Math Warm Ups are short, often play-based activities to begin your math lesson or small-group. They are especially good for helping students feel confident, motivated and capable in math. For this reason, consider
- reviewing previously taught content
- supporting students by being actively involved and guiding the activity
- using visual supports and scaffolds to add an extra layer of access to the content or skill
- talk and encourage math language
To make Math Warm Ups easy to implement in your busy day:
- have equipment ready
- keep activity short, fun and engaging
- repeat activities over a week or several day, giving the students opportunities to master skills
Make a Math Kit
Begin building a collection of resources that work for your curriculum, program and grade. Start with some basic equipment like:
- dice
- place value blocks
- counters
- number cards
Over time you can add more to your kit, including visual supports like number lines, number grids and activity cards.
I've started a bundle in our store with some printables you may like to include in your kit!
The collection of resources will grow over time and:
- be mostly suitable for kindergarten content (with some first grade content to allow for math extension and differentiation in K)
- have colored and blackline versions
- be considerate of size to enable you to have them all in a functional kit
- focus mostly on number
Here is a Math Warm Up you can implement with the Lollipop Sorting Frames!
Help students review:
- numeral identification
- counting with 1:1 correspondence
- making equal groups
They will roll and cover a lollipop with math cubes to match their roll. Ask them to count in a circle, dropping a block onto each section of a lollipop card as they count. Each section should have the same number of blocks. Talk about what equal groups look like and having some left over with some numbers.
You can certainly extend this ideas into a full mini-group experience or lesson and encourage students to
- have multiple turns, gaining experience with more numbers and different numbers of groups
- record their findings with drawing or sentences
- making equal groups in other ways - rows, ten frames, arrays etc
