Winter Math Center FREEBIE!

Hi Friends! It's Jeannine from Creative Lesson Cafe!

I'm so happy to be joining the awesome bloggers here at Primary Powers once again! Every day, I am just amazed at the wonderful ideas they all share with us. This is THE PLACE for all things primary! 

 It has been a brutally cold and snowy start to 2015 here in Michigan. We are used to it though. There is pretty much no other choice but to embrace winter and try to make the most of it. In the classroom, that means teaching around lots of cold weather themes and I love that! I'm here to share a way for you to bring some snowy fun into your room too with mini-marshmallow snowballs!

We're in the middle of a penguin unit right now so I set out this snowball toss for one of our math stations.

 It's a fun activity for some great math fact practice!

Let me tell you, this is the easiest and QUIETEST activity ever!

 Here's how it works:

Students count out either ten or twenty marshmallows. Then, they put them in a small cup or hold them in their hand to toss. They gently throw them over the mat you see in the photo above. Some marshmallow snowballs will land on the mat and some will be off of the mat. The students count the number on/off and record the pairs and /or write equations on the recording sheet.

In this photo, 6 marshmallows were off the mat (one is on the other side of the mat), so for the subtraction sentence we subtracted 6 from the total. My kiddos like to play it as a game. The first person to fill the table without writing any duplicate facts other than the flip flop of the addends is the winner. 

There are recording sheets for firsties too, using just ten snowballs. For my friends who have to watch their ink, I created a black and white spill mat you can copy on bright paper!  

Before using any food items as math counters, I always let my class eat a few before starting if I can.

 Otherwise, we may find we are practicing combinations to 7 or 13!

 Of course, if you want to modify the activity for other sums, you can eat a few too and just white out the title on the recording sheet! :)

  To bring a little snowball fun into your classroom, you can download this math activity {here}. 

My class loves it and I hope that your kiddos will too!

  Try to stop by Creative Lesson Cafe some time to see more classroom fun for winter themes!

I hope to see you soon!

Animals in Winter

Sneezing.  Itchy eyes.  Scratchy throat.  Runny nose.

You guessed it --- I've been cleaning!

Haha!

I've been going through our basement trying to get it cleared out and ready to be remodeled by my lovely hubby and I am allergic to dust.  I always tell my husband that I'm allergic to cleaning, but he doesn't believe me.  It's the truth!

So now I'm taking a little break and stopping by here to tell you about one of my favorite units we are doing in my classroom right now - Animals in Winter.  It's pretty cold up here in my neck of the woods right now.  We had a couple days last week with -20 degree wind chills.  You know when it's so cold your face hurts...

So I just figure if it has to be sooooo cold outside, we might as well have a little fun with winter inside.    Here is a quick overview of what this unit looks like and if you stick around till the end you will find a little freebie too :)  

 First up in this unit is an Informational Mini-Book for shared reading.  There is a color copy for you to use as the teacher and a black and white copy to make for students to have their own.  I packed in a ton of important information in this book so your kiddos will be learning a lot.  Good time for an impromptu observation by your principal.  
Here's what it looks like in action:

Speaking of being observed. . . I'm sure your principals like to see the Common Core standards in action. So I included a bunch of practice to hit those reading for information standards.  You're welcome!

Included in those standards is learning new vocabulary, so that's in there too.  There's pieces to use when teaching the vocabulary and then a student book to fill in.  

Next up - writing.

There's papers for your students to write about what they learned and make their own book.  There's also templates for a class book about what kind of animal your kids would want to be in the winter and why.  

I also wrote a little fact filled song called Winter's Here.  

Finally, I included some center activities and printables to complete this thematic unit.   

Even if you are in a place where the air doesn't hurt your face, I hope you will find this a useful unit too.  Click on the cover below to check it out on TpT.  

And as I promised - here is a little sampler freebie for you.  To grab this freebie, just click on the picture below.

Thanks for stopping by and joining me for a little cleaning break.  

See you soon!!!

     

Celebrating Winter As We Head Back to School

So it's Monday.....

And not only is it Monday, but it is likely your first day of work in 2015. At least it is for me.

I have mixed emotions... don't get me wrong- hanging out in my PJs for most of the day will be missed... but I am excited to see my little friends today.

But I will be missing those PJs.....so clearly...I'm conflicted.

I just am going to share what I will be using to get me and my littles back into action this week.

The contents of this puppy will be my main focus for the week...meaning, I don't have to search around - it is all there for me in one place as I slowly am able to get back in the crazy and fun routine of kindergarten.

It is 4 language arts and 4 math activities rolled into one little unit!
Language Arts:
*The Snowman Emergent Reader
*Winter Word Practice
*Winter Stories
*Brrr! Sight Word Game

Math:
*Winter Counting {practicing teen numbers}
*Button Sorting
*Button Equations {addition to 10}
*Snowman Subtraction

Here is a glimpse at the reader:

It is 14 pages long and covers 11 colors. You can use all 14 pages or just a few. I like to make these types of books different lengths for different groups of kids.

This book will be something that they color and "be a word detective" {searching for sight words} independently. I have no problem differentiating when the little ones are at the reading table with me... or even when working with other adults. I find it is hardest to differentiate their independent time and the length will help me out with this.

I won't show you everything...you can click HERE to see the whole preview, but I want to share just ONE more thing from this unit....

Button Sorting mats in color or black and white...with 2 categories or 3..... Some are ever pre-programmed and tell the student what to sort by:

And if you are thinking....hmm, it would be nice to win that unit....well, let me help you out.

I am giving away a copy over at my friend- and fellow Primary Powers author- Aimee at Primarily Speaking.

She's celebrating her blog makeover and giving away lots and lots of goodies.

So on that note I will leave you... I hope we all make it to Friday.