Snow Globe Domino Math Sorts

Do your students love snow globes? Let's take that love and use it for a cute, fun math center!

This snow globe math activity uses dominoes, which are an amazing manipulative for math facts. Each domino is a visual representation of a math fact. Dominoes are also a great way to demonstrate flip flop facts, aka the commutative property of addition!

Your students will use dominoes in these center activities to solve and sort addition and subtraction number models. Add the two sets of dots to find the sum, or subtract them to find the difference.  This center takes it a step further, as your students will then sort the sums and differences onto odd and even snow globes.

There are two formats: file folder and pocket chart. The download includes labels and sorting mats for your file folders plus header labels for the pocket chart.

Need an accountability piece? Your students can write 4 even models and 4 odd models on the recording sheets that are also included.

Because... who doesn't love a snow globe, right? ;)

Click here or on the picture to learn more!

For more ideas for winter math with dominoes, visit this post!

2nd Grade Christmas Math Games

Busy, busy, BUSY December! Music assemblies, fun crafts, parties, and so much more ... but the curriculum guide doesn't take a break, so what's a teacher to do?

Find activities that combine holiday fun with curriculum topics that all of your students will need to review! 

Here's a second grade math bundle that fits that description perfectly!

This bundle will keep your students engaged, review critical topics, and even stretch their critical thinking skills. Let's take a peek at what's included!

These ten games are each just one page (yippee, no cards to print, no cards to lose!), and they are a fun way to review the topics you teach every day...

🎄 Skip counting by 2, 5, and 10 through 1000

🎄   Three addends

🎄   Sums of ten

🎄   Addition through 100

🎄   Subtracting from 30

🎄   Adding and subtracting from 50

🎄   Missing addends in two-digit addition

🎄   Adding & subtracting 10 and 100 to numbers through 1000

🎄   Three-digit and four-digit place value

Click here for a closer look!

Here's the next item from the bundle!

Addition and subtraction fact fluency within 20 is a critical skill set! Zoom in on it with this new set of 12 games! Addition, subtraction, missing addends -there's sooo much practice in the one-page games, ready to go for your math centers, Fun Friday, intervention, or whenever you need a fun way to "do" math but know that your students aren't going to be able to focus on a regular lesson, no less on a new topic!

Click to see this set!

Two of these games are something very different. You know that one child in your class who's always finished first, and never seems to have a partner ready to play a game? This set has two games that are "soo challenge" - fun and interesting games to be played by just one player! (Find more second grade games for fast finishers here!)

Here comes Rudy!

I really do love this Christmas game! It's a fast-paced holiday math center or small group game for comparing expressions for numbers. It stars that famous red-nosed reindeer your kids all love!

Here's how Rudy! works.

Using 59 cards for math expressions, your students will reach into a bag, pull out a card, and solve the expression on the card. Then the fun starts!

* If the player gets a card with any answer except 8 (like those eight little reindeer!), he keeps the card.

* If the answer is 8, he puts all of his cards back in the bag.

* If the student gets a Rudy card, he chooses any one of his cards to give to any of

the other players.

Rudy! is such a fun way to review a wide variety of topics. Here are a few sample Rudy cards.

Click here to learn more about Rudy!

The last resource in this bundle is a set of math riddle cards to practice adding three two-digit numbers. Riddle cards are good for math skills and critical thinking, too!

Click here to see these and learn more about math riddle cards!

CLICK HERE TO SEE AN OVERVIEW OF THE 

COMPLETE BUNDLE!

Happy Teaching!

Making Words - SCARECROWS Autumn Freebie!

I'm a huge fan of activities for making words! When children have the opportunity to manipulate the letters cards, moving them around to build words, they start to make discoveries about how words work, like ...

              

              * changing onsets to create new words with the same rime

              * making plurals

              * common spelling patterns 

                       ... and so much more! All skills that are applicable to both reading and writing!

Here's a free seasonal set of making words activities using the letters in the word "scarecrows"!

You'll find that this set has built-in differentiation! 

At Level 1, students are given the word that uses all of the letters (scarecrows), with the letter cards in correct sequence.

Level 2 provides more of a challenge. The letters are provided in in alphabetical order, and the students must try to discover the word that uses all of the letters.

How will you use these making words activities with your students?

    * Whole class activities - model making words on your interactive board, with your students making     the words with their own sets of letters at their desks. 

    Looking to go low-tech? Write the letters on sticky notes and work on chart paper at your easel.            Write the words your students make. If you write the words on sentence strips, this can become a            pocket chart sorting activity. Give your students sorting ideas or let them discover their own               (spelling patterns, singular/ plural, number of letters, so many more ideas!)

    * Phonics activities for literacy centers 

    * Independent morning work - work alone, or give students the option of completing the activity         with a partner.

    * Fast finisher activities - these are productive, fun work that will keep your early finishers learning!

Click now to download your free copy for fall literacy fun!

Find more fall freebies here!

🍂 Keep the fun in autumn learning! 🍂

Save Time for Teaching Science!

When super busy days squeeze something out of the daily schedule in our primary grade classrooms,
it's very often science or social studies that fall by the wayside. That's sad, because we know how important both science and social studies are and also how much many of our students love them. 

But the reality is that literacy and math are at the top of the teaching (and testing!) list and we all know it.


So, what can we do about it? Well, one idea that I'm sure we all try to do is to choose our readalouds with an eye to the content area topics we're teaching.  Solid readalouds packed with the vocabulary of your science topic give your students' repeated exposure to content area vocabulary, and also address literacy standards for non-fiction. A great book can also be the springboard for some non-fiction writing, either whole class or in a writing center.


Integrating science into your math and literacy teaching (and vice versa!) is another idea for making the most of your teaching time. Integrating curriculum is also a surefire way to improve vocabulary understanding and retention and, in simple terms, to help the learning stick!

Here's an easy way to help you put more science back into your day. 

This set of 45 graphing and writing experiences to address eight of the most popular first grade science topics (in some curriculums, the landforms and bodies of water topics will bridge over into social studies).

Here's what's included! 

► 7 independent graphing experiences, including two read-and-graph reading passages (answer keys included)

► 9 student surveys (students interview their classmates and then record the data)

► 7 class graphs in color, for teaching/modeling or for a class book.

► 22 writing activities to use along with the data collection experiences. Writing formats include ...

                    * Personal narrative

                    * Lists

                    * Labeling

                    * Completing graphic organizers

                    * Persuasive writing

                    * Non-fiction

                    * Descriptive writing

                    * Friendly letter

You'll be happy to see how much teaching time you'll save with these one-page easy prep resources!

Are you ready to try this free set of three plant activities from this graphing and writing collection? You'll find it when you download the preview! Click here to get yours!

Back to School Night Freebie!

Back to School Night, Meet the Teacher Night, Curriculum Night, Open House ... whatever your school calls it, it's all part of a new beginning, with a new group of families.  Very exciting, but often very stressful, too - for you AND for them!

With so much information to cover in a very short time, anything you can do to communicate more easily with your new families is a GOOD THING. These families are in information overload, and anything in print has a better chance of being retained and used.

This free Back to School Night download for first and second grade will give your students' families ten easy-to-implement ideas for working (and playing!) with their children at home.

Just include this list in your Meet the Teacher Night packet to give your students' families some easy ideas to support their children and in turn support YOU! 

There are two levels included in your download: Level 1 is No Fluff, just the basics, Level 2 has a few more details included as explanation with each suggestion.  

You'll find that this list has other uses throughout the school year:

Keep a stack of these handy for whenever you get that eleventh hour call for work to send home. You know, five minutes before the dismissal bell.  Pop the list right into a folder with whatever else you can grab, and now families have been reminded of lots of learning options. And you've saved yourself the time and aggravation of writing a long note home.

It's also handy to have this list to tuck into the folder of a child heading off for a week's vacation during school time. Let's face it. How much work does your average child return to you after a week in Disneyworld? Teachers' own children being the exception, of course! ;)

*****

Looking for more Back to School ideas? Here are a few I think you'll like!!

Sums of Ten - Task Card Freebies for the Win!

Do you use task cards? What an amazing classroom tool they are!

✅  They're a fun & engaging way to for your students to practice skills (waaay more fun than worksheets!)

✅  Task cards are easy to store and keep organized (tip: try using photo boxes, from the scrapbooking aisle in craft stores!)

✅  They're available for so many skills ... math, reading, science, even social studies!

✅  Task cards are easy prep - just print and cut apart. Even better, if you laminate them, you'll only have to prepare them once and you'll use them for years.

Want to save this post for later? Just click the Pinterest button!

If you're not yet taking advantage of this versatile tool, I'd definitely recommend downloading the great free guide from Rachel Lynette, who's undisputedly The Queen of Task Cards!  You'll find ideas for using your task cards, storing them, and many other helpful tips, too. It's all in this free ebook at Rachel's TPT store. Do not miss out on this one!

Whether you're new to task cards or you've already got a huge collection, I hope you'll give this new set a try in your classroom. 

These cards are a fun autumn-themed way to get your students up to speed on sums of ten. It includes twenty bright and engaging cards that use ten frames for visual support.

You can use this free collection in a math center as is, or you might try displaying them around your classroom for a Read the Room for Math activity. The cards are also good for a fun game of Scoot! Your download also includes an answer key and a recording sheet that you can use with any of these options for play!

Click here to download your copy. Enjoy!

Click to see more resources for sums of ten...

               

           

     

Happy Teaching!