Five Fluency to the Moon and Back

Last week I shared some minimal-prep math warm up ideas for developing fluency with numbers to 5. Number fluency will support addition and subtraction concepts.

Today I have 3 more ideas to share with you! They have a to the moon and back theme!

To the Moon and Back Fluency Within 5 Math Warm Up Ideas

show students how to count forward and backward on their hand
show them how they can make a rocket, with all fingers down and zoom it up to the moon
practice lots of counting and showing different numbers with fingers

Warm Up 1 - Countdown

model with 1 student first
student places their hand down on your small-group-table and you present a number of counters to them, lining one up per finger
count back together (or forwards if you're students are not up to this)
you stop counting
student continues counting back and then zooms their rocket up
for example, you lay out 3 counters - and say 5, 4, 3 - children say 2, 1, 0
now use other students' hands and have everyone count along

This is helping them with position of numbers, counting and getting them ready for subtraction (number before). Lining a counter up with their fingers will help them with 1:1 correspondence and also help them begin to visualize difference/partitioning numbers.

Warm Up 2 - Stars

put 5 counters on the table - they are 'stars'
ask them to close their eyes
take several stars away
upon opening their eyes, they quickly call the total (without counting from 1) and continue counting back to 0
for example, you start with 5, take 2 away, they say 3, 2, 1, 0
zooming a rocket into the air is optional

This warm up is getting your students familiar with backward counting from different positions ready for subtraction.

Warm Up 3 - Build a Rocket

have a collection of pattern blocks in a concealed bag or container
on their turn students take a shape
the aim is to build the rocket in the correct sequence
have a rocket already built as a model (printable available through my newsletter, see below)
students must pull a red trapezoid first - as they get more experience with identifying the shapes in a concealed bag they will get faster at this
if they pull the wrong shape, they return it and wait their next turn
talk about how many blocks they have so far, how many more they need etc

This warm up provides an opportunity for lots of math talk. Talk about shapes, sides on shapes, how many, how many more, how many left etc.

An example math talk/conversation during part of your warm up may sound something like this:

I see you have a red trapezoid and a yellow hexagon so far. So how many shapes do you have on your rocket? Oh yes, 2. The next number will be ....? And what shape is the next number? That's correct a square. You'll be feeling for a shape with pointy corners. How many corners on a square? After you get the third shape on your rocket, how many left will you have to find? So you have 2 and then another 1 and then you will need .... ? So 2, 1 and another 2 makes 5?

All informal math discussions are different. Keep encouraging students to share as naturally as they can and talk about their numbers and mathematical concepts.

I hope your students have fun getting warmed up for math with these practical games!

find more ideas for 1-5 here
find activities for 5 pattern blocks HERE

If you'd like to create a classroom display of your little astronauts and the things they love to the moon and back, this template pack will help!

Fine Motor Rocket to the Moon Craft

In the free coloring club library you can find a free fine motor cutting and tracing skills craft to make a fun rocket to the moon craft today! Your children may love to make a mobile or just cut and paste onto a colored piece of card.