April Math Stations

Now that it's April my kinders can really do a lot in math! We just wrapped up our unit on measurement about a week ago, and have moved on to learning about addition, so our stations have lots of measurement and addition practice. Next month we'll study subtraction and then do some final review before the school year ends! I think my kinders are in great shape math-wise this year since they have gotten so much math practice each day from our work stations.

Here's some of what we've been up to at our math stations this month.

Station 1: Bug Jar Counting

(Each bug jar has a number at the bottom and students count out that many bug erasers into the jar. I made lots of jars so my students could practice with the numbers 1-31. I can't remember where I got my jar template, but here is a free mason jar template I found that is very similar.)

Station 2: What Comes Next?

(Students roll a die and write the number they rolled in the square. Then they write the numbers that come after that number in the carrots next to the square. Good counting and number writing practice! You can download this cute game for free from Kindergarten Hoppenings.)

Station 3: Adding Up Strawberries

(Students roll a die a place that many strawberries in the first basket on their workmat. Students then roll the die again and place that many strawberries in the second basket on their workmat. Students record the addition problem they have made on the recording sheet and then solve the addition problem. I got these plastic strawberries from Lakeshore, but you could also just use red unifix cubes and have the kids pretend they are strawberries. You can download my free workmat here and the recording sheet here. I copy the recording sheet back-to-back so they have space to do more addition problems.)

Station 4: Egg Addition

(Students open up a plastic egg and take out the erasers that are inside. Inside each egg I put different combinations of bunnies and carrots. Students write an addition sentence for adding together the bunnies plus the carrots and solve for the answer. My students used a recording sheet I got from Mrs. Ricca's April Math & Literacy Centers, but in the past I have also done this game with students just writing the addition problems on scratch paper. The mini erasers are from Target.)

Station 5: Hatching Numbers

(Students roll two dice, add the numbers together, and trace the sum on their recording sheet. This game, with the darling graphic of the very hungry caterpillar, is from Mrs. Wills' Incredible Egg Oviparous Math Work Stations.)

 Station 6: Best Cookies Ever!

(Students pick a cookie card and solve the addition problem written on the cookie. Students then record the addition problem on the recording sheet and set the cookie card on the cookie jar showing the correct answer. I let my students use unifix cubes to help them solve the addition problems as they played this game. This game is from Mrs. Wills' Frog and Toad Literacy and Math Stations.)

Station 7: Egg-cellent Measuring

(Students measure different sized eggs with unifix cubes and recorded the lengths on the recording sheet. This fun game is from Mrs. Ricca's April Math & Literacy Centers.)

Station 8: Picnic

(Students roll two dice and cover up the picnic basket with the sum on the game board. This game is from Mrs. Wills' Frog and Toad Literacy and Math Stations.)

Station 9: Domino Addition

(Students pick a domino, draw what their domino looks like, and write the corresponding addition problem for their domino. You can download the recording sheet for free here.)

Station 10: Measuring Weight With Carrots

(Students weighed classroom objects in our balance scale to see how many carrots they weighed. I found these little carrot erasers at Target and they were fun to use to weigh different things. If you bought these same erasers and want to have your students measure objects with them, you can grab my free recording sheet here.)

Hope you got a few new math station ideas! I'd love to hear what math stations your students are working on right now!

March Math Stations

Is it really the end of March already? What a busy month!

Would you believe that I took lovely photos earlier this month of my students working on their Dr. Seuss and St. Patrick's Day themed math stations and just never got around to posting them? Now we've moved on to spring themed activities and will be studying weather, plants, and farm animals so of course I'll be looking for math stations that go along with these themes.

Here's what we're up to this week in math.

 Station 1: Count and Link Game

(Students pick an elephant, read the number on the elephant, and connect that many links to the elephant's trunk. This game is simple but extremely popular with the kids-they love using the links. This game is from Lakeshore.)

Station 2: More or Less Game

(Students each pick a number card, compare their cards to see which partner has more/less, and then spin the spinner to see if the student with more or less wins the cards. The cards for this game are great since they have number words, numerals, tally marks, ten frames, and even objects to count. Lots of super number practice! This cute game from Mrs. Wills can be found here-it is a part of her Incredible Egg Oviparous Math Stations pack which has tons of great games in it that my kids have really enjoyed.)

Station 3: Roll-Count-Color

(Students roll two dice, add together the 2 numbers they rolled, and color in the egg showing the sum. This fabulous freebie from Me and Marie Learning can be found here along with some other great math freebies!)

Station 4: Strawberries in a Basket Counting Game
(Students roll the die, and then add that many strawberries to their basket. First player to collect 10 strawberries in their basket wins. A pretty simple game, but the kids love it - you can never get enough counting practice, right? I think this game will find its way to our play kitchen after it leaves our math stations. This darling game is from Lakeshore.)

 Station 5: Alligator Babies Game

(Students spin the spinner and then cover-up the corresponding number on their game board. I like that the spinner shows the ten frames and my kiddos certainly need the extra practice with teen numbers! This game from Mrs. Wills can be found here.)

 Station 6: Time to Hatch

(This is a memory game where students turn over cards and try to make a match. The hen cards show clocks, and the egg cards show the corresponding times. Once students have made a match, they record it on the recording sheet. A great game for practicing telling time to the hour and very cute graphics! This game from Mrs. Wills can be found here.)

Station 7: Oviparous Animals Spin and Graph

(Students spin the spinner, and then tally and graph their results on the recording sheet. Great for my kiddos that need some extra practice with tally marks! This game from Mrs. Wills can be found here.)

Station 8 A: Umbrella Number to Tally Match

(Students match up umbrellas-one set of umbrella cards shows tally marks, the other set shows the numeral and number word. This great freebie is from Kindergarten Hoppenings and can be found here with some other great spring freebies!)

Station 8 B: Missing Number Game

(I also put this umbrella themed number game in the Station 8 basket. Students look at the 2 umbrellas and have to figure out what number comes between them, then they put the missing number in the middle using the cloud cards. Great practice for number order. This game is from Musings of Me.)

Station 9: Raining Cats and Dogs Board Game

(This game has the cutest game board! And is easy to differentiate too! Students can use either number cards or addition/subtraction cards to determine how many spaces they move forward on the game board each turn. This game from Mrs. Wills can be found here.)

Station 10: Coin Grab Graph

(Students take turns pulling a coin out of the bag and recording the coins on their graph. I still have a few kiddos that are really struggling with coin recognition, so this is good practice! This game is a freebie from me that you can download here.)

I'd love to hear how your math station have been going. I'm just loving what math stations have done for my students this year. They get so much extra math practice each day and review skills that we may not be focusing on in our math book, but that they still need to keep fresh with.

My students are getting very good now with skills like number recognition, counting, comparing numbers, and graphing. We still need some extra practice with skills like coins, telling time, and measurement. We're coming up on addition and subtraction in our math book next, so I expect many of my stations to focus on that next month.

January Math Stations

Now that we have been back at school for 4 days....it feels like it has been forever since the holiday break! We kicked off our week with some new math work stations for the new month. These stations cover a wide range of skills, including: number recognition, counting, comparing numbers, number order, measuring, addition, and telling time. Most of the activities have a wintry snow theme, though thankfully it was 70 and sunny in St. Louis today. I'm sure the snow will arrive eventually!

Station 1: Frosty Numbers

(Students roll a 12-sided die and trace the number they rolled on their sheet. My students love this game, and Mrs. Wills offers several different variations of it as a part of her Snowman Math Work Stations.)

Station 2: Hedgehog Cover-up

(Students roll 2 dice and cover up the sum on their hedgehog game board. First player to cover-up all their hedgehogs wins. This freebie of mine can be downloaded here.)

Station 3: Winter Friends Board Game

(Students take turns picking a number card and moving that many spaces on the gameboard. I sure wish I could make darling gameboards like the fabulous Mrs. Wills-this cute game can be found here, and even comes with addition and subtraction cards if you want to make the game more challenging.)

Station 4: Mitten Cover-up

(Students take turns rolling the die and covering up that many mittens on their gameboard. This game was perfect since we read The Mitten this week and were doing lots of mitten themed activities. You can find this free mitten math mat from Marcia's Lesson Links here)

Station 5: What Time is it Mr. Snowman?

(Students take turns picking a snowman card and seeing what time it says on the snowman. Students then cover-up the corresponding clock on their game board. Students can either play until their whole game board is filled or until they cover-up a complete row (like Bingo). This game is from my Winter Math Stations Pack.)

Station 6: Measuring Hedgehogs

(Students measure different sized hedgehogs with a math manipulative of their choice (I let them pick from links, unifix cubes, and square tiles) and then record each hedgehog's length on the recording sheet. This freebie of mine can be downloaded here.)

Station 7: Hot Cocoa Missing Number Game, 0-10

(Students spin the spinner and then record the number they spun on one of the marshmallows on the game board using a dry erase marker. This game was tricky for my kinders since they had to think about number order, and if the number they spun would belong on any of the blank marshmallows. I loved the challenge it gave them! This game from Growing Kinders can be found here, and she also offers a teen number version.)

Station 8: Snow-themed Compare Numbers Game

(Students each pick a card and then spin the spinner to see if the player with more or less gets to keep the cards. I love how Mrs. Wills included game cards with numbers, number words, sets of objects, ten frames, and even tally marks to get students thinking about numbers and counting in lots of different ways. You can find this game in her Snowman Math Work Stations.)

Station 9: Winter Number Match

(Students take turn spinning a number on the spinner and then covering up the corresponding square on their game board that shows that number of objects. I have my students use the appropriate magnetic number to cover up the squares on their game board, but you could really use any manipulative or a bingo chip. This game is from my Winter Math Stations Pack.)

Station 10: Hot Chocolate Number Game

(Oh no! How did I not get a picture of this station? Oh well, maybe I can add one into this post on Monday. Students matched up cute hot chocolate mug cards that had number words, numerals, and ten frames. Great number practice! This fun freebie from Growing Kinders can be found here and she offers suggestions for several different games that can be played using her darling number cards.)

I'd love to hear what your students are up to during math time this month. I know these stations will not last me all month and I'll need some fresh ideas for the end of January!

December Math Stations

We are sooo ready for December in my classroom! Here's what we're up to during math work station time this week. These stations should keep us busy until winter break starts in a little over 2 weeks (so soon!).

Our current math chapter focuses on geometry concepts (2D shapes, 3D shapes, symmetry, etc.). so I decided to have half of our stations focus on geometry skills so they would reinforce our new learning. The rest of the stations review other skills like number recognition, counting, graphing, and simple addition.

Station 1: Roll a Christmas Tree

(Students roll a 12-sided die and use a mini pom-pom to cover up that number on their Christmas tree. Students could also roll 2 regular dice and cover up the sum. This super cute and free game is from First Grader...at Last!)

Station 2: Spin a 3D Shape

(Students spin a 3D shape on the spinner, name the shape, and then move to the next square on the game board that shows an object with that 3D shape. This game was actually a page in our kindergarten Harcourt math workbook-and I just tore it out, mounted it on a piece of tagboard, and laminated it.)

Station 3: Penguin Cover-up

(Students roll 2 dice and cover up the sum on their penguin game board. First player to cover-up all their penguins wins. This game can be downloaded for free from my TPT store.)

Station 4: Sorting 3D Shapes

(Student sort the photos by 3D shape. I bought this game from Montessori for Everyone, but then I recently found a similar but free game at Kindergarten Rhode. Both games give great sorting practice with geometric solids.)

Station 5: Gingerbread 10 Frames

(Students match up ten frames to their corresponding numbers on these cute gingerbread cards. The game also has a recording sheet, which I copied back-to-back with the ten frames 1-5 on the front and 6-10 on the back. This fabulous free game is from Live Love Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten.)

Station 6: Pattern Blocks

(Students use one of the pattern block templates I have to build a picture. Then they use the recording sheet to write down how many of each shape they used to build their picture. This great recording sheet is a freebie from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.)

Station 7: Christmas Cookies! Numbers 0-9, Addition, and Subtraction Board Game

(Students take turns picking a game card and moving their game peice that many spots on the game board. Oh my- this game board is beyond cute-such darling little gumdrops and candies! This game is from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten. Game cards are also included for addition and subtraction facts, so this game can be easily differentiated too!)

Station 8: Spin a Snow Bird

(Students take turns spinning the spinner and recording on their graph what color bird they spun. This game is from my Winter Math Game Pack.)

Station 9: Mitten Shapes

(Students take turns spinning the spinner, telling their partner what shape they spun, and covering up the mitten on their game board that shows that shape. First student to cover up all their mittens with "snowballs" (cotton balls) wins. This game is from my Winter Math Game Pack.)

Station 10: Sorting Attrilinks (2D Shapes)

(Students sorted attrilinks by different attributes-like shape, size, and color. Attrilinks are definitely one of my favorite math manipulatives! The sorting cards you see in the photo are a freebie from Froggy Friends Fun.)

I'd love to hear how math stations are going in your classroom. Any fun ideas to keep the kids focused as the holidays approach? 

Winter Math Games

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet...but I have moved on to thinking about December! I've made a set of winter and snow themed math games to use with my students during math work stations in the coming weeks.

I am taking a big leap and am going to sell this Winter Math Game Pack on Teacher's Pay Teachers-I have never tried this before! It has 5 games for practicing numbers 1-9, numbers 11-20, graphing, telling time to the hour, and 2D shapes. The games are not holiday themed so they can even be used in January.

I'm also offering a fun winter freebie for you all! If you go to my Teacher's Pay Teachers store you can download the math game Penguin Cover-up for free-it's a great way for your students to practice numbers to 12 and adding.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! I sure wish I didn't have to be at school on Monday and Tuesday this week!

September Math Work Stations

My math work stations seem to be coming along pretty well. A few times a week I take a couple minutes at the start of math station time to introduce a new game or activity. This way I just change out one station at a time and don't have to introduce 10 new stations to the kiddos all at once! Last week I changed stations 1-3, this week I am planning to change 4-6, and so on. So, after about 3 weeks each bin has a new activity. Not sure if that description makes sense-but I hope so!

I am also still taking about 5 minutes each day at the end of math station time for my students to come together and reflect on what went well and what they need to work on the next day. My students decided on 3 rules for our math stations time and we have been working on reviewing these rules every day.

1. Work quietly
2. Do your station the right way (I swear they can turn any math manipulative into a toy!)
3. Be nice to your partner (The kids like to call this rule "No Fighting")

Here are some of my current stations:

Station 1: Harvest Time (This fun game is from Mrs. Wills Apples Math Work Stations Pack. Click here to check it out. Students take turns rolling a dice and using a unifix cube to cover up the apple basket with the corresponding number on the game board. This is a total class favorite!)

Station 2: Bear Patterns (Kids make patterns with bears. They can make up their own pattern, or recreate patterns they see on one of the cards-I think I found these cards at my local teacher store a few years ago).

Station 3: Number Order Mats (Students take a number mat and fill in the missing numbers with magnetic numbers. This is surprisingly challenging and I often hear the kids couting quietly to themselves to try to figure it out! Click here to check out this free resource from The Toddler House.) 

Station 4: Geoboards (Students are doing free exploration with the geoboards right now, but there are lots of great free resources to make this station more challenging next month. Click here for my free geoboard task cards. Click here for geoboard templates from Making Learninging Fun that show how to make letters on the geoboard. Click here for templates for making numbers on the geoboard-they even have a blank geoboard template you can print out so that students can draw their own geoboard creations!)

Station 5: Brown Bear Color Graph  (This game is from Deanna Jump and Julie Lee's School is Fun: Math and Literacy Centers for August and September Packet. Click here to check it out. Students spin an animal on the spinner and record what they spin on the graphing sheet. This game is especially popular since we read the Brown Bear book earlier this month)

Station 6: Don't Miss the Bus (This game is from Mrs. Wills' Back to School Math Work Stations-Beginning Number Concepts Pack. Click here to check it out. Students take turns rolling the dice and tracing the corresponding number on their paper. Great for math skills and handwriting practice!) 

Station 7: Rock and Roll a Block (This game is from Deanna Jump and Julie Lee's School is Fun: Math and Literacy Centers for August and September Packet. Click here to check it out. Students roll the special pattern block dice and color in the shape they rolled on their graph. Students use the pattern blocks they roll to make a picture and color it at the bottom of the sheet.)

Station 8: Spin a Shape (Students spin the spinner, name the shape, and then cover up that shape on their game board. First player to cover all of their shapes wins. Click here to download this free game that I made).

If you have any fun math work station ideas for September-please share! Interested in what other teachers have been up to this past week-check out Clutter Free Classroom's "A Peek in my Planbook: Week in Review" Linky Party.