50th Day of School

Hi everybody!  I wanted to tell you about a really cool day we had at my school.  We celebrated the 50th day of school.  Ok, I know, you're probably thinking "50th day of school?  Most people celebrate the 100th day of school."  I've celebrated the 50th day for the last two years and found that it's really helped my children understand the higher numbers in more depth.  I think that counting by fives and tens really is the basis for so many skills that our students need for mathematical concepts later in life.  It's really essential that we give them a firm foundation in kindergarten.

I dressed as a 1950's girl!  I got the costume from a Party Store right before Halloween, and I danced to a swing song by Elvis Presley with my husband.  We discussed how life was different in the 1950's (sock hops, soda shops, how people dressed) and even made root bear floats with our kiddos!  Here is a great video that we showed.  Thanks Stephanie for bringing it to my attention!

My class has also been learning about sorting and classifying, so I combined sorting with grouping by tens by using Fruit Loops to count to 50.  I used the following paper, laminated, and the children placed the Fruit Loops on top of the appropriate colors.  The great thing about laminating the sheet is you can use it year after year.  In the past, I've had them paste the Fruit Loops onto the sheet using marshmallow fluff, but I think that method is just too much sugar.  It's healthier with just the cereal.

50 Fruit Loops by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

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I also made the following 50's chart where the children can trace the dotted font to help them understand how to make the numbers.  My students are constantly making numbers backwards.  I know that this is age appropriate for kindergarten, but my county does expect them, on standardized tests, to be able to write the numbers.

50s Chart by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Two super songs that I found on Songs for Teaching are:

"Rockin' to 50" by MMMKids
"The Counting Creatures" by Ron Brown

I had the children hold up a plastic hundreds chart, but of course we only used numbers 1 to 50 so that they could see the numbers as we sang the songs.

One project that I loved doing when I was a girl scout (many, many years ago) was making paper chains.  I have several kids with fine motor problems this year, and I thought it would be oh-so-nifty to combine counting to 50 with patterning and the fine motor practice.  My blue and green tables, for example, used blue and green strips.  Each table made their own chain and we hung them up in the hallway along with the 50th day of school projects that my kids made.

Now my kids are super excited about doing the days in school chart that we've been using, and they can't wait for the 100th day!  I think I'm going to do this every year now.  It was so much fun!  Do you do anything special for the 50th day of school?  I'd love to hear about it.  Write a comment below.

Numbers 1 to 20

It's hard to keep my mind focused on academics when I'm worried about Christmas shopping and how we're getting to Syracuse this year to see the family, but I think I came up with some really cute stuff.

First of all, I love starting off math lessons with great literature.  The carousel at the top of this post shows my favorite number 1 to 20 books.  Research does show that children pick up more vocabulary when they are read to than during any other method.  I also truly believe in making math as fun as possible by incorporating games and music.  I found these really cool dice at EAI Education.  They are just so useful and versatile.  I think they're one of those "must-have" items for making math fun.  I couldn't believe how long my children wanted to play the game More and Less.  It's really like the card game War, but with each child having a die.  They just decide ahead of time whether they win by rolling more or less.  I pulled them in a group of 8 while a second group was in centers and a third group was doing a number book, and seriously, the game played itself.  They were very cooperative and into rolling and identifying numbers.  I also had bear counters there in case they weren't sure who had more or less.

Here is a freebie of what the children were doing at their seats while I was playing the dice game with my group, as well as another book that I'll be using next week while I play 1 to 20 Bingo with kids.  I just remade this Bingo game to focus on numbers 0 to 20, to go with Common Core, instead of my old Bingo that was 1 to 31.  I like this new version better because I have snowflakes in ten frames along with the numeral, so that the children can count to find out what the number is if they don't know the numeral says.

11 to 20 Winter Number Books

Harry Kindergarten has some great songs for 1 to 20.  I wonder if he knows how much he's appreciated.

Count To 20

Numbers in the Teens

Also, I found this really adorable video by Kids Classroom.  The video shows number balls rolling into place in a very easy-to-understand, sequential manner.

Number Rhymes for Kids

I'm really getting into these videos because the kids can see it, hear it, and dance at the same time.

Carolyn Kisloski just gave me the idea for a number fishing game that I'm going to start making today.  If you haven't checked out Carolyn's blog, you're missing out on some fabulous ideas.  Thanks, Carolyn!  You're the best!

I would love to hear what number games you're playing with your kids.  Please leave a comment below.

Counting Core Comparing Numbers

I'm not sure if there's a place that any of you know of to find mathematical concept books.  Since I didn't know of one I researched many number books and found these to be more specifically about comparing.  The Common Core standards that I'm doing right now are:

K.CC.6:  Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.

K.CC.7:  Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.

If your children already know numbers 1 to 12, I found that giving a pair of students twelve-sided dice really helps them to discuss which number is more and which number is less.  Tip: If your students don't know numbers, it's better to give them cards where they can count groups of objects.  I made this ten-frame comparing book that works really nicely to clear up any misconceptions about more and less, and to show them how to represent numbers in several different ways.  I hope you enjoy this freebie!

Comparing Numbers With Ten Frames by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I also went looking on the internet for helpful videos and found these:

There's a really cute song by Miss Jenny called "Alligator Greater/Less", from the album "We Love Math".  It matches perfectly with the concept of more and less.

Finally, I really enjoy using technology in my classroom and these web sites are free and easy for kindergartners to use:

http://www.primarygames.com/math/fishycount
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur9f7N7Hlr0
http://www.factmonster.com/math/knowledgebox/ player.html?movie=sfw42183
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=75
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=73

Let me know what you think!

Common Core Counting to 100

Hello, blog friends!  Can you believe that it's almost the end of the school year?  Well, it is for us, in America.  But in Australia, they're moving into winter as our summer approaches.  By the way, you HAVE to check out the blog of my new Aussie friend, Jody.  She gives so many really fab ideas for games in her classroom.

Ok, with the new Common Core standards I know you're all aware that we have to teach numbers to 100 now in kindergarten.  So, I thought I would do a post about it and tell you some of my trials, tribulations, and triumphs.  To start off, I remember writing my numbers to 100 when I was little.  I HATED it!  I thought it was so boring, and after a while I just sort of scribble-scrabbled.  I mean, let's face it.  It's just too much to write one hundred numbers.  So, some of the things that I'm doing with my kids have to do with puzzles, cut-and-paste activities, writing some missing numbers from a hundreds chart, and tracing dotted numbers.

This puzzle hundreds chart worked really well.  I used the large, separate pieces to model it for my class on the easel.  Actually, I put them up on the easel and I called up different students to place the pieces correctly for the rest of the class.  Then, I explained to the students that each table (I have 5 tables of kids) would get a Ziploc bag with 5 puzzle pieces inside.  They would then have to put them in the correct arrangement, glue them, and present them to the class when we went back to the rug.  Since I have a color-based behavior system in my class, I told them that the table(s) that worked most cooperatively together (i.e., no fighting about who would put the puzzle pieces where) would get the top color for the day.  They were so on-task!  It truly worked really well.  Here is the file that you can use.  I had the first page cut up into pieces for each table to put together.

Hundreds Chart Puzzles by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Another idea I had was to do sort of a chunking paper where the kids cut out four-number chunks and find the right places on the hundreds chart to glue them.  I noticed that this type of paper is much easier for them to do than cutting out single numbers and gluing them on.  I think it still accomplishes the same goal of learning numbers to 100 and what they look like.  For kids who are still having a little trouble writing numbers independently, I made a couple hundreds charts with some of the numbers dotted, for the children to trace.  Here are those pages:

Hundreds Gluing and Tracing by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Of course, I have to mention a few really great songs.  This week I started using "Zero the Hero" by Dr. Jean, "Techno Count" by Jack Hartmann, and "Grouping by Tens" by Mar Harmon.  I love all three of these artists, and I feel that these songs really give students an opportunity to get up and experience numbers in a fun and kinesthetic manner.  My friends, I have decided I am all about the fun!

And speaking of fun, take a look at this video made by Mr. Harry:



Also, here are some web sites I found with really nice games:

http://www.starfall.com/n/holiday/hundredthday/load.htm?f

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/DogBone/gamebone.html

http://numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_prevnext_1-100.swf

I really like matching my computer center to whatever I'm teaching for reading and math in the classroom.  Hence the computer games practicing numbers to 100.  I'm really interested in finding out how all of you keep counting to 100 exciting and fresh.  Please let me know what fantastic ideas you have!

Last Minute Thanksgiving Ideas

I really can't believe that Thanksgiving is already here!  This year has just gone so incredibly fast.  With that said, this morning I was making and gathering up all of my Thanksgiving work and realized that I could share these ideas with all of you.

To start off with, I posted a carousel at the top of this post with six delightful books that all capture the meaning of Thanksgiving in some way.  Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell is going to be very helpful for me to read to my kindergarten students, because it talks about the first Thanksgiving.  I haven't found many books that discuss this topic in an age-appropriate manner.  I also like this book because it shows pictures of Native Americans, pilgrims, the Mayflower, etc. in a kid-friendly way.  Students in a class are acting out the story.

My students lately have been asking me how to spell words when they're doing writing projects, so I thought I would make a Thanksgiving Folder specifically for next week.  This folder is like my "Things I Can Read" Writing Folder and my Fantasy Folder that I already had up on TPT.  It sells for $1.00 and has three different writing prompts added to it.  I make these folders because it allows the kids to be totally independent.  I read them their writing prompt and they can go and write completely by themselves at their tables while I'm working with another reading group.  I love it when they can work independently!

Some fabulous songs that I use at this time of year are

"Friends and Family" by Jack Hartmann:  The children do a little drum beat and sing to this one
"Tommy Turkey" by Mar Harmon:  This song is SO cute - the kids get to shake their tail feathers as they dance and sing
"Going on a Turkey Hunt" by Mister Q:  This song and dance is very similar to "Going on a Bear Hunt", and my kids beg for it every day in November
"Five Fat Turkeys" by Francyl Gawryn:  A really cute subtraction song
"Five Little Turkeys" by Bill & Tammy:  This is a nice rhyming song that counts up using ordinal numbers

I made these turkey number lines so the children could move their fingers along the number lines as they're singing the last two songs in the list:
Number Response Strips Turkey

For guided reading next week, I'm going to be using this book.  It's really for my high kids; they're ready for more kindergarten sight words.  My low group is still struggling with letters.
Where is My Turkey 2

In math, to keep with the turkey theme, I'm going to be doing this number fill-in-the-gap paper using turkeys.
Number Fill in the Gaps Turkeys 1 to 15

I would really enjoy hearing about what you all are doing for Thanksgiving, and if you are using any special materials.  Please leave a comment below.

Comparing Numbers and Amounts

"Five Creatures" by Emily Jenkins

I recently did a math lesson for my principal to observe, based on the following three goals.

1. The students will compare two numbers using sets and 1:1 correspondence, and be able to explain and express the relationship verbally, through pictures, and in writing.
2. The students will analyze a number line to find out if written numerals are in correct sequential order.
3. The students will use deductive reasoning as they problem-solve scenarios in books related to "more" and "less".

The first two goals were specifically math content goals.  The third one was a literature goal integrating the math concept.

During language arts, we read the book Five Creatures by Emily Jenkins.  This was a great book for several reasons.  It lent itself really well to using the vocabulary words "more" and "fewer".  For example, on one page it said that there were three humans and two cats.  So I would ask the students "Were there more humans or more cats?"  On another page, it said four of them liked fish and one did not, so I asked "Did fewer of the creatures like fish, or more?"

I started off the math lesson by having the children look at the Visualizer, which had number lines that were each incorrect in some way.  The students had to turn-and-talk and figure out what was wrong with the number line, and then we discussed their ideas.  This worked really well.  Here are the number lines that I used.

Number Lines Missing

One of the next things we did was to use this "Number of the Day" poster to practice writing our numerals:

"Number of the Day" poster

We all wrote the numbers with dry erase markers on individual whiteboards as the "Number of the Day" student wrote them on the poster.  That way, the children had a model to go by.

Since Common Core focuses much more on numbers, I think it's important that my students know how to identify numerals, count, match quantities, and understand how amounts look on ten frames.  Our county's module assessments also incorporate ten frames, so I made these books to help the children have a frame of reference so that when they saw the question on the test, they wouldn't be confused.

My Ten Frame Book 2

My Ten Frame Book 3

For differentiation purposes, I made two levels of books.  I used the first book with my lower students who still need to match numerals with amounts.  The second book was used with my students who do understand matching numerals with amounts and are now ready to compare numbers.

We also played a game with large flip-circles (yellow and red) on a giant ten frame mat.

Single Ten Frame

Double Ten Frame

I used the back of a Twister mat to make the ten frames sturdy and durable enough for the children to crawl on.  This game can be played in several different ways, depending on the level of your students.  I had children place flip-circles on the ten frame with some red-face-up and some yellow-face-up.  Then they had to tell me which color had more, which color had less, and how they knew that.  For a variation, we played "Are there more squares empty or are there more squares filled?"  That was a little tougher.  We've also started doing addition with problems such as "If you have five red flip-circles and you want ten, how many yellow flip-circles have to go on the board?"  This game is mostly for my high group, which is composed of eight kindergarten kids.

I found a real treasure at Really Good Stuff.  They're ten-frame dry-erase boards that are magnetic, and you can purchase flip-circles that are also magnetic.  I think these are fab for any pre-k, k, or 1st grade classroom.

Magnetic Ten Frame Boards from Really Good Stuff

Please let me know what you are doing to compare numbers.  I'd love to hear what you think of these ideas. Also if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in a comment.

Autumn Activities

I can't believe it's October 1st!  Fall is my favorite season, and I think it's really important to celebrate the change of the seasons with my students.  So I read all of the books in the carousel above, plus Fall, Leaves, Fall which is a great large-size book, but Amazon did not have a picture of it.  I want to share what I did for Leaf Man, because some of my children who normally don't like to do seat work were really motivated by this activity.  We read Leaf Man, of course.  Then I had little pieces of paper cut out in red, yellow, orange, green and brown so that the students could make their own leaf man pictures.  I hung the originals in the hallway, but I also wanted to make a class book so that students could practice reading the sentence frame "My leaf man is a ______," and so that they could see their own writing.  If you're interested, take a peek:
Our Leaf Man Book

I've been working a lot on math plans lately, to match the Common Core standards.  I came up with this idea to have the children count leaves, identify numerals, and then color the squares on the ten frames.  Since Common Core wants us to recognize up to 20, I made twenty different Velcro spots for leaves, and 20 different numeral cards.  There are also two ten-frames on the tree so that children can color the appropriate amount of squares up to 20.

This week, we started working on number lines, so I designed a leaf number line paper to keep with the theme:

Number Fill in the Gap Leaves

I feel that my posts are never complete unless I share some of the songs that I've been using.  There's a fabulous song by Jack Hartmann called "Follow Me to the Apple Tree," which has the kids actively hopping, paddling, skipping, walking, etc. to an apple tree and then picking the apples.  After they pick the apples, they hurry back through the same motions, sort of like the song "Goin' on a Bear Hunt."  I also really like the song "Seasons" by Dr. Jean, because the kids can easily picture different activities for each of the four seasons.  Both of these songs go really nicely if you're discussing and making connections between the books and the real world.

I also recently put up Four Seasons Writing Folders on TPT, and I think they could be really useful in any writing center throughout the year, especially when you're focusing on seasons.

Quick and Easy Math Idea

"6 Sticks" by Molly Coxe

Things have been pretty hectic lately, but I wanted to share with all of you a very easy activity that my students really got into.  We were focusing on the number 6 today (part of the new Common Core curriculum that really digs deeper into numbers).  We wrote the number 6, made 6 tally marks, drew a picture of 6 things, sang Dr. Jean's song "Chant and Write", and read a great book called 6 Sticks by Molly Coxe.  The book basically shows 6 sticks arranged in many different configurations to produce a variety of designs.  I was going to have the children glue popsicle sticks onto a sheet of paper, but I decided to just let them manipulate the sticks on their tables to make whatever designs they wanted.  This worked really well, because the children got to make their design, break it apart, and make another design.  I was able to walk around and talk to each student about what they made.  How many times do we get to do that?  By the way, I have 25 students, and some of them don't speak any English.

Since our county's math test (which will be given in about a week and a half) has the children writing numerals, I made this book to help the children understand quantity and how to draw the number:

My Number Writing Book

If you like this book, please leave me a comment below!  It's always wonderful to hear from you.

First Week Back in Kindergarten

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

Hello bloggy friends!  I'm sorry that I haven't done a post for a week.  I've just been exhausted every day!  My class is really wonderful; I actually had 14 of them in pre-k last year.  So the funny thing is, whenever they tell me they don't know something, I say "I know your teacher taught you that, and you do know it."  And they say "Wait a minute... You were my teacher!"  And then I just smile.

So, to the heart of the matter: things that really worked this week.  Over the summer, I discovered the Pete the Cat books (thanks to my good friend, Lauren, who is also on my team).  We read I Love My White Shoes, Rocking In My School Shoes, and His Four Groovy Buttons.  My kids sat SO wonderfully for all three of these stories.  They were actively listening, they were engaged, and they were able to answer comprehension questions about them (and this is a feat, because I have some children who don't speak any English).  I made this paper to go along with the White Shoes book, and my students did such a great job that their papers are now hanging on my Thinking Board.

Pete the Cat Worksheet

We did some shape collages that worked really well.  My family helped me cut out many different circles, triangles, squares and rectangles out of a variety of scrapbooking paper.  Then the children had to find one particular shape each day and glue examples of it inside one large corresponding shape.

One thing that was challenging for me this year but did work nicely was the opening of math time.  In previous years I had made calendar CD's that focused on the day of the week, the month, spelling the days of the week, etc.  Since time has been taken out of the core curriculum, I felt that I really needed to change my focus for the beginning of math.  So we very briefly work with the calendar, simply focusing on today's date and singing "Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow" by Jack Hartmann.  Then we say the numbers up to that date (if it's August 24th, we count up to 24).  Next we do a number line activity (I purchased a number line from Lakeshore).  At this point, I'm just asking various students to find particular numbers.  Later in the year we'll jump ahead 2, go back 1, etc.  There's a fabulous song by Dr. Jean called "Country Countdown 1-20" that I use right after the number line to have the children bend their legs to each number as we count forwards to and backwards from 20.

I'd love to hear what things worked for you this week!  Please write me a comment below.

Rockin' Resources Linky Party

Kelly Dolling over at Teacher Idea Factory is having a great Rockin' Resources Linky Party, and this is so timely for me because I just got back from a week-long Lego Education conference in Kansas City!  I have used Duplo and Lego products in my classroom for years.  I love the way the kids are so motivated and excited to learn math, science, language and social skills that are essential in kindergarten and in pre-k.  At the convention I found out that they make many great products that I never heard about.

1. Duplo Early Simple Machines

Duplo Early Simple Machines

I feel that science should not just be something that is talked about, but that the children should have their hands on the materials, actually seeing and feeling how things work.  What better way to teach about Simple Machines such as pulleys, levers, gears, wheels and axles than to experiment and build with working parts?

2. Duplo Wild Animals

Duplo Wild Animals

The Wild Animals Set is also absolutely fabulous for combining language and science in a uniquely special way.  Children can build different habitats while cooperating with others and having a tremendous amount of fun at the same time.  I know it's a big investment, but this product will last forever.  I have worked with Duplo products and the kids can't break them because it's hard plastic.

3. Measuring Motors

Measuring Motors

A friend bought me Measuring Motors for my birthday and I can't wait to use it in kindergarten this year.  Measuring toys are so hard to find.  This one is so kid-friendly!  It's rubber cars in three different lengths (small, medium and large) with tracks.  Children can place different combinations of cars on the tracks to see how many 1-inch cars it takes to fill the track, how many 2-inch cars it takes, and how many 3-inch cars - or a combination of them.  I like this toy because it shows the children that there's more than one way to arrive at an answer to a problem.  I hate it when students are not allowed to find different solutions to problems.  The cars also come in different colors so they can additionally be used for sorting and patterning.  This is such a multi-purpose tool for mathematics!

4. King School Books

King School Books

These King School books are simply phenomenal.  The books portray friendly, multicultural kids in a kindergarten or first grade setting, depending on the reading level of your students.  Another great thing about these books is that the characters repeat throughout the stories.  So your children are so excited to see Derek or Jasmin in their kindergarten classroom, and then later as they progress in reading they can see those same characters in first grade.  The topics the author chose to write about are things that kindergarten and first grade children actually experience.  If you buy the set, it also comes with a teacher manual, a poster and storage bins.

I'm very curious to know how many of you use Duplo or Lego in your classroom, and what you use.  Please leave a comment below.  I would greatly appreciate it!

Common Core Freebies and Numbers to 20

"Bears at the Beach" by Niki Yektai

As I was reading and thinking about the Common Core Standards, I decided that I wanted to change some of my materials to focus more on numbers 10 to 20.  I have found that it's difficult to find quality books that concentrate on the teen numbers.  One great book that does is Bears at the Beach by Niki Yektai.  I like this book because the watercolor illustrations are colorful and fun.  I'm going to place this book in my math center after reading it so that children can count the objects over and over again.

Another game that I'm going to place in my math center, in a pocket chart, is this matching activity where students count the number of objects and then have to choose the correct numeral to place next to it.  This corresponds with this Common Core Standard:

K.CC.4:  Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.
Number Matching 1 to 20

For the students' independent seat work after we read Bears at the Beach, I'll have them do these cut-and-paste activities where they cut numbers from the bottom of the paper, trace the numbers, color the pictures, and glue them into the missing boxes.

Number Fill in the Gaps 1-20 Bears Dashed
Number Fill in the Gaps 1-20 Shirts Dashed

Some really great songs that count up from 1 to 20 are "Counting 1 to 20" by Jack Hartmann, "Country Countdown" by Dr. Jean, and "The Number Rock" by Greg & Steve.  My kindergartners have often enjoyed wearing number necklaces and bouncing a ball the number of times that is on their necklace when I call out their number.

If you are interested in number books from 1 to 20 where students color and draw shapes, as well as write the sentences on each page, I do have a beautiful set on Teachers Pay Teachers for $2.00:

Number Shape Books

I also just opened a new shop on Teacher's Notebook called "Sharon's Shop" that has a set of the cut-and-paste sheets from 1 to 20.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you know of other great number books, please tell me about them in a comment below.

Toy Car Fun

"Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom" by Stuart Murphy

As the end of the year approaches, my students are a little wound up.  I have found that I really have to pull out all of my best tricks at the end of the year to keep their attention and their focus, and still keep teaching concepts.  Hold onto your seat belts as I race through a few of my best car ideas!

The book Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom by Stuart Murphy will really rev up your kids' engines!  It's all about patterns, but it's also a really cool story that allows your kids to make sound effects as you read it to them.  A little girl plays with her brother's toy cars and has to arrange them in the same pattern so she doesn't get in trouble when he returns.  Everyone in the family makes a different pattern with the toy cars, so it's a great tool to teach multiple kinds of patterns.  It's really perfect for pre-k and k.  I used construction paper cars (solid red, yellow and blue) to match the cars in the book.  The kids came up to the front and held the cars as they told me which car should go next.  I've also heard of teachers cutting out steering wheels of the same colors and have the children actually be the drivers.  If you place toy cars in your math center, your children can also further explore these concepts independently.  Here is a pattern assessment (for legal size paper, 8.5"x14") to check for understanding:
Pattern Car Long

I just went to a Dr. Jean workshop, and she mentioned a web site called Making Learning Fun.  It has the best highway mats that you run the toy car around so that students can actually feel how shapes, numbers and letters are made.  I made the shape set first, and laminated them, to see how my students would respond to this idea.  They absolutely loved it!  They kept saying things like "This is so awesome!  You're the best teacher!"  I figured the boys would enjoy it, but the reaction from the girls was also overwhelmingly positive as well.

Kids playing with shape highways

So that night, I made the highway numbers, adding traffic lights so the students would know where to start and stop for each one.  These are such a treasure for me, because my students tend to make numbers backwards.  Being blind, I wanted something that they could play with independently in centers that would be motivating and that would help them learn the correct way to form numbers.  Here is what I used:
Highway Numbers

I think it's important to introduce the mats in large group or in small group, show the children how to play with the mats, and then place them in the math center.  My students did a really great job in centers for the last two days, using the cars and mats appropriately.

"Vroom Chugga Vroom Vroom" by Anne Miranda and David Murphy

Vroom Chugga Vroom Vroom by Anne Miranda and David Murphy is another great book, which focuses more on numbers.  I have found many books that go up to 10, but not as many that go up to 20, like this one does.  I'm thinking to put stickers with numbers on the cars so the children could line them up before they race them.  I'm still going to only have 4 children in the center at a time, but each child could be in charge of 5 cars.

Here is a Level 2 guided reading book for those children who are working on their color identification skills:
I See The Cars

I would love to hear what all of you do with toy cars!

Finally, Miss Nelson is having an "All-Time Favorite Read-Alouds" Linky Party.  My favorite read-alouds change so often, but Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom is my favorite book for the end of the year because it holds their attention and it really solidifies the concept of patterns.

Spring Eggs

"The Easter Egg" by Jan Brett

If you're looking for the perfect book for the spring season, look no further.  The Easter Egg by Jan Brett is one of my newest favorites.  I am told that the pictures are simply gorgeous, and the kids really enjoy describing everything they see to me.  Not only is it visually beautiful, but it has a lovely lesson at the end about helping others.

Beside dying eggs and mixing colors, I also fill my water table with plastic eggs and grass, and I turn it into an educational activity by writing capital and lowercase letters with permanent marker on each half of an egg.  I've also done the same thing with sight words.

Water Table filled with grass and plastic alphabet eggs

Since I teach in a public school, I do not call the eggs "Easter eggs", I just call them "spring eggs" because a lot of animals are born in the spring time.  Discussions of eggs can also be matched with some great books that I'll talk about in my next post.

Kids absolutely love going on hunts.  I remember when I was little, even though I was visually impaired I loved finding eggs.  When I taught kindergarten I put these little messages into the eggs along with one or two treats, and the kids went crazy for them!  You'll never believe this, but actually they were more excited about what the little messages said than eating the treats!  I told them to try and read the messages themselves.  If they couldn't figure out a word, they could ask three friends for help.  If they still couldn't understand the words, then they could ask me.  It was such a wonderful time!  All the kids were showing their friends what their "magic egg" said to them.

Easter Egg Notes 2

I used this sheet to have the kids practice writing their numbers, because many of my children still wrote their numbers backwards.  I was surprised that my kids really like this paper, because the sheet is so simple.  But what I told my children to do was first trace the numbers with a black crayon, then color over the eggs with light colors such as yellow, pink, orange, or light blue.

Counting Eggs

If you're interested in guided reading books for your small group that use a huge variety of kindergarten sight words, I just put up a new packet on TPT called Egg Guided Reading Books.  If you have any questions or comments, please leave them for me below.  I love hearing what you all have to say.

Food Graphs

I’ve noticed that sometimes January feels like a very long month to me, as a teacher.  I try to liven things up by doing several types of food graphs in January.  I especially like using food because it involves all five of the senses.  My kindergarten students used to tell me that graphing was one of their favorite things.  One day, my principal came into my classroom and asked me what I was doing with the Teddy Grahams and Goldfish.  I was ready!  I said “Well, they’re learning more vs. less, columns vs. rows, how to create a graph, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, and how to follow directions.”  My principal was satisfied, and we continued our fun activity.

A Goldfish/Teddy Graham graph completed by a student

I have been doing graphs for many years now, and I have discovered some really great tricks to make this activity very successful with as many as 30 students at a time.  First I count out sets of 5 Goldfish crackers and 3 Teddy Graham cookies for each student, and put each student's set into a Ziploc.  I tell the students to color in each Goldfish on the graph using an orange crayon and each Teddy Graham with a brown crayon.  It's important to remind the students to only color in the amount that they have.  It's also important to show them where to start coloring each row.

Graph Goldfish Teddy Grahams Landscape

If you're interested in more graphs, please take a look at my TPT store.
My Candy Graphs on Teachers Pay Teachers

Gingerbread Integration

My pre-k students really enjoy the fact that they can go to Library Center and pick up a book to read by themselves.  I made this very simple gingerbread counting book for just that purpose.

Number Gingerbread Man Book

I read the book to my students during guided reading, and I also had gingerbread cookies for them to count.  They placed the correct amount of cookies on each laminated page of the book.  I also found a great song on iTunes by Tiana called "The Gingerbread Men."  The song counts backwards from 5 and includes a pretty neat rhyming pattern.  One additional thing that I did with the song was to give my students gingerbread number cards.  Throughout the song, as each gingerbread man got eaten the student holding that number gave it to me.

Snowman Numbers

As I was shopping in the grocery store with a sighted companion, we found the cutest little marshmallow snowmen.  I thought "What a wonderful way to make math time magical!"  I made the following number line as a PowerPoint file:

Snowman number line from 0 to 10

Not only does placing the marshmallows on the number line teach one-to-one correspondence, but it really holds my students' attention, helping them to focus on each individual numeral.  Some of my students also started to understand "Oh, 5 is one more than 4."  Having been a kindergarten teacher for 17 years, I know that it's vital to help younger students learn their numbers from 1 to 10.  My students often say how much they love math, especially when it's something that they can see, smell, touch, and finally eat at the end of the lesson.

A kindergarten teacher at my school saw me doing this and asked for something more sophisticated, so I made her a sheet for 1 to 35 with the same snowmen, for her to use with the marshmallows.

Snowman counting sheet from 1 to 35 in rows of 5

Take a look at this product on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Numeral Recognition With Snowmen

My pre-k students are excellent counters.  However, they have trouble matching numerals to objects.  I found a great winter song on iTunes called "Six Little Snowmen" by LifeWay Praise Kids.  It counts backwards from six to one, and has each snowman melt as the sun comes out (a great science link).  I went to Michael's Art & Craft and got six plush snowmen.  I then put little, laminated and brailled necklaces on each snowman.

Plush snowmen wearing teacher-made number necklaces

The children use these snowmen also in Math Center and sing the song independently.  I like using things that the children can feel and interact with.  The literature link that I used after the song and counting activity was Frosty The Snowman.  It's a really good book based on the classic song "Frosty The Snowman" by Bing Crosby.