Do you utilize math rotations in your classroom? Math centers are a great way to incorporate independence and corporative learning skills. It gives you time to work with students one on one or in small groups with skills they are struggling with. I know it can be overwhelming to get started with centers, especially if ... Read More about Time Saving Tips For Math Centers

Try these essential tips for how to run Math centers: Easy, simple, and effective organization ideas and resources for the K-2 classroom.

make math rotations a favorite time of day, see how to manage and implement math rotations with visuals of each station. Resources for all math rotations.

These 5 fun 3D shapes activities for kindergarten are a great way for students to learn about shape attributes while having a blast.

Ideas for math centers in the primary grades.

Need tips for launching guided math centers in your 1st grade classroom? I'll show you step-by-step how I launch my math rotations in 3 weeks

I have been on a math kick lately. I think it is because my kids are strugglingggg with basic math concepts lately and it’s killin’ me! We have been learning addition strategies and practicing addition within 20 for two weeks now and my class has just started to pick up their momentum. They are […]

Ideas for teaching addition strategies in 1st grade to set students up for fact fluency success! Plus get 5 tips for making fact fluency fun!

I love incorporating games into math as much as possible. Who doesn't love playing games, right?! But the problem with games is that they often require quite a bit of prep work for us teachers. I've been trying to come up with some that require little to no preparation to use. I'm so excited to

Here is my collection of FREE math resources for teachers and homeschooling parents. These math activities and games come in printable and digital versions.

Practice addition & subtraction in new ways in your classroom. Learn how to set up and play these free 2nd grade math centers. Centers launch kit included!

Ideas and activities for teaching place value in 1st grade. Help students to develop number sense through hands-on place value activities.

Check out these awesome free grammar worksheets. They are perfect for your Grammar lessons or Literacy centers. Download them now!

BOOM! Sink the ships in this free printable, Hundreds Chart Battleship math game to help kindergarteners counting with 100s chart.

Task cards are becoming a must-have staple in the classroom. Let us help you set up a task card organization system.

Check out this list of 5 easy to implement addition fluency activities. Super easy to add to your lesson plans today in K-2 classrooms

Math is one of my favorite things to teach. Likely because we can actually take the skills learned in the classroom and apply them to real l...

When I started at my new school last year, I came into a new reading program. I was used to doing almost all of my reading instruction WHOLE CLASS, but my school uses a guided reading model all the way up to 5th grade. I definitely had to rethink my reading block! I had done centers in the past, but wanted a really clear way to maximize the time and make the transitions clear for the students. Here's how I do my guided reading block! ROTATIONS We have Guided Reading/Centers Monday-Thursday from about 1:10-2:00 and I rotate through four groups. This means each center is 12 minutes long, with about 30 seconds for a transition. 12 minutes can fly by, so the students have to work on getting those transitions DOWN. I found a FANTASTIC resource by my friend Kristen of Chalk & Apples, and it has made centers SO easy. There are tons of different icons that can be easily swapped out on different days or weeks. I change mine up all the time! In a typical week, I do guided reading with leveled passages on Monday and Wednesday, and we do literature circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GROUPS My students are grouped according to DRA levels, because that is what my school uses. You might use AR, Lexile, or another measure. I have four groups: Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High. Each group has a number, but I assign the number randomly so it doesn't match up to skill level in any way. I have 24 students in my class this year, so there will be 6 kids in each group. If you have a larger class, you can still make it work by having your higher groups work on their own while you work with a lower group and just check in! GUIDED READING I LOVE this close reading resource from Fifth in the Middle. I bought the entire bundle so I have TONS of options. Each reading comes in four reading levels, but they are on the same topic and look the same so students don't notice. There is also a paired text that I try to use for morning work toward the end of the week. There are several pages of activities for each passage, and I often have the students start these at the table with me after we've read the passage out loud. When it is their turn for guided reading, the students come to me at our back table with a pencil and a highlighter. I give them their sheets for that day and discuss what we will be looking for while we read (unfamiliar words usually) and we begin reading. I like to make sure each child reads, so however I have to break it up to make that happen. After reading through, I ask them to scan through again to find specific information. This changes week to week, so one time it might be looking for transition phrases, and another it might be looking for dates to create a timeline. Then, we talk about what everyone found and work on putting together the information on the worksheet. I, of course, provide a lot more scaffolding and support to my lower readers, while my high readers are able to do the activity on their own. LIT CIRCLES On the days that we have literature circles, the students still come to the back table with me, but this time they bring their lit circle book (which varies) and their lit circle binder. In their binder, they keep all of their jobs and their reading schedule. I have used about a GAZILLION resources for lit circles (including online blogs), but this one from Pocketful of Primary is my absolute FAVORITE: It is SOO easy to adapt to groups of different sizes and I found it very user-friendly for both the kiddos and for myself! I organize the jobs using a hanging file I found on Amazon. You can find it here: THE OTHER CENTERS So what do the kiddos do during their other blocks of time? Here's some options I cycle through: STAPLES: Partner Reading Each student has a partner from their reading group that they meet up with for this activity. I typically use "I Survived" books or similar short chapter books. I stock up through Scholastic! I have 6 shared books for the entire class, and I place a sheet inside the front cover so the students can write their names and where they ended each day they read. I always have new books ready to go for the students who finish. I do this strictly for fluency, so I don't do quizzes or worksheets. Silent Reading (KBAR) In my class, we call silent reading KBAR- Kick Back and Read. When we do a whole class KBAR, I sometimes take it outside. Spelling (Spelling City) I typically use Spelling City for centers, but sometimes do a worksheet instead. Vocabulary (Quizlet)Quizlet is AMAZING. I love using this for vocabulary! The students really enjoy it as well. Keyboarding (KWT) This is a tough one since monitoring the students' finger placement is so important. I don't do this OFTEN as a center, but throw it in now and again. Writing If we are working on a longer project (such as the state report), I have the students use this chunk of time for that. Otherwise, I sometimes provide a prompt or allow them to free write. Here's one of the resources I use: NoRedInk If you've never used this site, CHECK IT OUT! It's one of the best ways to get some extra grammar practice into your day! Be aware that the initial set up takes a bit of time because the students have to select a bunch of their favorites from different categories: books, tv shows, movies. What's neat is the site uses their preferences and their name + their friends' names when building the practice sentences. The kids get a kick out of it! Task Cards (small group) Students work with their reading group and record their answers on individual answer sheets. I have a huge selection of task cards that I keep in one of these bad boys from Michael's: Cursive (Can Do) I love that my school teaches cursive, but in fifth grade, we don't have a lot of specific time for it. To keep the kid's practicing, I assign pages from our cursive book during centers. Reading Comprehension (Reading Plus) We use Reading Plus, but there are many online reading comprehension sites. Use whatever your district provides or what works for your class! Games I will occasionally throw in a review game for the kids to play with their small group. The key is they have to be short and not too loud! Comment below if you have other questions or want to add some advice on running smooth ELA centers with Guided Reading!

Teaching guided math small groups have been a game changer in my classroom! Read about how I plan for my math groups, differentiate my instruction and more!

It was my second year of teaching 3rd grade when I decided to move towards a math workshop model. My students were struggling with many math concepts and whole group instruction was not helping. The idea of math centers sounds great, but it can quickly get overwhelming. I’ve listed some problems I faced and also […]

Ever wish you could find the perfect math centers? Games that didn't use up all your ink, saved you oodles of time, and are EASY to organize? Well, you're in

Elementary Emotional Awareness Daily Reflection Sheets Product Purpose: - To help students reflect on the emotions they’ve felt during their school day. - To help students reflect on the emotions they’ve felt during a particular activity, (e.g., math centers, recess, lunch, etc.) - To create a record of daily emotions overtime to find patterns (e.g., Sara always feels embarrassed during math centers.) Product Created for: - Elementary school students (2nd – 5th) *Can be used with kindergarten & 1st grade students at teacher’s discretion. - whole-class or individual students Product Includes: - 15 printable emotional awareness reflection sheets - writing & drawing options included - Folder label for easy storage *storing in a folder is not necessary

20 ways to teach graphing, lesson ideas for graphing, graphing for first grade, second grade, third grade, and kindergarten

Want to know how I keep math centers running smoothly in my classroom?! I love maximizing my time with small groups by making sure that my centers are meaningful and low-prep! Click here to read more!

Math game aligned with Measurement & Data CCSS Math Standard for identifying coin names & values, and counting coins. Get kindergarten and 1st grade students ready for 2nd grade common core math standard. Great for math centers, small group work, and whole class. Use before a unit math test or end of the year math review. Send home cards and share your screen to play this game virtually during distance learning. This is a digital download! Nothing will be shipped. Multiple games included! You can use these games to focus on using the dollar sign, cent symbol, written name, and coin counting. Your students will love this fun math game! Low prep, and great for end of the year review. Included: - BINGO Calling Cards with coin values and names - BINGO Calling Cards with coin combinations for counting - 24 Bingo Cards with coin pictures (ID and Value game) - 24 Bingo Cards with money amounts (Counting Coins game) - 2 PPT files with shuffle feature to be the BINGO caller for you when displayed on a screen (watch video preview to see it in action) CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.C.8 Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately. Example: If you have 2 dimes and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have? The Bingo Caller PPT files work on Mac and PC PPT version 2016. It may not work on older versions, I did not try it. Cards are included if the PPT does not work. I can also share ways to make it work on Google Slides™ with you if you do not have PPT. *Must enable Macros to get the shuffle function to work!* The video preview shows how to use the PPT shuffler.

Ideas for teaching addition strategies in 1st grade to set students up for fact fluency success! Plus get 5 tips for making fact fluency fun!

Learn how to implement flexible grouping in a second grade classroom for math centers in this blog post. Free math centers and launch kit included!

Learning how to implement guided math in the elementary classroom could be the most effective instructional strategy to help your students' success in math.

These 5 fun 3D shapes activities for kindergarten are a great way for students to learn about shape attributes while having a blast.

This summer I read the book Guided Math by Laney Sammons. Chapter 3 was all about using Math Warm-Ups. A quote that stuck out to me was, "Participating in a variety of brief mathematical activities during the first 20-30 minutes of the day leads students to make subtle mental shifts into the world of mathematical awareness and learning." (Laney Sammons also has a book called Daily Math Stretches for K-2 that sounds interesting, but I haven't checked it out yet!) This is why I've always tried to start my day with calendar. We practice so many important mathematical skills during calendar time. This year something new I want to try is to do a short math stretch after calendar as well. First let's talk about calendar. I am just itching to get back into my classroom to get everything set up, but my school doesn't open until August 24th! So for now, I've been trying things out in the hallway of our house. Hubby doesn't even ask questions anymore when he comes out of the bathroom and there's a September calendar hanging on the wall. He knows me well. lol. The other night I decided that I redid every single label and poster in my room to match my chalkboard & brights theme EXCEPT my calendar! Why hadn't I thought of my calendar?? So I got to working on monthly sets of numbers, month headers, and a variety of other posters I use for my calendar routine. Here's a peek at my hallway calendar display: And here's a close up look at my September calendar. (PS. I have a few blue pocket charts that I want to try dye-ing black this week... but in case it doesn't work out well, I bought a new black calendar pocket chart from Scholastic. I love how it looks!) This is what my calendar looked like the week before I left for maternity leave. Things will look completely different, but the math will stay the same! I always lead the calendar routine for the first month or so, but then my leader of the day takes over. Here's a little break down of what we usually do: *flip the number over on the calendar and count the numbers either forwards or backwards *look at the monthly pattern and make the same pattern with out bodies (clap, snap, stomp, etc.) *tell what day of the week was yesterday, today, and tomorrow *add a straw to our collection and count the straws *colour in a ten frame and count the squares *check the weather and fill in the weather graph *add any loose teeth or birthdays to the charts *sing a calendar song or watch a calendar video (such as Harry Kindergarten) We also do a calendar journal to go along with out calendar routine. It keeps all students on task and engaged with what's going on! You can read more about it {here}. Here is what I have planned for my weekly math stretches... On Monday I will read aloud a picture book that goes with a skill we are learning. I started blogging about some book ideas with my Math Book Monday series. The two large tubs in the picture below are filled with math books. I have an addiction and it's time that I start utilizing them more! lol. We will discuss the math seen in the book and usually do some sort of activity to go with it. I hope to continue this blogging series again once school is back in session! I can share more about the books we use and the activities to go along with them. On Tuesday we will do a number of the day activity. I've done this before as a math centre or activity before, but this time I created a cute set of posters that I will hang down the side of my big white board. I will laminate the cards so we can use them with dry erase markers. I created little number cards from 1-20 so each week we will pick a number, veclro it to the number of the day card, and show many different ways to represent that number! We will practice even/odd, number words, tally marks, one less/one more, ten frames, number lines, place value blocks, dice dots, counting forwards and backwards, drawing pictures, number bonds, part-part-whole, and writing number sentences! So many skills in one simple activity! I also created a matching recording sheet so that sometimes I can have students complete the worksheet as we do the posters together, or they can fill one in as an early finisher activity! (I will only be using numbers 1-20 with my students, but the pack I created has options to go up to 100 or 120!) On Wednesday we will practice our estimating! Some days we will practice estimating the amount of objects in our Estimation Station. Other days we will do some measurement activities. I have been collecting some estimation ideas on Pinterest. Check out my board below! Follow Amanda Ross (First Grade Garden)'s board Math - Estimation on Pinterest. On Thursday we will complete a "What's Next?" activity. I will have five different patterns displayed on the board and we will have to decide what two elements come next for each pattern. This activity is perfect for practicing repeating patterns, counting forwards, counting backwards, and skip counting! Plus it will reinforce shapes, colours, and sizes too! You can download a blank PDF of this activity {here}. On Friday we will do a data collection activity. Graphing isn't an outcome yet in our Grade 1 Math curriculum, but the skills that we use when analyzing the data sure is! We practice tons of counting and comparing numbers. Sometimes we will do a whole glass graph or somethings I might let them do a survey and graph activity, like I blogged about {here}. I have pinned tons of ADORABLE graphs on my Pinterest board too. Follow Amanda Ross (First Grade Garden)'s board Math - Graphing on Pinterest. You can check out any of these math products at my TpT store to help you get started! Well that's it for my math stretch ideas! :) Stay tuned for more in my daily schedule series.