Counting Bear Sorting Mats Freebie

Today I'm sharing my Counting Bear Sorting Mats Freebie from my TPT store. This is a fun packet that is very easy to use in your pre-k or kindergarten classroom. All you have to do is print, laminate and gather your counting bears

printed, laminated and ready to go

counting bears ready to be sorted

sorting blue and yellow bears

2nd group of bears ready to be sorted

sorting blue and green bears

My students love getting to sort the bears, plus seeing how many bears they can fit in the circle :) 

I Have Who Has Shapes Game!

Today I am going to share my "I have who has-colors plus shapes" game with you! This is a fun and engaging game to help your students practice their colors and shapes at the same time! There are 24 cards included in this game and the cards are printed 4 cards per page. The shapes that are included are: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, rhombus, pentagon, hexagon and octagon. 

cards

 To play, the player says I have (color and shape) who has (color and shape). For example, the middle card (in the picture below) the player would say "I have the orange circle, who has the red square?"

first 3 cards

 There are start and end cards included. The end card has a red octagon :)

first and last cards

 When you are not using the cards, they are easily stored in a sandwich size bag.

easy storage!

My students love playing "I have, who has games." I like these games because they engage the whole group and everyone has to pay attention because you don't know who has the card before yours and you don't want to get caught not paying attention and affecting the game. Do you use "I have, who has" games in your class?

New Freebie for Back to School!

I've been working on lots of different word problems packets. I'm in the process of a fall themed packet and a community helpers themed packet. I just finished a back to school theme packet that has 6 problems and it's available as a freebie in my TPT store!

The word problem cards are the perfect size to cut apart and glue into math journals or on a piece of paper. All of the problems are addition problems. They would be great to use at the beginning of school to get students in the habit of doing a daily word problem. 

Do you have any suggestions for themes for upcoming word problem packets? I'm going to start working on ones for 2nd grade as well. 

Word Problems Galore!

How often do you use word problems with your class? I use word problems every day with my first graders. We usually do one (sometimes 2) during morning work. Then during the week we usually do one or two during math and usually have one to do for homework as well. Also I have two math centers that always focus on word problems. One center has problems to go along with whatever skills we are currently practicing and the other center has "challenge" problems (especially for my upper students). I go through a lot of word problems.

To complete our word problems, students have to have three things on their paper for their answer to be considered complete. They have to have their number sentence/equation, a word sentence answering the question, and some sort of picture (more than one is always great) showing the problem. Pictures can include using counters, ten frames, hundreds boards, number line, etc. One thing we are really focusing on now (especially since we know a variety of strategies) is selecting the best strategy to use. It's not wrong if they select a different strategy to use, but we do talk about which one would be the best, such as using a number line when doing 45 + 10 instead of drawing counters.

I have no idea how many word problems I have created so far this year, but I have now starting putting them together in packets and putting them on TPT. Some of the problems are 2 on a page (each problem is 1/2 a page so that you can cut it in half and use 1 problem or do both problems). The other problems are (usually) 6 to a page and in black and white for easy printing. These problems I use for math journals, I just cut them out and I'm ready to go.

Now for your freebie! I have a packet of 6 pet theme word problems available for free. These problems focus on 3 digit addition. In addition to the paper version of the word problems, you can download them for the ActivBoard for free as well!

As I organize my word problems into packets there will be more available in my store and I will be bundling ones together as well, such as seasons and holidays. I will be offering the ActivBoard versions as well so that you have the problem available on the ActivBoard to work through with your class (or if you are trying to save on paper).

Another packet of word problems that I have available is Word Problems: Spring Theme. It has a total of 30 problems that are aligned to the 1st grade math common core standards. You can win a copy for free! All you need to do is leave a comment (with your email address) and I'll pick a winner on Wednesday night!

Telling Time to the Hour Packet!

Today I've been busy working on some new cute things items.

First up, a new freebie! This cute printable pumpkin theme book focuses on the numbers 1-10 along with the sight words "I" and "see." You can download it from my TPT store.

Next up: my new time theme items. I've created Telling Time to the Half Hour printable book, Telling Time to the Hour printable book (which I gave away on my facebook page), Telling Time to the Hour Bingo, and Telling Time to the Hour packet.

My Telling Time to the Hour Packet includes 5 activities to help your students learn and practice telling time to the hour. Activity #1 is a matching game where you match the clocks to the time. Activity #2 is a board game to practice telling time. Activity #3 is a bingo game that includes 24 bingo cards. Activity #4 is a printable book that includes a page for every hour. Activity #5 is worksheets/assessment sheets to have students practice writing the time and showing the time on a clock. These activities are great practice for the 1st grade common core standard 1.MD.3 Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.

The packet is on sale for $5 (normally $7) until Tuesday night, but 2 lucky winners will have the chance to win it using rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway