I'm Seeing Spots!!!

Spots, spots, spots!  Yesterday I created a set of "I Have, Who Has....Ten Frames 11 to 30" cards for my class out of frustration.  Every morning the children put a counter into our ten frame if they are buying a tray from the cafeteria. 

Once everyone has arrived at school, I choose a student to "FLASH" the ten frames to the class.  We talk about what we saw.  For example, "I saw a 10 and a 2."  "I saw a 9 and a 2."  And from those who just PLAINLY WEREN'T LOOKING, "I saw a 5 and a 5."  Ugh.  Not looking? Doesn't care?  Doesn't get it?!  So, I made this set of cards for us to practice.  Now, let me mention, we do NOT have 30 children in our kindergarten classrooms.  And we do NOT expect the children to subitize (form mental pictures) for all the quantities of numbers past twenty.  Heck, if I could get them to subitize just to 10 I would be dancing!  BUT, I do think this game, played many times, might help with the familiarity of numbers past 10! 

I just love these graphics from The 3am Teacher!

BTW, I LOVE these foam ten frames! They are great for so many activities.  Suggestion: If you're going to FLASH the frames, be sure to have the children put the counters in with only red showing since an "empty" square has a blue background.  Otherwise the children will not know if the blue they see is a counter or an empty frame.

Have a GREAT Saturday!  I'm off to see Titanic at the local playhouse.  One of our teachers is in the performance as Molly Brown!  (Why I am watching all of these 100th anniversary shows about Titanic when I am going on a cruise in July is BEYOND ME!)

Pin It

"I'm Hungry!" - Number Bond Freebie

The main goal for the kindergarten math curriculum in our district is for the students to have "subitized" all the number bonds for the numbers 0-10 by first grade.  This has not been as easy as it may sound to some.  It is a work in progress and we continue to try to find a "back door" to learning this.  Are any of the rest of you kinder teachers finding this to be difficult?  Any tips to share? 

For our unit on Amazing Creatures, I have put together a small game called "I Am Hungry!" with a caterpillar theme.  The main graphics are from an amazing artist with a "call name" of Melonheadz.  She has an Etsy shop.  The other graphics are from The 3am Teacher, and KPM Doodles, also other favorite graphic artists of mine!

The game is played a bit like "Go Fish" with ten frames and/or number cards.  This is a recording sheet that I made to go along with it.

Grab it here

For the whole game, click on the photo which will take you to  my Tpt store.

Pin It

I Have....Who Has... New games!

It's SPRING BREAK!!! Whoo hoo!  I spent my first day staying in my p.j.'s and just trying to recuperate from doing report cards AND our Spring into Excellence Day (Fun Day outside with bouncy houses, games, snow cones, etc.!). Then, because my brain STILL hadn't slowed down, I spent the next day going through my school tubs, organizing my St. Paddy's Day and Dr. Seuss tubs for next  year and getting out my April tubs! 

I did finally start getting into the spirit of the "holiday" and my husband, son, and I went to the port to have some great seafood and watch the boats coming and going!  Soooo relaxing. 

Today....lunch with a bunch of teacher friends and planting a garden with my hubby.  We have tomatoes, beans, eggplant, broccoli, cucumbers, squash, corn, and herbs!  But my favorite.....SUNFLOWERS!  I am hooked on sunflowers ever since seeing them in Europe everywhere.  I even have some students hooked on them!

And tonight, I sat down with my laptop with plans to work on plans....and said, "Naaahh."  Instead, I have created a couple "I Have....Who Has...? games".  Such fun when I have time to "play"!  One game is for helping students subitize the numbers 0-20 and the other is for reinforcing geometric shapes, both requirements in our district.

Spring colored "I Have, Who Has...?" 2D and 3D Geometric Shapes

To go along with my Space Unit, I created two games.  This one uses ten frames.

This variation of the games uses dots for subitizing quantities to 20.


The first three people who comment on this post, follow me, and follow my Tpt store will receive both games for free!  Be sure to include your email address in your comment!

Pin It

Space Units about to launch! Hope it's not a "scrub"!

What started out as creating some ten frames and dot cards for my classroom has turned into a much larger unit!  I just kept thinking, "Oh, and I need a center for (fill in the blank)...and 'Wouldn't it be great to have'....."  I don't see how Deanna Jump, Kim Adsit, DeeDee Wills, and all the other fantastic teachers whose units I purchase can find the time to make their wonderful units!  My hats off to all of them!  I hope to have my unit for sale soon!