Help your children develop a foundation for multiplication with repeated addition of equal rows. With the Happy Circles page in the Pond Coloring Club, they can participate in a math warm up before their mini lesson or activity.
provide each students with a page, counters and a dice
they roll to get a number of rows - e.g. 3
they use the counters to make equal groups of 5 (e.g. 3 rows of 5)
Encourage students to record their work - writing an addition sentence or drawing a picture (depending on the grade you teach).
If you're not yet in the Pond Coloring Club, you can find this page free today! Join us, it's easy.
One of our crafts in the Pond Coloring Club is a sun. Your students can practice their emerging scissor skills by carefully preparing a circle face and eight rays to glue together.
Show them how to position the top and bottom and left and right first to get the rays positioned evenly around the circle. Integrate some positional language here too.
This week in the club we included an All About the Sun page for your students to record three simple facts about the sun after doing some reading or viewing.
You could:
ask children to share what they already know about the sun and record it on a chart
read some sun books or watch some animations
record some key facts or words about the sun on your board to help your students begin their writing
Extend your students familiarity with numbers to 5 by using an activity page from our Roll and Color pages in the Pond Coloring Club! They will begin to build fluency with 1-6.
Let's use the fish page today and have students roll and find a fish that will help 'make 6'. For example, if they roll 5, 5 dots are drawn on a fish with number 1.
Tell students to roll again if a 6 is rolled.
After the rolling and drawing, they can color the page as usual.
I hope your students have fun with numbers today! If you're not yet in the club, we'd love to have you join! Find more information HERE
I love sharing folded-paper crafts with you! Here is a sweet whale your students can make from a square of paper! After creating you can combine them all for a classroom display on your bulletin board, string line or along a hallway!
We have lots more whale ideas and resources on the website, ready to support your classroom learning program too.
Along with the square of paper, your children will need:
scraps of white and pink (if making a cute face)
a black marker or crayon
scissors
There are several steps in this project - if you're planning it for a whole class lesson I would suggest that you make it a few times yourself so you are very familiar with the steps.
Crafts are a minimal-prep way to help support your students fine motor skills while providing you with student work to create captivating classroom murals and displays.
To further support your students emerging skills, you may also like:
I know students LOVE puffy stickers (and most likely you do too) so I thought a puffy shell craft would be perfect as a lively addition to a summer or ocean themed bulletin board or interactive classroom display!
Idea: when creating an ocean themed display with students art projects and craft have some (like these clam shells) in buckets or containers instead of attached to the wall. They can be interactive and used for math, language and play based activities and warm ups.
To make a puffy shell, your students will just need one page. Run it on colored paper or white and let students watercolor or color with crayons!
Once colored have them draw a face on, patterns and detail before cutting and gluing. Crumple (great fine motor) the scraps to make it puffy! Take a look how it's done in this little video:
I hope your students love making a shell and are eager to learn more about creatures on and near the ocean!
If you're not yet in the Pond Coloring Club, I'd love to have you with me!
If you have our fun robot tracing page pack, be excited as a I just added 10 new pages for your students to trace, color and paint! The set now includes 30 different robots and this extra value is ready for you over in your TPT account!
If your children love robots they may like to make some little puppets too! Puppets help students (who are working together):
engage in meaningful language activities
learn to take turns in conversation
have ideas and get warmed-up for writing
This page is ready for you in Premium Coloring Club. Your children can
color the 4 robots
draw a face on the 5th robot
cut around the clear cutting line
attach their puppets to craft sticks
Language game: Robot Repair
use as a brain break or lesson transition
encourage students to listen attentively and concentrate on sentence structure
students listen to you say a simple sentence that has an error (two words switched around ect)
one student volunteers to take a robot puppet from the 5 on display and repairs the sentence (says it correctly)
Math Warm Up: Robot Repeats
drop some counters into a container
students listen and count in their mind
they clip a matching number to their puppet stick
if playing as a whole class you may have a selection of puppets on display and one student clips one clip per puppet (as shown in video below)
I'm so happy to share these ideas with you - you may also like:
Do your students need a lot more practice mastering the Friends of Ten?
Recently I added a new math game to the Making 10 Bundle for you to give you another option for essential practice with your small groups of learners.
With dots to count if needed, students will become familiar with the 2-number combinations that total 10 - 1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7, 4 + 6 and 5 +5.
You can have your children use the cards freely, matching carriage cards to engine cards as puzzles, or play to some structured rules (provided) for a guided small group learning experience.
After matching some cards, have students also build some tracks with blocks to represent the combinations. Have students flip them over to begin an understanding of the cumulative property -e.g. that 8+2 is the same as 2+8.
Idea:
have a number block track for each student in your math shelf or resource collection
number the blocks
use as a number track (like a number line) for a deeper understanding of numbers in your math lessons and games
Addition to 10 Math Craft
A math craft is included along with the train activity cards and instructions for students to make after they have worked with numbers.
They can draw dots, write numbers, color and cut to create a train to display in the classroom. Talk about the different combinations children in the class have made. Provide time for them to describe their train to their peers.
Play: The Train is Coming
once your crafts are displayed, use them for a math warm up
tell students one of the trains is coming along the track and to listen to find which one it is
you will make 10 sounds to describe one of the trains on your classroom display (or several if students have created matching trains)
make a sound combination for the students to listen to - e.g. for the 8+2 train you can clap 8 times and click yoru fingers twice
have students identify the numbers and a train to match
I love sharing paper-folding crafts with you. They help your students with essential fine motor skills and take minimal prep! You simply need some fun patterned paper (or plain colored paper), some glue and scissors.
Keep a box in your creative space for scraps, using them for additional details and trimmings. In the sailboat I have to share with you today, the flag can be snipped from a scrap - giving students additional scissor skills practice too!
Students may like to:
draw people on the boat
give the boat a name
make some fish and other sea creatures for a display
One of the cute fruit characters from our directed drawing and writing pack is a cool pineapple! I'd love to share the steps with you here so your children can draw or paint today!
Before your children color the cool summer drinks on this page from the Coloring Club, they can find the pairs that match!
You could:
give them a strategy - show them how to start with the first picture, then work their way across the top line, down to the second and then along the third row to find the match
keep their finger or a marker on the picture they are looking to match
draw a line linking the matches to help monitor the ones they have found
Our new printable math game helps review addition and subtraction within 5. You'll be able to observe and assess your students fluency with facts or their dependence on counting.
Students will
take a card
answer the addition or subtraction
count if needed (a lemon-tree with 5 lemons is provided as an activity mat - they can model the addition and subtraction process by picking lemons off the tree)
Your students will gather a collection of facts they know and further develop their addition and subtraction develop fluency.
I want to share with you one alternative way to use the game mats once you have them printed! It is also perfect for extending their math into numbers 1-6.
gather a matching number of triangle pattern blocks
keep rolling and gathering more triangles
as a set of 6 is completed, they trade it for a hexagon
It's a good idea to show students how 6 triangles are worth one hexagon before they start the game! Let them make some to help develop an understanding of how the numbers combine.
The aim of this game is to be the first player to get all 5 hexagons (lemons) on the game mat!
Over in the Coloring Club today I have a free activity page. Your students may like to make a shape lemon with crayons, scissors and glue too!
I've found that most students love free play with pattern blocks. Take this engagement and encourage some more structured activities with our puzzle and activity cards. Here is a set for triangles and hexagons.
Using triangles and hexagons (and linking them to numbers) is a wonderful way to to begin working and playing with numbers to 6 and beyond.
Here is a set of cards to get you started. Let students build the designs freely or incorporate dice and create a number or addition game (see video below).
I recently shared a language and listening game with you with a lemon-and-lime theme. As you have your visuals printed, use them in a math warm up too!
Idea:
Keep a small file box or organizer with all your versatile visuals ready to go in your small group teaching trolley or shelf. You can use them creatively for games, activities and engagement. Provide a similar collection in your students free-play area too.
This math warm up will provide an opportunity for your students to:
count with 1:1 correspondence
add within 20
compare numbers to find greater than/less than
see difference in numbers ready to learn subtraction
To play:
students play in pairs - one is lemon, the other lime
lemon rolls first and builds a set of counters to match
take turns until both lemon-lime have had 2 rolls
students then add to find their total
encourage students to compare numbers and the larger number wins
Here is a way to combine 2 new pages in the Pond Coloring Club! It will integrate some essential skills for your little learners:
coloring
visual discrimination
language of position / math talk
counting
understanding of rows and columns
color and make the picture dice on the free page from the club
use the Fun Day grid coloring page
roll the picture dice and a 6 sided dot dice
students count the rows down from the top of the page and find thematching picture in the row to color
if the book picture is rolled - roll again
in the example below, 4 is rolled along with the leaf, so we count 4 rows down and find the leaf picture to color
encourage your students to talk about the square they colored - e.g. I colored the 4th picture in the 5th row - it's a leaf, it's next to the sun and above a starfish
Don't forget the dice page is free and ready to be printed! You can also use it for:
a 'what will we do today' idea dice (instructions on the page)
roll and say a word that links to the picture (e.g. beach if starfish is rolled)
make 2 dice, roll 2 at a time and try to roll a match - count how many attempts it takes or time how long it takes (to develop awareness of time)
I hope you love these new pages and your students have fun while they're learning!
If your students are making a fun lemon craft from our bundle, here are a few ways to encourage more fine motor practice!
Pinning
Using a giant push pin to poke holes from the back of the craft will give the lemon some texture. It's a good fine motor activity too!
Folding
Concertina fold the legs and arms for a fun stretchy effect! Encourage them to persist - it's a worthwhile technique to master for future craft projects and independent design-and-make tasks.
Give your students a verbal prompt to help them remember the movement - e.g. fold back, flip, fold back, flip, fold back, flip....
Demonstrating with a large piece of paper will help as well as having them fold flat on the table and one step at a time.
You can apply these techniques to any paper craft project!
I'd love to share with you a fast-prep language and listening game you may like to play with your students too! It's perfect for a lesson transition, brain break or as a literacy based warm up. Your students will listen to words, repeat them back to you and identify 1 or 2 syllables.
Language and Listening Game for Syllables: Lemon Lime
ask students to clap twice (and repeat word back to you) if they hear a word with 2 syllables - as in lemon
ask students to clap once if they hear a word with one syllable
call word at random and help students identify the number of syllables if needed
Some 2 Syllable Words
lemon
zebra
zigzag
velvet
belong
ankle
thunder
quiet
vivid
exit
whisper
playful
daytime
today
crayon
trying
Some 1 Syllable Words
lime
ant
snap
ten
desk
sand
milk
flag
swim
next
wing
shell
brain
snail
cake
frog
These words are also suitable for early reading if you'd like to write them as you say them for your students.
You could also:
brainstorm some adjectives for lemons and make a class chart
challenge students to think of adjectives that start with l for an interesting subset on the list - lovely, little, light, lustrous, luminous, lively and luscious perhaps
use the lemon/lime visuals for a math based movement game on left/right (lemon on the left, lime on the right)
I added some new projects to My First Directed Drawing pack this week and thought I would share with you how your students can add extra features and ideas to turn one of begin generating ideas for story writing.
Here are the steps to draw the whale - one of the new projects! Your students can add
a sky background
an underwater scene
other animals
paint, crayon or textured craft pieces
Have fun drawing an ocean or whale art project today! You may also like:
Here is a great warm up for counting and building a foundation for addition and subtraction. Students will count-on to find the difference between two numbers. You can use any counting posters from our number display bundle, we've used the new ice cream posters.
Find the Difference
take 2 cards
count up from one to the next and add a counter each time
change one card for a different one and count again
have several counts to be warmed up ready for math learning
Use them for:
reference - students can use them as a number line for counting support
math activities - play a game with your numbers or counting each morning
daily counting - count forwards, backwards, by 2 etc
classroom decor - they will complement all our posters, banner, labels etc
visuals for math lessons - as shown here in the math warm up
I'm sharing from our TPT store a Cool Addition activity set. It now includes 3 sets of ten frame cards to give you more ways to play and engage your students!
Game instructions are included for an addition game with a small group, here are a few more ways to use them:
recognizing numbers in different arrangements: print Set 1 and Set 3 and have students match the numbers (different arrangements on the frame)
add to ten: place the cards face down, a student takes one cards and tells the number that will combine to make 10
subitizing: play to traditional rules of snap - print all 3 sets, put them face down and students watch for a match as cards are flipped
3 Numbers to Make 20
Print and cut an extra set to make single ice cream square counters.
Students take 2 cards and fill in the empty spaces to make the 3rd number.
