Coverall games are one of my favorite activities to use with my students.  These Snowball Coverall games, with a Snow Monster theme, work on identifying numbers and ten frame representations for numbers 1-20 with young learners.  It is a fun activity for your students to do at a math station.  

  This activity is easy to prepare!  First, decide which version of the mat you want to use with your students.  I would suggest laminating the boards for durability.  There are two versions of the mats - a mat with ten frame representations for 1-20 and a mat with the numeral representation for 1-20. 

You will also need a marker for students to cover the snowball on their mat.  Counting chips, unifix cubes, or mini erasers all work great.  A fun marker would be to use cotton balls since they remind me of snowballs.

   I grabbed a 1-20 dice to use with the game, but if you don't have those there is also a 1-20 spinner included in the download.

  You can find the 1-20 dice on Amazon by clicking the image below.  

  I used the ten frame representation for 1-20 version of the game with my students.  To do this activity my students worked in partners.  One partner rolled the 1-20 cube and then both partners searched on the mat for the matching ten frame representation.  The students took a marker and covered that representation on their mat.  For example, if they rolled the number 11, they covered the ten frame representation that matched the number 11 on their mat. 

  My students continued to take turns rolling and covering the number on the mat until all of the snowballs on the mat were covered.  

  My students loved this activity and we have already added it to a math station basket!!  It would also be a fun math warm-up or small group activity.     Looking for more monster themed resources?  Be sure to check out these other amazing monster themed resources from my blogging friends!

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

Feed the Monster Alphabet Match // Sara J Creations

Monster Alphabet Playdough Mats // Modern Preschool

Monster Counting Cards // Miss Kindergarten

Monster Math Addition Clip Cards // The Kindergarten Connection

Monster Counting Mats // The STEM Laboratory

Monster Measurement Cards // Fairy Poppins

Monster Alphabet Game // Stay at Home Educator

Felt Monsters Busy Box // Teach Me Mommy

Monster Letter Match // Schooling a Monkey

Monster Snowball Coverall // Recipe for Teaching

Snow Monster Addition Puzzles // The Simplified Classroom

Monster Shape Graphs // Playdough to Plato

Slime Monster Counting Activity // Fun-A-Day

Name the Monster Phonics Game // Play & Learn Every Day

Monster Counting Emergent Reader // A Dab of Glue Will Do

Color Monsters Write the Room // Letters of Literacy

Monster Truck Numbers: Bigger and Smaller // Liz's Early Learning Spot

Monster Creation Tray // Powerful Mothering

Monster Feelings Match Up // Pocket of Preschool

Ready for some Snowball Coverall fun?!  Just click the image below to download!

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Recipe for Teaching

I love giving my students opportunities to build words.  It is important for them to recognize letters and that we use letters to build a whole word.  This Apple Word Building activity is perfect to help students with building words.  It's a fun Fall activity for young students.  

The download (found below) includes a sight word list (the kindergarten Dolch sight word list), uppercase and lowercase apple alphabet letter cards, and two versions of an apple tree word building mat.  To prepare this activity, I printed all of these things.  I would recommend running the materials through a laminator for durability.  To cut the alphabet cards I just used my paper cutter.  For one of the word building mats your students can use a dry erase marker to write the word and for another word building mat your students could use Play-Doh or letter magnets.  

This activity can be very open-ended for students or you can have it more directed for the words you want your students to focus on.  

Both uppercase and lowercase apple alphabet cards are included in the download so that students could practice building their name or their friends' names.  I love having my students do activities with their names at the beginning of the year.  It helps them to identify their name and the names of their classmates.  

There is also a sight word list in the download that students can use to spell sight words so students could use that list to spell words.  Using Play-Doh is a fun way to practice fine motor skills and practice words that students need to read.  

This Apple Word Building activity could be used with small reading groups.  It would also be a great literacy center activity for your students.  

Ready for some Apple Word Building fun?!  Just click the image below to grab your FREE download!

Also, be sure to check out these Fall themed resources from some of my blogging friends!

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

Scarecrow Craft // I Heart Crafty Things

Fall Initial Sound Match-Up Free Printable // A Dab of Glue Will Do

Fall Sight Word Dash // Playdough to Plato

Fall Letter Tracing Printables // The Letters of Literacy

Apple Word Building // Recipe for Teaching

Scarecrow Busy Box // Teach Me Mommy

Fall Tree Number Sense Activity // Mom Inspired Life

Pumpkin CVC Game // Pages of Grace

Fall Apple Picking Math with Free Printables // Homebound but Hopeful

Fall Nature Scavenger Hunt // Science Kiddo

24 Free Fall Puzzles // Liz's Early Learning Spot

Fall Subitizing Math Center // The Kindergarten Connection

Rhyming Acorns Fall Literacy Activity // Mrs. Jones' Creation Station

Fall Number Activities (0 to 10) // Fairy Poppins

Free Fall Printables // Stay at Home Educator

Fall Parts of Speech Sort // Sara J Creations

Fall Leaves Number Match // Schooling a Monkey

(Not Shown) Preschool Scarecrow Counting Activity // M is for Monster

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Recipe for Teaching

I know there is a lot of excitement about the solar eclipse happening on August 21!  Are you planning to watch?  Just be sure you have safety glasses if you are planning to watch!  These Sun and Moon Match cards are the perfect way to get young learners excited about the solar eclipse and math and reading!  They are the perfect resource for a math or literacy station.

 These cards are easy to prepare.  I just printed the cards on white cardstock.  I would recommend laminating them for durability.  I used my paper cutter to cut along the lines and cut out the individual cards.  Then I was set!  

The download (found below) includes:

*uppercase alphabet letter sun cards

*lowercase alphabet letter moon cards

*picture moon cards

*numeral 1-20 sun cards

*ten frame 1-20 moon cards

There are a few ways to use these cards. 

Alphabet Match 

Students can match the uppercase and lowercase letter cards.  Since the moon will cover the sun during the solar eclipse, the lowercase moon cards are meant to cover up the uppercase sun cards.  These cards would be fun to use at a literacy center, in a small reading group, partner work, or at a sensory bin.

Letter Sound Match

For this activity, students match the uppercase sun card and the moon picture card.  They match the picture card that has that letter at the beginning of the word.  Since the sound for "x" is a tricky one, I have included a picture of "xylophone" and "box" so you can decide if you want to use a word that begins with "x" or ends with "x." 

 Number and Ten Frame Match

For this activity, students match the ten frame moon card to the sun numeral card.  The numbers included on the sun and moon cards are numbers 1-20.  To differentiate you could only use numbers 1-5, 1-10, 10-20, etc.  You can differentiate based on the numbers you want your students to focus on.  This would be a fun math station activity for your students.  

Ready for some Sun and Moon Match fun?!  Just click the image below to grab your FREE download!  

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Recipe for Teaching

I just love browsing through Target!  I happened to find some adorable bear plates in Target over in the paper plate section and immediately knew that I could use them for a counting activity with my students.  Counting 1-10 is an important skill for my kindergarten students and this Bear Food Counting activity will help with mastering that skill.  

This activity was easy for me to prepare.  I picked up the bear plates from Target.  I printed the Bear Food spinner on white cardstock and laminated it for durability.  Since there are two Bear Food spinners to a page, I used my paper cutter to cut them in half.  I also grabbed a paper clip and pencil for students to use to spin the number spinner.  I chose to use Cheerios cereal for the "bear food," but you could use any manipulative of choice if you did not want to use food.  

For this activity students first spin the spinner on the Bear Food mat.  The download (found below) includes four versions of spinners: *numerals 1-5 *ten frames 1-5 *numerals 1-10 *ten frames 1-10
Students then count out that much food for the bear on the plate.  I like to make sure my students are practicing one-to-one counting when counting out manipulatives.  I also like to make sure my students say the last number for the amount they counted and repeat how many they have.  This is a great way to practice number sense skills.  Students continue this process independently or with a partner.  

This activity can be easily differentiated because you can choose which spinner you want your students to use.  If you have laminated the spinners, you could also have students practice writing the number that matches the amount of food on the spinner board.  The bear's tummy is a perfect place for writing the number if you choose to do this.
 

 

This activity is perfect for your small math groups, independent work, partner work, or a math station.  

Ready for some Bear Food Counting fun?!  Just click the image below to grab your FREE download! 

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Recipe for Teaching

I am so excited to share with you some goodies from Oriental Trading Company and some ways to use them in your classroom!  Did you know that Oriental Trading has a website geared toward classroom resources?!?!  Be sure to check out the Learn365 website to check out all of the amazing classroom resources Oriental Trading has to offer!  

These are the resources from Oriental Trading that I used for this post:

*Paw Print Counters

*Colorful Counting Cards

I wanted to share two Paw Print Math ideas that you can use in your classroom using the paw print counters and the colorful counting cards.

This Dog Coverall activity is super easy to prepare!  I printed the Dog Coverall board on white cardstock (found in the download below).  I recommend laminating the board or putting it in a plastic sleeve for durability.  I just grabbed my colorful counting cards and paw print counters.  The Dollar Tree is where I found the dog dish.  I chose to use Unifix cubes to cover the ten frames, but you could use any manipulative you choose.  

This activity can be done independently or with a partner.  Students flip over a colorful counting card.  I love these cards!  The deck is in a plastic case and includes 50 cards with numbers 1-10.  I love how it includes the numeral and the dot representation.  They are great for students who may need to count the dots to identify the numeral on the card.  After students flip over a card, they count out that many paw print counters into the dog dish.  The paw print counters are so colorful and easy for little hands to count.  After counting out the paw print counters, students then cover the dog with the ten frame that matches that amount.  Students continue with the activity until all numbers on the board are covered.  

This activity is perfect for small math groups, independent work, partner work, and would be a great addition to a math station once your students are familiar with it.  

This Counting Paw Prints activity is also easy to prepare.  I printed the dog ten frames (found in the download below) on white cardstock.  There are two ten frames to a page so I used my paper cutter to cut them in half.  I would also recommend laminating the ten frames for durability.  For this activity I also grabbed my paw print counters and colorful counting cards, as well as my Dollar Tree dog dish.  

This is also another activity that students can do independently or with a partner.  For this activity, students flip over a colorful counting card.  They read the number on the card and then count out that many paw print counters on their ten frame.  In the example above, a counting card with the number 9 was turned over so the student would count out 9 paw print counters on the ten frame.  In the example below, a counting card with the number 7 was turned over so the student would count out 7 paw print counters on the ten frame.  

This activity is also great for small math groups, independent  work, partner work, or a math station.  

Ready for some Paw Print Math FUN?!  Just click the image below to grab your FREE download!  And be sure to check out the Learn365 website from Oriental Trading to get your own Paw Print Counters and Colorful Counting Cards!

Some of the items in this post were sent to me free of charge from Oriental Trading Company.  All ideas and opinions are 100% my own.     

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Recipe for Teaching

So Fidget Spinners seem to be everywhere you look these days!  The kids love them and I have to admit that I was using one the other day and it is kind of fascinating to watch to see how long it spins (I'm definitely just a big kid!).  I have several (and by several I mean many) students in my class interested in them so I decided to make a math problem using Fidget Spinners.  As soon as my students saw the clipart images with Fidget Spinners they were hooked and excited about the activity!  

Preparing this activity was super simple.  I just printed the word problem page and made enough copies for each student in my class.  I have 23 students in my kindergarten class this year.  I also printed the Fidget Spinner images.  In the download (found below) you will see there are 3 sets of 10 Fidget Spinner to a page.  I gathered all of my copies and I was ready to go!  

When presenting word problems to my students I always like to write the problem they are solving on chart paper so we can have a discussion about the problem.  I wrote the problem on chart paper and we read the problem together.  Then we talked about what they noticed in the problem.  Having them share what they notice eventually leads into a discussion of how they are going to solve the problem.  After discussing as a class I had a few students share how many Fidget Spinners they were going to give to their friend.  We talked about how they would need to use the Fidget Spinners as the objects to subtract, how they should draw an "X" over the ones they are subtracting away, and how they needed to write an equation on their paper to represent the problem.  I gave my students their materials and they were off to work!  

I love doing open-ended word problems with my students!  It shows them that there can be more than one answer to a problem and it's a great way to differentiate because students are in control of their own learning.

Ready for some Fidget Spinner Subtraction fun?!  Just click the image below to download your FREE Fidget Spinner Subtraction word problem!  

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Recipe for Teaching