Do You Subitize?

I had never heard the word subitizing until our new math curriculum came out a few years ago. Subitizing is the ability to "see" a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting. We most commonly use this with dot patterns, fingers, and ten frames. 

My kiddos love to use ten frames and they are such a valuable math maniuplative! I decided to create a pack of math centres and games for them to use during our guided math time. In this pack there are 6 independent math by myself centres and 6 math with someone partner games. There is also a fluency mat for partner practice and list of additional card games to play with ten frames. And there are 6 sets of different coloured ten frame cards for you to print and cut out. 

Here are the 6 independent math centres:

1. Representing Numbers (representing numbers to 10) - Students choose a ten frame card and represent that number in different ways (number, word, tally marks, dots, money, number sentence, picture, and fingers).

2. Ten Frame Addition (adding to 20) - Students choose two ten frame cards and write an addition sentence. 

3. Ten Frame Ordering (ordering numbers to 10) - Students choose three ten frame cards and order them from least to greatest or greatest to least (you choose which skill).

4. Ten Frame Comparing (comparing numbers to 10) - Students choose two ten frame cards and circle the greatest or least number (you choose which skill).

5. Ten Frame Partners (tens partners) - Students choose a ten frame card and write a making ten addition sentence.

6. Spin & Trace/Spin & Write Numbers (number formation to 10) - Spin the ten frame spinner and practice tracing or writing numbers 1-10.

Here are the 6 partner math games:

1. Ten Frame Splat (identifying ten frames to 20) - Students take turns choosing a card and identifying the ten frames. If they get a SPLAT card, they must put back all their cards!

2. Ten Frame Bump (identifying ten frames to 12) - Students take turns rolling two dice and finding the matching the ten frame on the game board. 

3. Ten Frame Race (identifying ten frames to 10) - Students take turns naming ten frames. If they get it correct, they roll a die and move their game piece towards the finish.

4. Ten Frame Memory (matching ten frames and numbers to 20) - Students take turns flipping two cards over to find the matching numbers and ten frames.

5. Ten Frame Dominoes (matching ten frames, numbers, and number words to 20) - Students take turns playing a domino down, matching it to a ten frame, number, or number word.

6. Ten Frame Cover Up (adding with ten frames to 20) - Students take turns choosing two cards, adding them together, and covering up the space on their game board.

I hope your students like these activities as much as mine do!



Do you follow Krita Wallden of The Creative Chalkboard? If not, you should! Not only is her clipart absolutel adorable, but she is having a weekly Christmas giveaway with free clipart called Operation E.L.F. (Everyone Loves Freebies--how cute)! But she is also having  selfless challenge, where she challenges everyone to do some random acts of kindness! One of her suggestions was creating a teacher freebie! So I used her adorable freebie clipart and keeping with the ten frame theme, created a "Holiday Ten Frame Freebie" for you! It includes two sets of Christmas ten frames and a recording sheet. Students colour in the ten frame and write the number beside it. You can also use the ten frame cards to play games or use with my centres above! Click the picture below to grab it for free!

Dollar Tree Ideas {with freebies...}

Every teacher loves a good ol' shopping trip at the Dollar Tree! Last time I was there, I found a few goodies that would make awesome math and literacy centres! First up, I found these cute spinners! There are four in a pack and they have numbers from 1-8.

I made a cute recording sheet to use as a quick and easy math centre. Super Spinners! The student spins the spinner and writes the number in the first circle. Then they spin the spinner again and write that number in the second circle. Then they solve the addition sentence and write the sum in the last circle. Super easy to prep and lots of fun!

I had seen this idea from Teacher Tipster before {watch video here}. Love him! He took a puzzle with a back, then on the back of the puzzle pieces he wrote addition or subtraction sentences. On the back board of the puzzle he wrote the answers. So I picked up some super simple puzzles.

I made some super simple puzzles that would be good for the beginning of the year. One is matching ten frames and numbers. The other one is matching dice patterns and numbers. An important number concept we practice lots at the beginning of the year! This can be made with any concept though... addition, subtraction, base ten blocks, number words, shape names... The possibilities are endless!

Here's a quick sight word game I whipped up to use in my guided reading groups. This makes a fun and easy warm up activity. I bought a couple sets of a match game. 

I printed out some sight words on little mailing labels and stuck them to the tiles. Simple sight word match game ready to go. I make the students read each word as they flip them over. You can adapt this to any word list and any level. You could also do compound words or contractions.

Another fun find was this Fruits & Numbers domino game. One side of the domino has a number and the other side has some fruit. Thought these would be perfect for some addition practice.

I made a recording sheet so that students could choose a domino, write the number in one circle and count the fruit and write that number in the second circle. Then they add the numbers together and write the sum in the last centre. Not only does this practice addition, but also counting/subitizing the fruit.

Lastly, I found some monster gift boxes that I knew would be awesome for something!! I didn't know what exacly, until I got home and a fun literacy centre idea hit me!

And so the Monster Munchies were born! My original idea is to use it as an activity in m guided lesson groups to practice letter sounds. I would take a few sounds that we are working on, spread out some of the picture cards on the table, and ask students to feed the monster something that starts with "s". They would have to find a picture of something that starts with that sound and feed it to the monster.

I created a recording sheet to go with it as well so it could be used as a literacy centre. Students would write the letter on the monster's tummy, draw a picture of something that starts with that letter, and write the word below it.

I made a few different packs of cards to target different skills in each guided reading group. Some of my lower level groups still work on alphabet sounds. Some groups need to focus on vowels (different vowel sounds and difference between short/long vowels), and some are ready to go onto digraphs.

If you don't have any monster boxes, each pack has provided you with some different options: use a gift bag, a paper bag, or a plastic container. There are four different monster pictures you can print out and attach to a container or bag of your choice.

There are three different options for each pack:

{1.} The teacher/leader calls a letter and the student must feed the monster something that starts with that letter.
{2.} Students sort all the picture cards by the letter monsters. (3 pictures for every letter.)
{3.} Students write a letter on the monster's tummy, draw a picture of something that starts with that letter, and write the word below it.

Here are the packs available. Alphabet Sounds: includes a letter monster and three picture cards for each letter sound. This focuses on beginning sounds (except x is ending sound). $3.00 on TpT. Click the picture to check it out!

Vowel Sounds: includes a letter monster and three picture cards for each short vowel sound (a,e,i,o,u) and long vowel sound (a,e,i,o,u). $3.00 on TpT. Click the picture to check it out!

The last pack is a freebie! Digraphs: includes a digraph monster and three picture cards for each digraph (ch, ph, sh, th, wh). Free on TpT. Click the picture to check it out!

That's it for my dollar store find. Let me know if you've found anything good lately!! :)

Happy New Year! {Math Freebies!}

I know, I know.... it has been almost two months since I last posted! This is my first post in the new year, can you believe it?? I hope there are a few of you still out there keeping tabs on my poor little blog. If you are, well lucky you! I'm here with a few fun math freebies that I hope you can use!

Things in my life have been super busy and this growing little girl inside of me is taking up a lot of my time, energy, and thoughts. I can't believe she will be here in less than 10 weeks! {Or later if she's as stubborn as her momma.} I only have 8.5 more teaching weeks until I take my maternity leave! I keep telling people I'm not sure what I'm more worried about... having a baby or leaving my classroom for such a long time! :) I can't guarantee I will be posting much once the baby comes, but once things settle down a bit, I hope I will be able to take some time to do some postings and maybe throw out a few new products.

Here are just a few simple math activities I've been using in our math centres...

First up, Hockey BUMP! We had some local junior hockey players come visit our school during Numeracy Month to do some math activities with our students, so I whipped up this little BUMP game for them to play together. I thought it would be fun for anyone doing an Olympic theme this month... or if anyone has some hockey fans in their classroom. I know I have a bunch! {Me included! Go Jets Go!} If you have never played a BUMP game, it will soon become a class favourite! Each player gets 10 unifix cubes. Player 1 rolls the dice, adds the numbers together, and places their cube on the correct number. If another player's cube is already on the number, they may BUMP it off and place their cube instead. If Player 1 already has a cube on the number, they may place a second cube on top and "lock" it in place, meaning no one can BUMP it off! Then the next player goes. The first player to place all of their cubes is the winner!

{Click the picture or here to download Hockey BUMP.}

Next up is a little domino adding centre. You can use regular dominoes, but I found these cute Ladybug Dominoes in the book order one month! I can never pass up cute math manipulatives like this! For the centre, students choose a domino and draw the spots on their recording sheet. Then they write the addition sentence below the picture. Easy peasy!

{Click the picture or here to download Ladybug Domino Addition.}

This is another fun domino activity, but for partners. It's called Spot the Dots. Each player gets their own gameboard and some unifix cubes. They take turns flipping over a domino, adding the dots together, and placing a cube on their gameboard. The first player to get three paw prints in a row is the winner!

{Click either picture or here to download Spot the Dots.}

Last up is a game students can play alone or with a partner. The student rolls two dice and finds the matching ten frame. There is a colour version that students can cover up with unifix cubes or a black & white version that students can colour! My students love to colour, so this is a fun game for them to play.

{Click either picture or here to download Winter Warm Up.}

I hope you have a had a good January! Ours has been super cold... three snow days and countless days of indoor recess. I honestly think the kids have gone outside for maybe two or three days this month.... They are getting restless and so am I! Hopefully it is an outdoor day tomorrow! Stay warm friends.

Five for Friday.... last one for May!

Do you know what time it is? Yes, it's after midnight. Yes, it's bedtime. But it's also time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs!

{1.} When we finished our Laura Numeroff author study, we decided to write our own circle story. The last book we read was If You Give a Pig a Party and in that story the pig invites some of the characters from the other stories, but also a snake, a rabbit, and a fox. I had the students vote for which animal they wanted to write a story about. The snake was the winner! Then we had to vote on a food that started with an s, to keep with Laura Numeroff's pattern (moose - muffin, dog - donut, cat - cupcake, pig - pancake). We decided on sundae! Yum! We wrote the story together. Then I typed it up and gave each student their own copy to illustrate. 

If You Give a Snake a Sundae

by 1AT

If you give a snake a sundae, he will want a cherry to go on it.

The cherry will remind him of a clown’s nose. He will ask you to take him to the circus.

At the circus he will want to go see the clowns perform funny tricks.

One of the clowns will give him a balloon animal.

The balloon animal will remind him of the zoo. He will ask you to take him to the zoo.

At the zoo he will want to see the tigers first.

The tiger’s stripes remind him of the zebras. He will want to go see the zebras next.

Then he will go visit the monkeys.

Inside the monkey cage, he will see a red ball.

The ball will remind him of a cherry. He will ask you for one.

And chances are… if you give a snake a cherry, he will ask you for a sundae to go with it.

{2.} For the past two Christmases I have gotten a Cute Overload Daily Calendar. Love it! Each day I would rip the pages off and just stuck them in my drawer figuring I would eventually find a use for the cute pictures. Well I decided to bring them to school for a fun story writing activity! I let them choose a picture to be their main character. They cut it out, glued it on their page, and drew a setting for their animal. 

{3.} One afternoon we just had a math games afternoon, rotating through a few fun addition/subtraction games.

Tip Top Tally - Amazon

Number Hunt - Really Good Stuff

Swashbuckle Addition - Really Good Stuff (out of stock now)

Math Marks the Spot - Really Good Stuff

Math Dash - Edupress

{4.} Our field trip to the zoo is on Thursday this week, so we have been busy learning about some of the animals we will see at the zoo! We have been making our little zoo card books. The students have really enjoyed learning about the animals. Some of them have never been to the zoo before, so it will be pretty exciting for them.

{5.} We only have 18 more school days left! Then two admin. days which will involve a lot of cleaning, packing, organizing, saying goodbye to my current school, and moving to my new school! :)

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When I saw Melonheadz' adorable Potato Peeps clipart, I decided to updated my freebie math game and use her clipart to give it a fresh new look. The game is the same--students can work alone, with partners, or in a small group. You just need enough Mr./Mrs. Potato Head pieces for each student. Students take turns rolling two dice and adding them together. They take a potato piece according to the legend. The first student to complete their potato person is the winner! There is also a recording sheet to write down the addition sentences. Click the picture to download your new freebie!

Have a great weekend!

Measurement Centres {with freebies} and an Announcement!

We are in the midst of a little measurement mini-unit in math right now. I put together 6 hands-on measurement centres for the kiddos to work on and they are having a blast with all the fun manipulatives! Here is what we are working on:

Centre #1: Measure a Friend {estimation & nonstandard length}

This is a fantastic freebie from Crazy for First Grade. I chose the nonstandard units (pencils and links) that the students needed to use to measure the length of their friend. First they had to estimation, then they could measure!

Centre #2: Measuring Penny {nonstandard length & width}

We read the adorable book Measuring Penny by Loreen Leedy and complete this adorable craft and measuring activity from Primary Junction's Second Grade Common Core Measurement Unit. We did the craft on a different day--I just had them do the measuring part as a centre. They had to use four nonstandard items (cubes, pencils, crayons, and paperclips) to measure the length and width of Penny the dog.

Centre #3: Farmer's Market {estimation & nonstandard length}

This is another centre from Primary Junction's Second Grade Common Core Measurement Unit. Students choose some fruits or vegetables from the market, make an estimation, and then measure the length with cubes. Primary Junction's activity has them measure with inches, but I just had my first graders use cubes to measure.

Centre #4: Rock Balance {estimation & nonstandard weight}

This cute freebie is from the awesome Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. We had five rocks labelled A, B, C, D, and E. Students estimated how many bear counters would balance each rock. Then they measured! The students loved working with the balance scale. So much fun!

Centre #5: How Much Coffee? (or How Much Soda?) {estimation & nonstandard volume}

This was a freebie that I created. All you need is three different size cups... I went to my local Tim Hortons and asked for some cups. They were eager to share! I made two different versions... one to use with coffee cups or one to use with drink cups (ex. McDonalds). I wrote sizes on the bottom of the cup (S, M, and L). Students estimated how many cubes would fill up the cup. Then they filled it up and counted the number of cubes. Easy to set up and lots of fun! {Download recording sheets here.}

Centre #6: High Five! {nonstandard area}

This was another simple freebie I created. Students trace their hand on the recording sheet, then use different pattern blocks to fill in the area of their hand. {Download here.}

There you have it! A fun week of hands-on measurement activities!

Now onto my announcement.... if you've been following me for a while, you know that I have been moving from school to school so far, just covering terms and maternity leaves. I have been teaching for 6 years and I have been in 5 different schools, not including my year of subbing! Well finally it has come... I have been offered a permanent Grade 1 teaching position! I will be changing schools again, but then that will be it! I will finally have my own, permanent classroom that I get to stay in forever(ish)!! Yay! I am beyond excited! I can't wait to get in there and share some pictures with you! It's a bit smaller than my previous classrooms, but I don't care because it is mine! :)

Well enjoy your week everyone! We only have 27 days left.... yikes! Yes, that must seem a lot to you who are already done or are down to the one-digits... but we still have so much to cover! How will we get it all done?? Stay tuned!

I'm Back! {with a Freebie!}

I just had to share the cutest drawings we did this morning. I've never done a directed drawing before, so I thought I would give it a chance. I've got a few little sweeties who can't draw anything more than a stick person, so I thought this might help them a bit. I was quite impressed with their leprechauns! We added our poem from Deedee's March Poetry Pack and drew the leprechaun beside it. Very cute!

So after I uploaded my Easter Math Centres pack yesterday, I just couldn't stop thinking of ideas... so I put together another centre. HOWEVER this one I am offering for free! :) Click the picture check it out at TpT!

Students have to match up four number sentence eggs with each fact family basket. Cute and simple! There is a recording sheet to go with it.

Enjoy! Two more days until Spring Break! Woo woo!