Place Value in Kindergarten

     Last week, my kindergarteners started working on numbers and operations in base 10. Success, success, success! This standard is being mastered. Here is what we have been doing!

     We begin every math class with a GoNoodle brain break followed by an engaging math video. Harry Kindergarten Music has two GREAT videos/songs for teaching the teens to kindergarteners. Numbers in the Teens (They Start with a One) helps with number recognition for numbers 11-19 and Number in the Teens (Have a Group of Ten) is good for helping students understand that numbers 10-19 are composed of ten ones and some extra ones. I added these to my GoNoodle account for easy access.

     After the video, we use our base ten blocks or our ten frames and counters to practice counting. First we count using real number names, "ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen..." Each time I remind them that great mathmaticians do not waste time counting by ones when they can already see that they have ten. After we count using real number names we count the say ten way, "ten, ten one, ten two, ten three, ten four..." I remind the class that ten and one more is eleven so ten one is just another way to say eleven. I would not recommend counting the say ten way if your students have not mastered counting to twenty or have not yet been exposed to teen family numbers.

    We are working on creating these adorable ten frame books in class. Next week, we will create a similar book that uses base ten blocks to demonstrate composing numbers 11-19.

Math Center Activities for Base Ten for numbers 11-19 

Dry Erase Strips 

The books we will make next week will match these dry erase strips! 

Ten Frame Number Puzzles 

Pocket Chart Sort

This activity also includes ordering numbers 10-19. 

Number Mats 

       Grabbed the perfect sized toy cars for these mats from the Dollar Tree! Students also use dry erase markers to practice tracing the numbers! 

It's not too early for Valentine's Day activities, right? 

FREEBIE! 

      

Click the picture above to find the freebie! 

If you are working on teen family numbers you may find these products helpful. Click on the pictures to find them in my TPT shop:

   

   

Introducing Math Centers and Differentiating Them

     We just began a new unit in math and I wanted to share with you how I am introducing my new math centers to my class. As a first year teacher, I actually thought I could just introduce each center quickly before center time and WAHLAH!-  instant implementation!   BAHAHAHAHA. Never again. If you are questioning how to begin introducing a math center/station to your class, hopefully this blog post will give you some ideas!

    Today, I introduced number 6 to my students and we worked on a whole group lesson that involved finding different ways to make 6.  If I had an unlimited amount of copies, I might have given every student in the class some linking cubes and a copy of the Let's Build 6 recording page. We would have supplemented our curriculum lesson with this activity and students would be able to easily complete the activity independently when they saw it again in centers. Since I don't have an unlimited number of copies - I introduced the activity using my overhead projector and fabulous new HoverCam SOLO 8 USB Document Camera! No words for how appreciative I am for this new technology!

I worked all the way through this activity with my students. As I completed the sheet,  I called on students to ask what to do / write next to make sure everyone was paying attention.

     Students will complete this activity independently in centers on Wednesday. Since this is the first time working with this activity, the students will work together. They will all share one cue card, but each student will build their own cube trains and fill out their own recording sheet. If you need to differentiate this activity it is simple - some students may need to ditch the recording sheet and just build cube trains to match the cue cards. More advanced students may need to ditch the cue cards and work to find ways to build 6 on their own and record their towers on the page.

     I have created this activity for numbers 5-10 and I have two different recording sheets for each number. Later in the year, students will choose a number to build and work independently on their own number. At this point, one student may be finding ways to build 7 while another student is recording ways to build 10. After I have introduced addition, students will see this activity in centers, but this time the recording sheet will read "___ + ___ = 6"  instead of "___ and ___ is 6."

     I also use small groups as a launch pad for center activities. My students will not use this activity in centers for some time, but I knew that some of my high kids were ready for it, so I introduced it as part of a small group enrichment activity today.

Notice how I ran copies off for each student in black and white? There was no need for each student to have a laminated color copy of our center activity to get a feel for it in small groups. I did, however, run off five more of these in black and white at the end of the day. I laminated those five, so that  I could use them as needed in small group. 

     If you are interested in these math centers, click on the picture below to check them out for yourself!

     
      (In case you are curious, I use GO Math! Common Core in my classroom and we are on Chapter 3, "Represent, Count, and Write Numbers 6 to 9." The math centers I introduced today are in NO way specific to the Go Math curriculum and are designed to meet the common core standards for composing and decomposing numbers.)

Valentine's Day Math Centers and a FREEBIE!

We've been working hard to master those common core addition standards so we are practicing them with our Valentine's Day math centers. Here's what we have going on this week!

CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.3 Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1).

I got this idea from Fairy Dust Teaching Blog's post: Addition Made Easy. I first taught this lesson in whole group. We did Ways to Make Seven using cards and paper clips. (See the step by step instructions from FairyDust.) It definitely worked like magic and every single one of my kinders was successful! Praise the Lord! They had a great time with it too. I found the adorable little heart clothes pins on the dollar isle at Target.

CCSS.Math.Content.K.NBT.A.1 Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (such as 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.

     This particular standard has been a real doozie for my babies, but I think we are finally getting the hang of it! I love the look on this girl's face! You can tell she is proud of her work, can't you? In this center students simply model the addition fact using Sweethearts candy! I gave my students their own labeled candy bags. The students knew ahead of time that I would give candy to eat if they could return these bags with ALL the candy hearts still inside. If candy won't work for your students you can always use heart shaped erasers, pompoms, or even dry erase markers! Just visit my TPT store for these great Valentine's Day Playdoh and Counting Mats #1-19.   If your babies have struggled with this standard too you may also want to check out my Number Sense and Operations Math Pack! 

   

Valentine's Addition Sort Freebie