Exploring Teen Numbers

This week my kiddies have been reviewing teen numbers, so I thought I would share some of the games we have been playing in Prep. I have also added in links to some cool activities I have come across in my Pinterest wanderings too.

Teen Numberline

Sweet and simple :) You know how I love my paper plates and keeping things easy!

Find the Fish

Another easy one. I just happened to have a laminated penguin and a fish in my teacher kit - you could substitute in anything you like.

Count 'em Up

For this activity I gave the kids (in pairs) 10 blocks in 1 colour and a handful in another. The kids then had to put the blocks together and identify the teen number they had made, and write it on a whiteboard. The kids can then pull them apart and swap with a friend and do it all over again.

Toss, Roll 'n' Count

A favourite among my kiddies and super easy. I printed off some cute pictures of different clipart actions and filled a pocket dice with them. A kiddie hops up, rolls the die for an action, then tosses the beanbag to tell how many times the class will perform the action. Chalk one up to whole body learning!

Giant Tens Frames

I really do try to keep things simple in my classroom, and when I find a game my kids really enjoy I milk it for all it's worth!

In the first game, I have a hoop filled with fish with numbers 1 to 10 on them, 2 tens frames on the carpet - one filled, one empty, 10 spare cones/markers and whiteboards and markers for each child. One kiddie will hop up, pull a number (1-10) and build that in the 2nd tens frame. We then talk about what the teen number is with 10 added. We use our Magic Pointer Fingers to write the teen number in the air, then on our whiteboards.

In the second game, both frames are empty and a kiddie tosses a beanbag onto an overturned paper plate and builds it in the tens frames. Again, we write the number on our whiteboards.

Guided Math Baskets

These baskets are lifesavers for me! Everything my table groups might need for showing numbers is right at their fingertips. We often use these when we are looking at showing numbers in multiple ways. I have 1 basket for each table group, and in each I have linking cubes in sticks of 10, pop sticks and bundles, MAB blocks, counters, hundreds boards, 10s and 20s boards, and whiteboard markers.

The next activities I will show you used these buckets to show tee numbers.

Toss, Turn 'n' Build

This was another pair activity I played with my kiddies. We tossed a beanbag onto a number, then worked in pairs to build the teen number. I encouraged the kiddies to start with one rod of 10 and count out the extras they would need. Great for team work, and especially good for differentiating as I could pair up children who needed a little support with children who could work independently at this level.

Toss, Read 'n' Show

This activity is pretty much the same, but you can substitute in any way to show numbers. You could even give s couple kids pop sticks for tally marks, some could have cubes, some 20s frames. You could then have the kiddies stand up and move around - like musical chairs - to show the next number in another way.

Sensory Numbers

My kiddies love to play with anything sensory! Building numerals is always one of our math work stations. These are a few ways we have tried - match sticks, marbles, kinetic sand, play dough, wiki stix, multilink cubes and sand trays.

Building Teen Numbers

I have found a million and one of this type of number mat on Pinterest. They are great for working on number knowledge and can be used with a whole range of manipulatives.

Outside Links

These are some awesome looking teen number activities I have found on Pinterest in my late night searches. I have added the links to each picture below for you to follow if you would like to find out more.

These cute cards are from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits and would be great for working on building teen numbers using place value.

I just love the look of these chains from Forever in 1st! I remember seeing them up in one of the grade 1 teachers classrooms in my school - They looked brilliant!

Probably my favourite - and definitely the cutest - way to show teen numbers is this adorable craftivity from Primary Press.

This Montessori-style board looks great from A Handmade Childhood and would be fantastic for teaching the connections between teen numbers and 10s.

Hope you found something useful!

Decomposing Numbers - Guided Math Ideas

Hi again! I am thrilled to have been able to return to work today! After having 2 and a half weeks off recovering from surgery on my hand, I was absolutely chomping at the bit to get back to work with my little kiddies - and they certainly did not disappoint!

I would like to share some ideas I have used myself when beginning to work on decomposing numbers, but before that I wanted to share some photos from today.

Last week I shared a post all about hands on activities for learning word families, and I had a question on another post about whether I do these activities as a whole class or in small groups, or how they look in my own classroom.

I played a game of 'Hop it Out' today with my little munchkins and I thought I would show you an example of how I like to tweak games to suit the group size. The pictures on the right is the one I shared in my post last week, which is a great set-up for a small group situation. For this size grouping my kiddies would use a teddy to help them 'hop it out' and we would use the cards on the carpet. You can read about it HERE.

The picture on the left is from today - the same activity, just in a whole class setting. I had my kiddies sitting in a semi-circle, leaving enough space for my hoops. I started by showing the whole class the picture (ideally I would be using larger pictures and letters), and had the kiddies think about the sounds they could hear in the word. Next, one child hopped up and we sounded out the word. After this we went back through the word and spelled it out using the letter cards. We also had a little practise reading words by putting a word in each hoop and having the kiddies toss beanbags into the correct hoop as I said a word.

This is just an example of how I like to tweak games and activities I find to suit my classroom. Once you start, it is really easy to tweak activities like this.

 Anyway, on to the REAL post...

I haven't got any clever names or such for these activities, so you might just have to cope with my terrible explanations today. These activities are all about different quick and easy ways to decompose numbers. I have used small numbers to make the activities simpler, but I will eventually get around to sharing ideas for larger numbers.

For this activity I have the kiddies look at tens frames (given one focus number at a time), quickly identify the number of dots, and then talk about how you see the dots. This is a great stepping stone for subitizing and number recgonition. This is a great oral activity to do with a whole class with large flash cards. You don't even need to print cards. Just photocopy a tens frame multiple times and either draw on the counters or use sticky dots. Or even better, use a small magnetic whiteboard and magnetic counters to show numbers quickly and easily.

This is such an important skill that repetition is the key. To avoid my munchkins getting bored I like to mix it up with different manipulatives - blocks, teddy bears, two-sided counters and beads are just a couple of ways you can keep this concept fresh for your own kiddies. In each activity, give the kiddies a starting number and have them experiment to decompose their number, show it, and record it.

Who doesn't love bowling? And I just adore these little 'Old McDonald's Farm' skittles I picked up at a clearance store, and so do my kids! You can make your own with old bottles with a little rice in the bottle. I have a set made up with mini coke bottles, rice inside, a foam sphere on top and painted with bright acrylic paints which work just as well :)

This was is great for whole class activities it is much larger and all kids love playing with beanbags.

More ways to show decomposition. I have found that sometimes it can help to show the different parts in separate containers. I also like to use my flash cards with tens frames on them to help kids visualise the numbers.

And this is a quick game which my kiddies enjoy playing in my guided math groups for decomposing the number 10. They each have 10 cubes to begin with and a blank tens frame, whiteboard and marker, and a die. The kids roll their die and place that number of cubes in the tens frame. They they work out how many more will make 10 by looking at the empty squares and write their response.

Lastly, this is a very cute idea I found over at the Math Coach's Corner. Donna has shared a few different ideas for how to use these cards within a guided math context, which you can check out HERE.

Anyway, that's all from me :)

Hope you have a great night all and... TGIF!!!!!

Word Family Fun!

Word families can be a tricky concept for our little learners, yet they are SO IMPORTANT to play with and learn for blending and segmenting. I have put together here a few quick and simple activities which can be done at a whole class level. For just about any of these activities the only resources you will need are student sized whiteboards and markers, large letter cards, large bowls or hula hoops (failing that, chalked out circles), beanbags, cups/bowls, a pocket chart and some CVC picture cards for whatever your focus is. As always, these activities do not involve worksheets and are 100% hands on for higher engagement levels. I have linked in a couple of freebies you can snag up to use with these activities too so keep an eye out!

Bucket Toss

This type of game is so versatile that I have included pictures of 4 different ways to play (but if you experiment I am sure you will be able to find more). These buckets I purchased for $2.50 for 2 from my local Overflow store :)

Game #1 - Label buckets or hoops with word families (eg -at, -eg, un etc.). Show the students a picture, have them say the word and identify the word family, then toss a beanbag in the matching bucket.

Game #2 - Direct inverse of Game #1 - Give students a word family and have them toss the beanbag in the bucket of a word in that family.

Game #3 - Label the buckets with a range of pictures in your focus word family (or multiple for reviewing). Write a word on a whiteboard and have the students read the word and toss the beanbag at the matching picture.

Game #4 - Again, the direct inverse of Game #3 - Label the buckets with CVC words, show a picture and have the kids find the matching word.

Building Word Familes

Very simple activity to set up and great for blending practise. Just choose your focus word family and write the family on 2 cups, and label other cups with a range of consonants to blend. As you add another cup to the beginning, work together to blend the letter sounds together and read the new word. This activity could easily be done on a larger scale using a pocket chart and letter cards.

Hop it Out

Again, this is great blending and segmenting practise.

In the top picture, show the students a picture card and use the teddy to hop out the sounds they hear. After the sounds are identified, go back through and identify the letters to spell the word.

In the second picture, show the word using large letters and 3 pictures (one correct). Have the students hop out the letter sounds and blend them together to identify the matching picture.

Again, this set-up is great for a small group setting, but you could easily adapt it for whole class activities by using hoops (or chalked out circles) and have the students use their bodies to hop out the sounds. Again, you could have the students themselves hop up and hold up large letter cards to spell the words.

I LOVE these cards! If you would like to grab your own set, you can snatch them up for FREE from Rulin' the Roost HERE.

Roll a Word 

More blending practise, playing around with real and nonsense words. Chose your short vowel and place a large letter on the carpet. Fill a pocket dice with a variety of letters (consider what are common letters for the ending and beginning of words with your short vowel). I found it helpful to make the dice different colours to make it easy to see which comes first and which comes last. Roll the dice, read the word and decide whether the word is real or nonsense. You can choose to record these on a whiteboard or to just make it a verbal activity. 

Where's my Bone?

Simple as, just hide a small object or picture under cups or bowls labelled with words from your focus word family and have the students guess where the object is hidden. I chose to use a dog and a bone. Again, this is an easy one to do in a pocket chart just with cards and a small picture.

Word Family Fishing

Again this is a very versatile game and I have put together 5 different versions to share with you. Play around with it and you will find more ways to play :) All you need are some fish (print or draw, laminate and attach a paper clip to them), and a couple of $2 store magnetic fishing rods. Add some paper labels for anything you need (sorting, words etc) as you play different games.

#1 - Students fish out pictures of CVC words (blue tack to the back of laminated fish) and have the students use the large letter cards to make the word.

#2 - Play the same as game #1 but replace the letter cards with whiteboards and markers.

#3 - Choose a work family and write a variety of different CVC words (both real and nonsense) on the back of the fish (or use sticky-notes, or blu-tack words to them). Have the children read the fish they catch and decide whether it is real or not. The sorting mats I have used here are just written on pieces of paper.

#4 - Choose a few CVC word pictures, either from one word family or from a range of word families and write the matching words on the back of fish. As the kiddies pull of a fish, they should read the word and find the matching fish.

#5 -   Add a selection of CVC pictures to the backs of the fish and place in the bucket. Choose a word family to sort and as the kiddies pull out a fish, have them decide whether it matches the wprd family or not. Again, I have just written the word family labels on paper. This coul easily be swapped ut for small whiteboards.

Word Family Hop

I have found this probably the easiest game ever. I tend to forget about using the cards and just write different word families on the carpet in chalk. Just choose your word families, create a spot for them and either show the kiddies a picture or tell a word and have them hop on the matching word family. I usually play 2 at a time and the kids just love it!

Word Family Houses

I love this activity and these houses make the cutest anchor charts and displays. The houses are just cut out of large size cardboard and pictures cut out of paper. I would have the pictures cut out and ask the students to brainstorm different words from the same word family. As they say a word I just add it to the chart. I have also done this 2 houses at a time where I ask the kiddies which word family house each word belongs in. This was great for kids to visualise the grouping and relation different words. 

Musical Words

This is such a cute little game I found on Pinterest from Miss Giraffe! I just love it! Kiddies sit in a circle, wander around when the music plays and they read the word they are at when the music stops. I can just see my little treasures having a blast with this one :) you can check it out along with a ton of fun word family word work stations HERE. 

You can also download a free set of word family pictures from designed by teachers HERE, or from teachers pay teachers HERE to use with these activities.

I hope this has given you some ideas. If you have any of your own activities which have helped your little ones 'click' I would love for you to share :) 

Til next time :)