forward from the larger number to find the total. You may like to team a numeral dice with a dot dice to further encourage mental math. 

Today I want to share with you a few more ways to use the printable game mat! 

Standard Play

  • play to the standard rules
  • students play independently with their own set of dice
  • play with a partner and alternate turns 
  • play in a small group and have a winner
spring addition game

Digital Option

  • I've added a follow-up digital activity to the resource over at TpT
  • use it for an individual student on a computer or device
  • use it for whole class instruction by projecting it onto your electronic board and facilitating a whole-class math talk or demonstration 
  • use the carrot number line to model additional addition strategies

counting on in addition

Puzzle

  • print a set of number boards in grayscale
  • cut a colored board up into pieces
  • let students working at an emergent level to match numbers by placing the colored pieces onto the gray mat
addition puzzles

Subtraction

  • extend your confident learners with a subtraction activity
  • use a 20 sided dice and an 8 sided dice
  • cover the carrots with counters
  • students roll the 2 dice and subtract the smaller number from the larger one
  • remove the counter from the matching number 

carrot addition game

Doubles

  • work on the doubling strategy for addition
  • use 2 game mats, cut one up into pieces
  • flip the pieces over, students take one and double the number mentally - e.g. they take 2 and double it to answer '4'
  • if correct they place the piece in a sequence above their game mat (option: record the double on a piece of paper or underneath with a dry erase marker)
counting and sequencing numbers

I hope you love these extra ideas for Carrot Crunch! It's still a free offering over in our store if you'd like it today!
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11 April 2022

Butterfly Shape Craft

We're sharing with you a shape butterfly craft over in the Pond Coloring Club this week! Provide a fun, creative paper craft experience for your students that is perfect for spring!

butterfly craft






















As well as fine motor (coloring, cutting and assembly) you can talk with your learners about:
  • counting and numbers - ask how many squares on their wing for example
  • 2D shapes - ask what shapes they used
  • describing shapes - encourage your students to explain how a square is different to a hexagon
  • symmetry - challenge your students to make the shape patterns on one wing the same as the opposite side
spring craft

Some options for coloring include:
  • outline in marker and shade in pencil
  • scribble with thick waxy crayon and wash with ink or watercolor
  • oil pastel outline and chalk pastel shading


After students have made their butterfly, gather in your main teaching area and place all the butterflies in the garden (middle of the circle of students). Play a language and listening game. Model as the teacher, how to be the describer by going first. After this, select a student to have a turn. Describe one of the butterflies and as you progress, encourage students to raise their hand and attempt to select the butterfly you are describing. Add one more detail until a correct guess is made. 

For example: The secret butterfly I am looking at has 2 pink wings. It has purple on its antennae. It has six yellow shapes on its wings. The shapes on its upper wings are blue. It has 8 blue circles and 2 purple circles. 

Once all the butterflies are made, you can create a beautiful classroom bulletin board or window display, showcasing your students' hard work and facilitating more math talk and language as modelled in your class game! 
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10 April 2022

Sunshine in your Inbox


One of my favorite things to do over the years has been to share my screen wallpapers with you - mostly here on the blog and on the website.

From now on I would love to send you a some new screen wallpapers in our email newsletters. I'll warm up your inbox with some digital sunshine!

Sign up to our email newsletter using the form on this post and you'll get my future designs and some teaching tips and ideas.


Please be aware that within the emails (as well as the free goodies) there may be some news of new products for sale in our store and links to our store and Coloring Club!

I'm so glad you're joining with me and can't wait to surprise you with the first wallpaper very soon!
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