Math Facts, Gumballs, and Boom!

 I'll let you in on a little secret.  I LOVE gum!  I'm not a coffee girl...it's all about gum.  As we speak, you'll find a bag of it on my desk.  See that? 

 I wasn't kidding.  :)  

Well, I figured my students could be surrounded by gum too and just maybe I'll inspire them to chew more of it...just kidding.  Anyway, my thought is that we can use gum to motivate us to learn our math facts.  And it also checks one of my boxes....colorful, fun, and engaging in the classroom.  Math facts are just one of those things you have to learn....and the best way I have found is just by learning them by addressing each child's individual need.  Practice makes perfect.   So, we just added a little incentive with our math facts.  My students each get a gumball machine of their own.  

They're cute right?  And then I just grabbed some velcro...I love Velcro....to put in the middle of my gumball machines.  There's also another reason for this...I don't have to print out too many gumballs...time and ink saver.  

Then we'll add these cute gumball numbers to our machines as we learn them.  

Now here comes the engaging part.  I have these little gumball math fact cards set up in my learning centers labeled so they can practice their facts every chance they get with a partner.  They love them...and we also included a Pop game where two or more students can play. Just grab an old container and have these laminated for your students to play with even during their inside recess days.  :) 

There's plenty more in the packet which includes letters for a bulletin board and skills practice tests.  I hope you'll check it out.   Click on any of the pictures to be taken to my store to see it.  

Now, here's another fun thing I wanted to share with you that my students are using in the classroom to go along with this packet.  BOOM cards.....and let me tell you these are soooo much fun.  I had a great time making them.  Take a look at this sample:

There are two types of cards in the packet.  In this first one, they answer the math problem by choosing the correct gumball.  

In the second one, students choose all of the math facts that add up to that number.  I love these colorful cards.  And so do my students.  Click on the pictures above if you are interested in those.  

I love creating things for my classroom and my hope is that these are helpful to you too.  I truly appreciate any purchase you make.  

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The Teaching Bug

Interactive Money Reading Passages/Money Math Center Ideas

 Today I am talking about Money.  We could all use a little more right?  Well in my classroom I have noticed that some of my students grab the concept of coin identification quickly and others do not.  Then after a few short weeks we are expected to teach our students how to add up money and count it.  AHHH it can be a struggle.  One thing I have added to my math centers for practice are these money identification strips that have helped my students at the beginning of our money unit.  You can grab them free here:

   Once we move on from those task cards I add a little fun activity into the center with these Ipad tablet shaped task cards.  These were laminated over the summer and cut out to fit right into my storage containers for math.  My students are to identify the amount of money and circle the coins they would need to make the amount listed.  They have a recording sheet to use so that I can check for understanding.  You can grab them here:
  

Once we moved on from using our Ipads we went onto these locks which were a hit with the kids if they like puzzles.  These keys and locks were laminated and I asked a parent volunteer to help me cut them out.  Win win on a time saver.  These locks were a lot of fun for the kids to place together especially for my tactile learners.  You can grab them here:  

 Next we move onto the newest activity that I plan on adding to the centers for next school year.   These reading passages can be used two different ways.  I can print them out and have my students complete them independently for morning work or add them to my math center.  I plan on adding velcro to the backs of the pieces and to the cards after they have been printed out on cardstock and laminated.  I can't wait to hear my students reading and adding a little math to their day.  We love cross curricular activities in my room.  You can grab them here:  

I hope you find these examples useful in your classroom.

  

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The Teaching Bug

Sir Cumference and the Off the Charts Dessert Graphing Math Mini Book

  Hey Everyone!  I wanted to share with you a little activity that is going on in our math classroom as we wrap up graphs.  I can not tell you how much it makes this reading teachers' heart happy when I can use a picture book to tie in a lesson in math.   I just love going across the curriculum for my activities. 

Anyway here is what we did:

We listened to our story:  I had a copy of the book on hand but you can easily find a read aloud on You Tube.  :) Next, we broke up into small groups and each group had a bag containing these graphs printed on cardstock and the manipulatives to create pictographs on their own.  Each student also had a copy of the mini book which I would collect later for a grade and then add it to their interactive notebooks. 

While they are working on their graphs and reviewing their skills they have learned this gives me the opportunity to work with those students who may still be struggling with different concepts on each of the graphs. 

Once our math center time is completed the students will turn into to me their finished books.  They look like this: 

So cute and a great way to add a grade to my gradebook for math.  This is perfect for small group math centers. 

If you like what you see you can get it here: 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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The Teaching Bug

Thanksgiving Themed Task Cards Freebie-Commutative, Inverse, and Identity Properties in Math

    Another quick post and a freebie for you. 

So many things to be thankful for this year.  We are almost ready for the holidays and we are getting a jump start on some review of the math skills we have been working on.  A couple of weeks ago we covered properties of math.  We learned about the inverse, commutative, and identity properties of addition.   I wanted a quick review to use with my small math groups so I made these Thanksgiving themed task cards. 

 

I printed them on cardstock and then laminated them.  Grab some clothespins or use a dry erase marker and let them circle the problems that match the one shown on the turkey's sign.  Take it a little  further and ask them to identify whether the problems are identity, commutative, or inverse properties.  Have them write it on the card or on a dry erase board. 

Simple quick and fun.  Head on over and grab your free set of task cards. 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you to all of my followers.  It is appreciated.

 

 

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The Teaching Bug