Activities that develop early math skills are our favourites! We love working on our number recognition, counting skills, subitising and 1:1 correspondence. This “Build a City” activity…
The Happy Learners' Club Junior Club is our highly popular kids' activity membership for busy parents with 2 to 5 years old children. *Thank you for your interest in THLC. Doors to THLC are now closed. The next enrollment is happening from 15 to 24 August 2024. **If you have children between 6 to 8...
Hands-on math activities for children who love blocks! You can use these printable counting and addition games with your favourite unit blocks to build math towers, supporting early math and fine motor skills. Math towers – block addition activity printables Watch this video to see how you can teach addition to your children: […]
I have a confession, number lines are not my favorite tools for adding and subtracting with my young learners. I always teach how to use them, but I don't spend very much time on them. My main issue is that, students will not always have access to a number line. I don't want them dependent on a tool that they may or may not be able to get their hands on. However, after doing a bit of research about some of the additional benefits of number line learning, I started to rethink my feelings about them. Besides solving basic addition and subtraction equations, familiarity with number lines helps students as they work with all sorts of other math tools. Graphs, thermometers, clocks, and rulers all include number lines. Not only can our work counting forward and backward on a number line help us to add and subtract, it can also lay the group work for upcoming mathematical concepts. Since I had a change of heart about the importance of number lines, I decided to devote more time to them this year. Here are a couple of quick activities I used with my students that they really enjoyed. First up is our Life-Size Number Line. I used this big number line for a whole group activity, but you can easily adapt it for a small group or center activity. I created it by printing the numbers 1-20 and laminating them. I made my line with some masking tape and then placed the numbers on top. The line wasn't straight and the numbers were't perfectly spaced, but that didn't matter at all. I made several slides for our interactive white board with basic addition and subtraction equations. (A regular white board will work just as well.) Students came to the number line individually. They read the equation to the class and then they solved it on the number line. They loved it so much that I used it with them the next day to solve word problems. (one prep and two activities #forthewin) Not only did the kids love it, I really liked using the Life-Size Number Line because it was an easy way to make sure students understood how to correctly move the number line. If you would like to use this activity with your students, click on the picture below for a free copy of the Life-Size Number Line . Another number line activity I incorporated was a quick and easy number line game. (I'm always looking for ways to use my Target Dollar Spot erasers and this activity was perfect.) All you need are some kind of game pieces, a number line, and a spinner (if you don't have a spinner, just use a paper clip and a pencil). This game works well with two to three players. To play, students take turns spinning. If a student lands on plus five, he moves his game piece forward five spaces. If he spins minus two, he moves his piece back two spaces. The game continues until the first player reaches the end of the number line. This activity was wonderful practice for students counting on and counting back. Since we've covered addition and are nearing the end of our subtraction unit, the Number Line Spinner game gave students a chance to begin mixing their facts. I plan on adding this game to our Early Finishers menu since the rules are so simple and there are so few pieces. If you'd like a FREE copy of this my Number Line Spinner game, click on the picture below. There you have it, two simple ways to add a little more variety to your number line routine. Thank you so much for stopping by. Happy teaching!
This FREE Minecraft-themed activity ideas collection is full of fun and engaging activities for kids! Your child will cover literacy, numeracy, art, science, STEM & more!
Print these free symmetry worksheets and activity pages to use with your students. Learn about the line of symmetry with these fun pattern challenge worksheets. Students must use logic, reasoning, and spatial skills to draw the reflected pattern across the line of symmetry.
Do you ever need an Easy Preschool Counting Activity? Pull this one out at a moments notice from the cupboard and get Fine Motor practice in as well.
Playing with snap cubes can provide hours of entertainment for young ones. They will love using these mats to
Get free printables for kids in preschool and kindergarten! Find hundreds of free printable activities for literacy, math, science and more!
FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.
Children learn from examples. So all this talk about how math is confusing, hard, and capable of inspiring more dread than being trapped in a room full of spiders NEEDS TO STOP! Everything we learn requires practice, and math is no different. With a positive mindset toward math (plus some fun bug math activities), math ... Read more
These following direction activities are directionality activities that can help kids learn directions or spatial concepts such as left, right, up, down, and compass directions (north, south, east, and west) with a motor component. This hands-on learning activity really gets the kiddos moving and learning! We’ve shared directionality activities before that help kids navigate and ... Read more
Support your students' fact fluency by grabbing these FREE subitizing dominoes!
This week , we worked on two dimensional shapes. Each year , I usually do an activity with food and sorting the food by shapes. I would use...
Subitizing activities support the development of number sense. Come learn 5 ways to integrate subitizing activities into your every day classroom routines.
Set up engaging centers and provocations that your students will love with a simple piece of butcher paper.
In an era of high stakes testing, art is sometimes the first thing to go but we as teachers need to find ways to continue providing art experiences for our students. Not only is art just plain fun, and let's face it, kids do need fun, but it's much more than that. Art is beneficial in so many ways! Find out ways to incorporate art in this post by The Teacher Next Door.
Measuring Length Activity Mats provide a hands-on opportunity for children to indirectly measure. Great for group work or learning centre activities
Looking for kindergarten math activities? These math games with dice are perfect for whole-group math instruction, small group, or even centers! Activities include roll and color worksheets, dice graphing, and four in a row! All of these math activities require no preparation. Simply print the activity and add a die!
5 Activities to Teach Angles
Have fun learning to subitize dot patterns to ten with our fast-to-prep, engaging math game. This printable card game is ideal for small group math rotations or center work. Students will play with a partner or small group to match numerals to the dots of their board, aiming for 5 in a row. What is subitizing When students can subitize, they are able to tell the number of objects in a set, instantly - they don't need to count each item. Most commonly, you can teach students to subitize with dots, ten frames and fingers. Subitizing Patterns - Standard and Non-Standard 'Standard' dot patter arrangements are those common patterns you see on dice, dominoes and math equipment. Learning to subitize non-standard arrangements is important too and will require your students being able to visualize the common or standard patterns and manipulating them in their mind. Work with the standard patterns first. Playing board games is often a child's first experience with dot patterns, those on a dice. Play lots of games and specially-made learning games, like this one of ours - 5 in a Row! Extend your learners - conceptual subitizing When your students are confident with the patterns of a particular activity (perceptual subitizing) we encourage you to teach conceptual subitizing. This is where 2 patterns are shown to a student and they can combine them (add them) instantly to know the total. Think of throwing a double 6 in a board game. They would know instantly that this is 12 if they are able to conceptually subitize. To encourage this in 5 in a Row, ask them to flip 2 cards, and find the total before covering the 2 numbers. They may need to count the total the first few times they play, but with repetition they will know the total of 2 cards, instantly. Play it over and over to give them this opportunity to develop. Our game 5 in a Row will help teach subitizing to ten with standard patterns. It is a perfect place to start your learners! Non-standard dot pattern arrangements We've also prepared something extra for you to extend your fastest learners - and it is FREE today! Roll and Cover is so easy to prep (just print the page). It will help teach subitizing of non-standard patterns for 1 to 6. Students roll a standard 6 sided die and place a counter over a matching number (non standard pattern). Playing this will help them bridge the gap between standard and non-standard patterns. Find it here in Google Drive: Roll and Cover Free Game From the Pond
Looking for awesome Bug Activities for preschool? This awesome set is a mix of cute preschool bug crafts and educational activities for your math and literacy centers. They are hands on, and there is some fun science mixed in as well.
Basic vocabulary, like knowing prepositions, is necessary for beginning readers. Teach prepositions with this simple game.
We are currently working on our doubles facts {if you are Common Coring with me that's 1.OA.6.} Envision does not give enough practice on th...
Planting lifelong foundations in early childhood
Here's a simple way to teacher less than, greater than: with toys! Free printable included.
Are you interested in using rekenreks with your students, but you’re not sure how? A few years ago, I was in the same boat. I had been to a math training that used rekereks and I couldn’t wait to use them in my classroom. I made a class set out of cardboard and proudly brought them to school. Except I had no idea what to do with them! I had learned a game or two, but needed guidance with how to teach my students about them. In this post, I’ll show
I'm a literacy lover...getting my Masters of Education in Reading makes that pretty evident. So, when it comes to teaching math in the classroom I often felt like I was doing a terrible job. My brain does not go the math route. And trying to convince my learners that math was amazing got a little
Looking for some fun middle school activities to incorporate in your math lessons? Trying to come up with fun ideas that fit your curriculum? Here are 20 great activities and project ideas! There are three main themes to the activities listed below: real life, food (perfect for those hungry pre-teens!), and creativity. The instructions for all activities can be easily modified for students in Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8. If your child is home-schooled, or you are just looking for additional home learning tasks, then these activities are perfect for you! All of the materials can easily be found in your home.
Place value pool noodles? Genius!
Hello There! It’s been a while since I have written a blog post but I’m back and will be posting more freebies regularly. I’ve been working on a TON of ha
Make math FUN with these hands-on multiplication activities! Poker chip arrays, toy store, muffin tin multiplication, and more.
Kids absolutely love these snap cube number and pattern activity cards! They are such a great idea to use to help teach numbers and patterns, as well as gross motor skills. Snap cubes make an excellent addition to all centers, and are fantastic boredom busters!
29 FREE Pentomino Puzzles and Challenges. Includes 3 piece pentomino puzzles for young kids, 15 animal pentomino cards, and more!
These 5 fun 3D shapes activities for kindergarten are a great way for students to learn about shape attributes while having a blast.
Grab these free printable activities to go with the book, Rosie's Walk. All the Rosie's Walk activities work on positional words.
Looking for a better way to teach transformations on the coordinate plane? Keep things simple and use patty paper for translations, rotations, and reflections. Three easy activities will have students discovering the rules for themselves.
I've heard it from teacher after teacher: " I dread teaching measurement every year. " It's hard to blame them. There's nothing ground-shaking about measurement. There's nothing exciting about metric vs. customary. It's just one of those skills that our stud
