Mouse Unit

Now that school's are closed, I know many parents are struggling to find activities to do with their little ones.  It is no different with my family.   My little grand-daughter is not getting the services that she needs.  Her mother and father are at home with her trying to adapted lessons that are sent home for all the students in her class. These lessons do not meet her IEP goals.   So I created a unit at her level and can be used for any preschool/kindergarten level children and it's easy enough for parents to follow.    

It centers around the books Mouse Paint, Mouse Count, and Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  I went to the NAEYC and read the guidelines and made sure that the unit was appropriate and followed their curriculum guidelines.  The unit has a little bit of everything in it: art projects, number and pattern games and a flannel board story.  I tried to keep it as simple as possible and even added steps of how to change it up for different levels.  

 There are ten different activities for your child/children to do:
Activity 1:  Science and Art Project
Activity 2:  Color Patterning Cards
Activity 3:  Color/Shape Memory Game
Activity 4:  Flannel Board Story
Activity 5:  Mouse Counting Cards
Activity 6:  Mouse Bingo
Activity 7:  Mouse Shape Art/Class book
Activity 8:  Pattern Blocks with Shapes
Activity 9:  Roll and Cover Shape Game
Activity 10: Vocabulary Match Boards/Writing Center Cards
Additional Book List/Rhymes

This unit is available at my TPT store and May 6-7-8, 2020 I am hosting a giveaway on my Instagram account.  Stop by and follow and maybe you will win a copy of the unit.  

Stay Safe and I hope you get a chance to get outside and enjoy some nice weather.  😀 

Using Skip-Bo Cards to learn Math Skills

One of my favorite games to play with the kids right now is my modified version of
Skip-Bo. 
I wrote about this a couple of years ago on my blog.  This is game is so simple. 
I started with numbers 1-5. When my little guys can identify them with ease we add six.  

I have all the cards stacked in the middle of the table and each player picks one card at
a time. 
Then we lay the cards out in front of them in order.  

If he does not know the number then we count the numbers in front of him so he can match
the number or find the correct spot for it.  

It is fun and easy to play.  If a child gets the Skip-Bo card he gives all the players a high-five.
 (This is better than saying you lose your turn and it encourages team building.) The winner
of the game is all the people who are having fun. I usually give everyone a sticker who
has fun and clean up.  

As the kids advance in their knowledge you can play:

• War:  Divide the cards evenly between all the players.  Each player flips a card, the

person with the greatest value number wins all the cards.  In the event of a tie, flip a
second card.  

• Change the game to the person with the least value.  

• Then play where you flip two cards and add them up for your value.  

I also used the cards as an enrichment activity for double and triple digit addition and
subtraction in Math Journals. 

**Don't be afraid to stack the deck with only numbers you want to use. I have several
sets of cards so when I am working with 1-2-3 numbers, I have a lot of cards to
work with.

Skip Bo Cards

What!!! I can't believe my last post was October!!! Time is going to fast right now.  Life is going to fast right now!    I have a couple things I want to share with you in December that have been working well for me these past couple months.  

I am using Skip Bo cards to teach number awareness to the little four year olds.  They think they are playing cards with me and that's even better.  But these little guys need to learn to recognize their numbers to 10 by Christmas.  

On this day we are working on our number awareness to 8.  As we draw a card we put the cards in number order.  Then each time a student pulls a multiple number they just lay it on top.  If they can not recognize the number, they just count down the row of cards until they can match the cards.  

The game is simple however, it is great practice and review.  They kids love the game and I have noticed improvement each week in their number awareness.    

Egg-citing Activities for Easter Week

It's Easter week and I am looking for some quick and easy activities to do with my students.  For the little fours I work with I made the simplest activity......matching alphabet eggs.  It's so easy.....write a capital letter on one side of the egg and the lowercase on the other side.  

The boys absolutely loved the activity.  They had so much fun.  

 For my advanced math students I created some story problems with and without grouping.   I cut out the problems and put them in the eggs.  The boys picked out the eggs from the basket and opened the eggs and read the problems and solved them in their math journals. 

You can put any story problems in your eggs.  Or if you want I have my challenge problems available on my TPT store.   

I set up this packet up several ways.  There is a power point in case you want to do the problems as a whole class. 

Then I typed up all the problems on a worksheet so the students could work these out.  Or you can cut them apart and put them in eggs and they can put the answers on the recording sheet.  

It's up to you. 

Happy Easter

Counting the Gold for FREE

I am still working with this little guy on number identification to 20.  Well to be honest we are still working on identifying numbers to 12.  He still needs go back to a number line and count and recheck for 8,9,10,11, and 12.  

So I put this little St. Patrick's day game board together for him. It is similar to some adding boards I saw on Pinterest, however we are just identifying the numbers.  I picked up some gold coins at the Dollar Store to use as markers.  

Unfortunately dice will not work for this game so I made some cards. The cards work out great because then he is reading the number two times. 

On the other side of the game I just typed up a bunch of gold for him to practice reading numbers.  

This little guy is adorable he loves to play games that are seasonal. 

  I also thought my advanced kindergarten guys could use this as an addition game as well.  They could flip two cards over and add them together and find the sum.  

You can find this game at my TPT store for free.  
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Valentine Math Ideas

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I am seeing lots of colorful hearts everywhere in school and at the stores. This week I have a new lesson for the kindergarten students thanks to Oriental Trading.  They gave me these wonderful ten frame trays and valentine erasers.  Which are perfect because the kindergarteners are just beginning to learn about decomposing numbers. The trays are so nice and easy to use.  I like that they are easy to wipe off the germs. I don't know about your classrooms but it seems everyone at my school is coughing and sneezing.  

I created a simple little worksheet for the lesson and it is in color to match the heart erasers.  It is also a FREEBIE and you can download here... something simple and fun to help the students learn during the month of February.  

 The kids are loving the heart erasers.  I am using them with several different age groups through the day.  

 I had my little four year olds sorting and counting the heart erasers by colors.  Then we use them as markers in our Alphabet Bingo game.  

Another group was working on patterning and having tons of fun creating patterns with the hearts.  

I also received from Oriental Trading these sensory cards.  At first I was just using them with the four year olds in our little sand boxes.  Then we started using the cards as flash cards and if a student mades a mistake on the number he traces the number 3x with his finger. The boys love touching the cards.   

One of my five year olds is working on what number is missing.  So I pulled out these cards and it is so easy to set up the numbers in a row and then figure out what is missing.  The little girl loves this activity as well.  

Don't forget to look for the coupon link on the OT site.  Scroll all the way down to the bottom and look at the links on the left.  If you are anything like me, I always like to save anything I can. 

Thank you Oriental Trading for the wonderful products.    

Christmas Gifts from Oriental Trading

Once again I was given a wonderful opportunity from Oriental Trading.  I was able to pick out anything from the Christmas or Teaching Catalog within a budget.   How Exciting!  It was definitely a Christmas gift to my students.   I was able to pick out several things for the children I work with.  

You will notice that a lot of the things I picked out were for the littlest learners I work with because that is the area I am lacking the most in materials.  Most of my things were not for the Holiday season they were things I could use year round.    

When I saw the Block Play Set I jumped for joy because I knew three things I wanted to make with it:  A beginning sound match, a rhyming match (both from thisreadingmama) and an alphabet tower building set(I just used stickers) that I saw on Pinterest.  

My students absolutely loved the activities.  They loved using blocks and building as they were working on the alphabet. I picked two sets of Block Play Sets and I still have some left over for the recess basket or maybe a sight word activity for first graders.    

Block Play Set
This Reading Mama

I could not believe the next wonderful item I found.  It was this Melissa and Doug color and shape puzzle.  It is just the item I need for several students who do not know all their colors and are still learning their shapes.  I had no idea the Oriental Trading had some Melissa and Doug items.  

I added velcro to the puzzle (a trick I learned at my grand daughter's therapy) to help keep the puzzle pieces together.  This is so helpful as the children walk with the puzzle from the bookcase to the table.   

Melissa and Doug Large Shapes Jumbo Knob Puzzle

I used these little gingerbread people and foam dice to create a game for identifying numbers 2-11.  This was a big hit with my little guys and even the first graders.  (I changed it into an addition game for the first grade.)

Gingerbread People
Foam Dice
Coming soon to my TPT store by the end of the week.  

The Sensory Letter Cards were another good pick.  I picked up some decorating sand at the dollar store and put it in bins. The little guys I worked with loved tracing the letters and drawing them in the sand.  This hands on experience is helping them remember some of the letters.   

Sensory Letters

I also picked out these Winter Stickers and mounted them on white card stock.  I am using them for working on patterns with the kindergarteners.  The children loved the winter pictures on them.  I think the ice skates were the favorite picture.  

Glitter Winter Stickers

Thank you again to Oriental Trading for the wonderful materials.  My students are enjoying all the wonderful learning activities.  

Updated Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Alphabet and Number Bingo Games

Years ago I made my first Chicka Chicka Boom Boom game on the computer.  I made the numbers on word and stamped the colorful dots with a pencil eraser.

When I decided to give TPT a try I made a new version on word with my limited computer skills.  

I did sell a few of my TPT version and it worked fine for most of my students.  However, right now I am working with students who really struggle with identifying their letters.  So I decided it would be a lot easier for them if I used a simple font for the letters and numbers. Also I only made the game in capital letters for the little ones that I am working with this year.  

It has a lot more in it.  So you can adjust the centers and your teaching to the needs of the learner.

 When I put my materials together I put the uppercase and the lowercase back to back to save on laminate.  

The boys in small group had a blast today playing the game.  I was concerned that the letters were not sticking in their brains however after playing the game today I feel much better.  They were excited about yelling out the letter names and singing the song to figure out what letter comes next.  I feel like we are making progress.

If you are interested in more Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Ideas check out these posts: September 18, 2011, September 24, 2011, and September 4, 2012,    

If you are interested in the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Alphabet and Number Bingo please go to my TPT Store.   

Turkey Hunt Number Identification Game

My little four year olds loved the Froggy Game so much last week I wanted to create something for them for the month of November.  

I found these cute turkey counters I purchased from Scholastic a few years ago and I thought they would be a great start.  Now my fours need to work on counting and identifying numbers to 11.  So I made both counting turkey cards and turkeys with numbers on them.  

 I purposely made the game board so it would fit on a file folder and it would be easy to fold and put away, however I wanted it to be bigger than one sheet of paper.    

I may be biased but I think it turned out adorable and I am very excited to introduce it to my young learners.  

If you are interested in the Turkey Hunt game please visit my TPT store.  

Froggy Pond

Last week as I worked with my littlest kindergarteners I noticed they needed to work on identifying their numbers 6-10.  So I threw together this cute froggie game.  I picked the froggie graphics because I know I have froggie counters that the kids will love. 

I printed out two sets of the number cards.   

Right now I have the game set up with the cards just to identify the numbers because that is what my students need right now.  I may add some counting cards later.  

This is a freebie at my TPT store.  Enjoy!

Friday Favorites March 8

This week has been absolutely crazy for me I didn’t spend a lot of time on the computer. 

The best lesson I saw this week was in my own classroom.  

The lesson was presented by the field student that is teaching in my classroom this semester her name is Brooke. 

She did an absolutely fabulous lesson with my students.  It was a great hands-on lesson and all the students were busy working and building and creating. 

Right now in math we are learning about Solid Shapes.  I have found some wonderful lessons on TPT to introduce the unit.  Brooks, found a great lesson where the students had to create the cubes and pyramids using straws and pipe cleaners.   The trick is to bend the pipe cleaner into an L shape.   

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when she first presented the idea to me.  However, I really like field students to feel free to try ideas in my classroom. 

And this is why………her idea was amazing!

The kids were working together and creating things on their own.  

Lots of cooperative learning!

Money Mats

Pennies for Patients

Each year during Catholic Schools Week our school does some kind of fundraiser for an organization.  This year we raised money for Leukemia.  We have a kindergartener in the other class who is receiving treatment right now so it is the perfect time for our children to learn more about Leukemia. 

Each day the children came to school with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters and dollars.  By the end of the week my class collected $494.  The entire school collected around $7,000. 

 I know money is not part of the common core however it is still part of our daily lives and it is important to the children. 

Every morning my class sorted their change and we grouped our money by tens and we counted everything.  Some mornings it took us a half hour to count our money however we did it!

I made the money mats to help the children quickly sort their money.  The children really love counting their money each morning.