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!

Learning about coins

Last week we started learning about money in kindergarten. We're just focusing on the basics like naming coins and their values. We've also been counting pennies-nothing too challenging! I'm planning on adding some money games to my math work stations this week. Here are some freebies for you in case your students need some practice with coins too!

This game is called Coin Grab and it practices coin recognition. I fill a little cloth bag with an assortment of coins (you could also fill a paper lunch bag or little purse) and then students take turns pulling out a coin and graphing it on their recording sheet. They do not grab a whole handful of coins at once-this is important to explain to kinders. Once they reach the top of their graph with one of the coins, the child stops and records how many of each coin they had on the bottom of the recording sheet. You can laminate the recording sheet and let students fill it in with a dry erase marker, or what I usually do is just copy it in black and white so students can fill it in with a pencil (and it is not a big deal to the kids that the coin pictures are not in color).

In case you're still studying teeth for dental health month, here is a simple little tooth math game that works on money skills. Students spin the spinner, count how many cents they spun, and move that many spaces on the game board.

I'll be back later this week with pictures of all my current math work stations. I'd love to hear what you're up to this week!

Candy Heart Fun

Looking for some fun ways to use candy hearts? I picked up a small box of conversation hearts for each of my students so that they'll be able to do some fun learning activities with them and then have a sweet little snack.

One way we'll be using candy hearts this week is in our math stations. I'll let students use the hearts to practice nonstandard measurement. They'll get to practice measuring how long different objects are and how much they weigh using candy hearts (you could also use plastic hearts instead of the candy).

Here are some freebie recording sheets in case you're interested! My kinders will draw/write the object they are measuring on the left side of the chart and then record the object's length (or weight) on the right side of the chart. This will be their first experience using our balance scale-should be interesting!

We'll also being using our candy hearts for patterning and then sorting, counting, and graphing by color. I've been doing this activity for years, but love the cute recording sheets Erin from Eberhart's Explorers made. I also like the idea of letting students graph how many letters are in the "conversation" on each of their candy hearts and plan to use the cute recording sheet from First Grade Parade (she has a cute candy heart probability game too!).

I bought the candy hearts at Target (of course!) where they were $2 for a set of 8 boxes. Not sure if they have them cheaper somewhere else. I was happy to find that Brach's candy hearts have not been processed with peanuts, since I have a peanut allergy in my class, and it seems most other candy heart brands like Necco have a peanut warning on the label. I also found a few other cute things at Target.

These cupcake and dinosaur erasers will be great to use in some sort of center activity and the little grocery bags are going straight to my dramatic play area. My fave is the "I love my farmer's market" bag since I am planning to turn my dramatic play area into a farmer's market later this spring!

Can you believe it's already February? Happy Valentine's Day!

More January Math Stations

January is starting to feel like a very long month! I just recently switched out our math stations from earlier this month for a new round of stations. Still lots of winter themed games and also a few fun Chinese New Year math games too! The best part about these math games....nearly every one is a freebie!

Station 1: Race to 100

(Students roll the die to see how many squares they can color in on their hundred chart. First player to get to 100 wins. A fun game and great for a week when we are celebrating the 100th day of school. Any old 100 chart you have lying around will work for this game.)

Station 2: Tic-Tac-Teen

(Students spin the spinner and cover up the teen number they spun on their little game board. First player to get three in a row (tic-tac-toe) on their game board wins. My students are using some cute X and O plastic table scatter pieces I found at Target to mark their game boards-and I am storing the pieces in a play-doh can. We are really hitting the teen numbers hard this month! This game can be found here.)

Station 3: Lantern Cover-up

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

Station 4: Polar Pals Roll and Cover

(Students roll 3 dice and cover up the sum on their game board. First player to cover-up all their numbers wins. Using 3 dice is a great challenge! My higher kids are adding up the numbers in their head while my lower kids are pointing to each dot on the dice and counting up their total. This freebie from Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detective's can be downloaded here.)

Station 5: Spin a Character In The Mitten

(Students spin an animal on this darling spinner and then color in the graph with the appropriate color to record what animal they spun. This super cute game goes with the book The Mitten, and can be dowloaded for free here from Fran at Kindergarten Crayons.)

Station 6: Race to Trace

(Students roll the die and trace the number they rolled on their sheet. First player to trace all the numbers on their sheet wins. Super cute little polar bears on this game sheet too! I wrote the numbers 15-20 on a foam cube to make my dice. This fun freebie from Ketchen's Kindergarten can be downloaded here along with some other great winter math games!)

Station 7: Chinese New Year Counting Game

(Students pick a red envelope with a number word on it, and then match it to the corresponding picture and number cards. All of the picture cards are Chinese New Year themed. The free picture and number cards I made for this game can be found here.)

Station 8: Count Your Change

(Students pick a change purse, count the change inside, and record the amount on their sheet. Each little purse has a sticker with a letter on it for recording purposes. To give this game a little Chinese New Year flair, we are using little Chinese purses. Sorry I don't have a link to a recording sheet for you-I copied this sheet from a book of math games I have-but students could easily record the purse's letter and amount of money on a piece of scrap paper.)

Station 9: Snowman Button Counting

(Students look at the number on the snowman's hat and count out that many buttons to put on the snowman. This game was a hit! Kinders love anything with fun buttons. This cute game from Creating and Teaching can be downloaded for free here.)

Station 10: Snowflake Counting

(Students count our the the correct number of pom-pom balls to match the number written on their snowflake. I happened to find these foam snowflake cut-outs in the dollar spot at Target a few weeks ago.) 

Let me know how your math stations are going-I'm on the look out for any cute February stations I can use 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?