1-2-3 Come Make a Sandcastle With Me

Put some “Woo Hoo!” into studying place value, by creating a super-cute PVS (Place Value Sandcastle).

This is a wonderful craftivity for both the end of the year, as a fun way to reinforce lessons learned, and also works well for back to school when you want to refresh, review and assess where your students are concerning their knowledge of place value.

The craft is a super-fun alternative to worksheets; however, I’ve also included some of those, for extra practice and as an assessment tool. 

One of the worksheet options, comes 2 on a one-page pattern for quick printing. 

Students fill in the blanks with the number, expanded form, word form and a breakdown of placement. 

Children also pick a partner and practice greater & less than, by comparing their sandcastle's value with their friend's.

Completed projects turn out really cute and make an outstanding bulletin board or hallway display.

I’ve included a variety of posters to help you decorate and add extra pizzazz, or use them as an interesting way to introduce the lesson and grab students' attention. 

I took a photograph of real sand, and made that my background paper, then placed transparent letters over the top, spelling "Sandcastles". 

Print, laminate & cut them out for a cool header for your bulletin board.

You’re sure to get lots of compliments, as the castles definitely have that “Wow!” factor; especially if you do the “sand names”. 

I set this up as a center, and call students up while they are working on their sandcastle. 

Beforehand, I wrote their names on a variety of colored card stock; then assist them in "tracing" their name with Elmer's glue.

Afterwards, they sprinkle the wet letters with play sand. Set aside to dry. For your display, hang their name above or under their sandcastle for that finishing touch.

The packet is very versatile with quite a few options for your students to choose from, which allows you to diversify your lesson.

Designing a sandcastle is appealing to a variety of ages and abilities.
The versatility allows younger kiddos, as well as older students, to create a sandcastle that will have a two, three or even 4-digit number value!

Beginners work on 1s & 10s, while older kiddos design with 1s, 10s & 100s. I’ve also included worksheets for 4-digit numbers, so that older students can work with 1,000s.

Keep things simple for little ones and limit the number of pieces and options, while challenging older students to create a bigger value for their sandcastle.

Once children have finished their PVS they figure out the value of their sandcastle.

I’ve provided several worksheet options for students to complete. 

Since some of my kiddos get carried away with decorating, they'll have to do some "conversions" when figuring out the value of their sandcastle. 

i.e. If they count up 17 ones, they'll have to make one ten, leaving just 7 ones. 

The worksheet helps them figure out the value by showing the math. 

I'm also able to easily asses that they "get it".

Besides the place value sandcastles, I’ve also included 2 options for a seashell, “counting castle” for younger students. 

There are 5 different seashells for students to color, cut and glue to the sandcastle of their choice. 

Little ones can practice counting to 10, while kinders can work on those toughie teen numbers. 

I've also included a graphing extension so that you can practice that standard as well.

I've also included 3 seashells labeled 1s, 10s & 100s, if you'd like to make this simpler place value sandcastle, or use these as an independent math center. 

Limited time? This makes a super-fun homework assignment, or another idea is to have students work with a partner or create one PVS in a small group of three, which will divide up the work.

Here’s a fun challenge: Give the small group a total sandcastle value, and see how close they can get to hitting that number.

For a super-fun math center, print a variety of sandcastle pieces & flags on construction paper or card stock. Laminate and trim.

Students can design a sandcastle, then figure out the value, writing that number on the flag using a dry erase marker. When they’re done, take a photograph.

Put the pictures in an album along with their place value worksheet. The same can be done with the seashell sandcastles as well.
I’ve included covers for your album(s). 

I know summer has just begun, but I also know there are teachers who are starting to collect things for back to school.

So today's featured FREEBIE is a "Lucky Charms" treat bag that you can make for your kiddos.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Time to put on my Nana hat, as two of my nine grandchildren, are spending the day with me.

Hopefully the rain will hold off.  If not, it will be a puddle jumping day! Wishing you a fun-filled week.

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, a warm and gentle breeze is blowing, the birds are singing a sweet song and the lawnmower is broken." -Unknown