1-2-3 Come Do Some Apple Math With Me

The last few articles have covered apple art, some apple science (apple facts and the apple life cycle) plus a bit of writing, so I thought it was time to throw in a little apple math.  I've designed some numbered apples from 1 to 100.  You can put them up all at once, or add one each day of school, as you count up to your 100th day celebration.  

Another fun way to reinforce counting, is with Willie the Worm.  His body is a numbered "slider".  Children trace the numbers and then insert Willie into their apple.  Call out a number, students slide the worm to that number. 

This is a quick and easy way to whole group assess, as you can see at a glance who is having difficulty.  I've also included strips for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's for a non-boring way to practice. 

For just-the-right-size number fun, with an apple theme, click on the Apple Number packet.  The packet includes: Smaller numbered apples (1-120) that students can easily sequence.  Use these as anchor charts or a help poster for your students' math folders. The apple 1-120 individual strips, can be cut to form a number line. 

I've included 16 "What's Missing?" activity sheets, that are especially helpful for those toughy teen numbers. Run them off for students to fill in, or laminate and have children place number tiles on empty spaces.  The apple math symbols, allow students to use the apples to create and solve addition and subtraction equations, as well as show greater and less than.

Apples with numbers as well as number words, help with reading comprehension. Use them for games, pocket charts, or your word wall.  Skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's is also included, plus 4 games, with the ability to create many more.  Click on the link to get the 35-page comprehensive Apple Number packet.

For more addition and subtraction activities, you'll enjoy the apple-themed 10-frame packet.

If you teach little ones just learning to count, or ESL students, they'll enjoy the 1-to-1 correspondence apple game.  I've included full-color cards, as well as black line masters if you want your kiddos to color their own. 

I used red, yellow and green pony beads as manipulatives.  This provides great fine motor practice as well.

Puzzles are also a fun way for students to practice sequencing numbers. 

I've included an apple as well as a pumpkin shaped puzzle in this packet. Run the apples off on red, yellow and lime green construction paper; give students a choice of what color they want for their apple. 

Children can simply put the puzzle together, or have them create an interesting mosaic picture, by gluing the pieces to a sheet of black construction paper.  (Make sure they leave a little space inbetween the pieces.) 

For that finishing touch, add their photo to the leaf.  To make it more of a keepsake, have students trace their hand for the pumpkin leaf.

There are 7 more apple-themed puzzles in another packet. Use the skip counting by 10's puzzles for older students.

Finally, when doing apple math, one can't forget to include shapes as well as graphing.  Both are accomplished in the Shapely Fall Graphs packet. 

I hope you found a few things here that you're excited about sharing with your students.  Do you have an apple activity that you could share with us?  I'd love to hear from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  or feel free to leave a comment below.

It's a rainy day, and although it's tempting to venture into some time-sucking fun on Pinterest, I'm off to higher priorities.  (Perhaps curling up with a good book!) Wishing you an apple-icious afternoon.

1-2-3 Come Do Some "M & M" Stuff With Me

I'm a firm believer in making things personal for students.  If you relate things to their world, you quickly grab their attention and enthusiasm for the activity follows. 

With that in mind, I wanted to design some sort of "me math," where students could use a variety of math concepts to answer questions about themselves. 

I find that most students really enjoy sharing this sort of information, and the result of showing them all the math that is a personal part of them, might be quite surprising to some.

The idea of "me math" led to doing something with an M&M theme.  I originally toyed with the idea of each student making a colorful M&M character and filling it with "me math" information, but after I made a list of all of the number-related things that I could think of, that students might be interested in sharing, my list was so long that the idea of getting this inside an M&M creature, was now out.

When I was researching "me math" to see if anyone else out there was doing something along that line, I found quite a few poster and pennant ideas, so I didn't want to go that route. 

No one had done a booklet, or delved into some deeper math extensions, thus my M&M Math & Me booklet was born.

To conserve paper, there are 2 pages on each master.  Pick and choose whatever is appropriate for your grade level. 

Your booklet can be a few pages, or add several math extensions to practice more standards and make a longer booklet, that students can work on a little bit each day for the first or last week of school. 

I've included basic counting, measuring, greater & less than, equations, addition, subtraction, ordinal numbers, time, odd & even, skip counting by 2's, place value, number sentences, comparison, tally marks, and even fractions!

From teeth to travels, I think you'll find the personal math questions interesting and fun.  I was especially excited to find a Scrabble and M&M font to use with the My Name Math pages. 

Choose simple math concepts for kinders, or add a few more difficult pages and send the booklet home to have parents help their child with.   Click on the link to view/download the M&M Math & Me booklet. 

If you're looking for a "me math" poster that your kiddos can make, click on the link to take a look at Melissa Machan's Math About Me FREEBIE.  I absolutely LOVE the poster poem she wrote.   It would be a wonderful introduction to any "me math" activity.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin it" button is at the top.  Do you have a "me math" activity you'd like to share with us?  Feel free to leave a comment or contact me at: diane@teachwithme.com

"Math may not teach me how to add love, or subtract hate, but it gives me every reason to hope that every problem has a solution." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Pirate Activities With Me

I was excited to see that the Polly Wants A Letter Cracker packet was a very popular download this week. 

I had several teachers that liked Pirate Polly so much, that Karyn from Florida, and Elaina from California, asked if I could make some crackers with numbers on them, so I designed crackers with numbers from 0-130.

"Feeding" Polly is a fun and less tedious way to practice counting that high.  The mini cracker cards, are also the perfect size for for sequencing. 

Make extra sets and have students lie on their tummies and string 20-30 crackers in the appropriate order.

Use them to play a game of  "I Have; Who Has?"  Toss whatever cracker numbers your kiddos need practice on, into a container and have students choose several. 

I've included "Kaboom!" bomb crackers, to make things even more fun + a tip list of what else you can do with these number cards.  

Have students sort the number crackers on the odd and even sorting mat, or make equations with the math symbol crackers, and then solve the addition and subtraction problems, or show greater and less than. 

I've also included a variety of trace and write the number worksheets in the packet, as well as "What's Missing?" skip count worksheets, plus a certificate of praise. 

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Number Cracker packet.

While I was expanding Polly's appetite for learning, I thought it would be fun to make shape crackers too. 

Brook sent me an e-mail that's she's always looking for more 3D shape activities, so along with 2D shapes, I included  3D shapes, and even threw in the pattern block shapes.

The crackers are still square, but the "cheese" on them is shaped.  Of course "Polly" loves these treats.  So that you can also play a Memory Match game, as well as reinforce vocabulary, I also made crackers with shape words on them.   I hope your little pirates will enjoy "feeding" Polly yummy shapes and word crackers.

As with the other Polly Packets, I've also included some extras.   Students can "get in shape" by playing a variety of "I Spy" a shape worksheet games, as well as several  "Shipshape" porthole dice games. 

Click on the link to view/download the Polly Wants A Shape Cracker packet. 

Finally, I also made a Polly Slider for a bit of hands-on fun. 

This "craftivity" includes "sliders" for upper and lowercase letters, numbers 1-30, counting backwards from 10 to 0 as well as 20 to 0, plus skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, and of course a shape slider featuring 2D shapes, pattern block shapes and 3D shapes. 

Run off Polly on white construction paper and have students color her, or run the bird off on green construction paper; students trim and add a black pirate hat (there are two to choose from) as well as a 3D yellow beak. 

Run off whatever "slider" you want your students to practice.  They trace the letters and numbers, or color the shapes, and then insert their strip into the slits, so that the various objects will appear in a "window" as they slide the long piece of paper up and down. 

I pre-cut the slits with an Exacto knife, as this sort of cutting was a bit too difficult for my Y5's to do on their own. Sliders are a quick and easy way to review and whole group assess. 

Call out a shape, letter, or number and have students slide 'til it appears in the window.  When they've found the correct answer, they hold up their parrot.  You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

Add a bit more pizzazz by attaching a wiggle eye with a glue dot.  Click on the link to view/download the Pirate Polly Slider packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  (Create, Teach, Share! )

"Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us." -G.K. Chesterton

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Cat In The Hat Activities With Me

I love the hat that Dr. Seuss created for his cat.  It's the perfect vehicle for all sorts of interesting activities.  I've designed a few more for today's article that cover a variety of standards.  I hope you enjoy them. 

I've had a few requests for more place value items, so I designed the Cat Hat Place Value Mat activity.  After running off the hat template, you can make it more durable and add some red to the hat,  by gluing it on a sheet of red construction paper, then trim and laminate.

Run off the number tiles on Seuss colors like red, yellow and turquoise.  Each number needs its own color.  Laminate and trim. 

I would do this as a whole group activity, so every student needs 10 of each of the 3 kinds of number tiles.   Store the set of 30 tiles in a Ziplock snack Baggie and make a class set.  By having 10 of each in the Baggie, you’ll have extras incase students lose one.

Have students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns.  This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.

The packet also includes a certificate of praise.  Click on the link to view/download the Cat Hat Place Value Mat

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick activity.  There are several ways to use the Seuss Hat for different number games. 

Students can put the "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, on their hat and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations, that make that number, on their Seuss hat.

Children place the Popsicle sticks on the hat in such a way, that they look like an ABAB striped pattern.

Students can show addition and subtraction as pictured, or to expedite things, just addition OR subtraction equations.

This is an easy and fun way to whole group assess a variety of concepts. 

I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers.  I've also included pages so students can work on fact families.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT family slider, is a fun way for students to see the various AT family words that they can make by pulling on the "slider."   Click on the link to view/download the Cat Hat AT slider craftivity.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.   Click on the link to view/download the I Can Read Dr. Seuss bookmark-writing prompt.

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the story. 

Students arrange the sentences in the correct order and glue them to their hat. 

Click on the link to view/download the Cat in the Hat story elements packet. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. 

Run off the cat hat template on red construction paper. 

Run off the sentence strips on white copy paper.   Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation.  They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving room so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes.  So that each students' hat could be different, I made up 108 sentences from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories. 

Completed projects make a nice bulletin board.  A caption could be: "Hammer, slammer, whammer; ___________'s class really knows their grammar!"  Click on the link to view/download the Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  To view more Seuss activities, scroll down for other articles and more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES.

"I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells." -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 come Enjoy Winter Wonderland With Me!

Oh my!  It's  really snowing hard, and the winter wonderland swirling outside my office window is spectacular!  We are supposed to get 17 inches! Woo hoo!  As long as it's winter it might as well snow.  There's always the added excitement of a snow day right? So bring it on!

Making templates for my daily tabletop lessons, was a real time saver for me.  The repetition empowered my Y5's, as they were familiar with the format and could get right down to business, without wasting time with a lot of directions.  To keep things fresh and interesting, I simply changed the clip art. 

With this in mind, I designed monthly Fun With Number Worksheets.  They review a variey of standards in an interesting way.  I used a graphic organizer-format, that's especially beneficial for visual learners. The different clip art (snowmen, snowflakes, mittens, Martin Luther King, penguins, New Years etc.) added variety.

Print, laminate and trim the number cards 1-120.  Toss them into a basket.  Have a child choose one, as the number students will use to fill in their worksheet with.  When kiddo's are done, they can exchange their paper with another child to correct.  (Saves you time, and provides extra practice for your kiddo's.)

You can also use these for your sub folder, homework practice, something for early finishers, or assessments.  Click on the link to view/download the January Number Fun Packet.   If you'd like the Big Bundle number fun packet (105 pages!) that includes all of the months, click on the link.

If you're working on +1 simple addition with your little ones, I think you'll enjoy the snowy +1 Snowman booklet. 

Students trace and write the numbers, circle the number in the sequence, add +1 to arrive at a new number and then cut and glue X number of snowflakes around the snowman. 

I've also included a graphing extension.  Click on the link to grab it. +1 Snowman Addition booklet. 

Finally, help review analog and digital time (to the hour and half hour) with the Time For Snow snowman clock matching game.  Print the snowman template on white construction paper; laminate and trim.  Run off the hatband-time words, the digital time-rectangles and the analog clocks; laminate and trim.

Students choose a time and then match all of the pieces and parts to complete that snowman.  Make an extra set and glue together for a "Time For Winter" bulletin board. 

Run off the analog clock and digital time box templates, on glossy photo paper.  Children trim and glue to their snowman, to make a dry erase digital and analog clock. 

Teacher calls out a time and students draw hands on the clock and write in the digital time in the box, using a dry erase marker. 

Children hold up their snowman when they are done.  This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole-group assess. Students erase that answer and the teacher calls out another time. 

Play continues 'til you have reviewed all of the times to the hour or half hour.  Click on the link to view/download the Time For Snow matching game.

Thanks for visiting today.  I'm off to unbury my snow shovel.  Wishing you a warm and snuggly day.

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood." -Andy Goldsworthy

1-2-3 Make A Graphic Organizer With Me!

I LOVE graphic organizers.  They are especially helpful for my visual learners. I took this concept and made it work for a number worksheet.  It's quick and easy to implement and can be part of your daily or weekly table top lessons, or plugged into your math center. 

If you need "stuff" for your early finishers to work on, or some activities for your sub folder, these are perfect.  Many teachers have asked for simple homework lessons, because their districts require homework! 

These make that task less work for you, and more fun for your students.  As you can see in the sample, a lot of Common Core math is covered in a fun way.

I've used the same template and changed the clip art, so you have a variety of worksheets for each month and LOTS of themes. This packet is a whopping 94-pages! 

Pick and choose what suits your kiddo's. By repeating the format, students feel empowered and can get right down to business.  Because they know what to do, they can work independently, you're not wasting time explaining directions, and are freed up to work one-on-one with strugglers.  Things stay interesting and fresh, because of the seasonal clip art and the new number that they choose.

Students roll one or two dice to arrive at their number for the worksheet, or you can have children choose a number card from a seasonal container.  (I've made cards for numbers from 1-120.) 

You may want to make extra sets for students to sequence and play games with.  I've included a blank grid children can write numbers in, or laminate some grids and have students place tiles on them. 

I was bopping around the internet and found a little dice INSIDE a larger dice!  How cool is that!  Less noise and less likely to have one flying on the floor. I think your kiddo's will think they are especially cool too! 

I Googled where you can buy them and found several places.  You can get a pack of 8 for only $2.28 from Pure Fun or $2.69 from On The Fly Supply.

Students write their number in the middle square and fill in the rest of their graphic organizer.  

Children can write in the coin values, or/and you can have them cut and glue the appropriate coin tiles to their worksheet.  (A coin template is included for a penny, nickel, dime and quarter.) Ask students to write down one way to arrive at the coin value, or several.

For the group/set section, children can make dots, X's or whatever, to show how many.  For smaller numbers, students can use stickers or a seasonal stamp.   Click on the link to view/download the Monthly Math Graphic Organizer packet.  

While I was didling around designing this, I thought I'd include a separate mustache-themed packet, because "mustache mania" is still going strong.  

This packet's number cards have a mustache on them.   Click on the link to view/download the Mustache-Math Graphic Organizer packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  I blog and design daily, so I hope you can drop by tomorrow too.  Feel free to PIN anything from my site.  To ensure that "pinners" return to THIS blog article, click on the green title at the top; it will turn black, now click on the "Pin it" button on the burgundy menu bar.  

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"It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful." -Ann Landers

1-2 3 Come Do Some Skelton Activities With Me!

Since it's October, it seemed fitting to plug in a few skeletons, so I was diddling around with the idea of making a math packet around the play on words "Numb Skulls." 

If you don't do Halloween-themed things, the skulls are perfect for a pirate theme too, or perhaps you can use them as centers when your kiddo's study about bones and the human body.

I think your students will enjoy rolling 2 dice to make additon or subtraction equations on their "Numb Skull" and then solving them.  They write in their answer and color that many teeth. 

Students can play independently or with a partner.   Once I started designing with the skulls, more ideas kept popping into my brain, 'til I had a whopping 46-page Numb Skull packet that covers a variety of Common Core State Standards!

Lots of the items are very versatile.  The number cards with number words, can be cut into puzzles, or run off so students can make an Itty Bitty Counting booklet, which is a nice activity for your Daily 5 word work.

You can also use them for a Memory Match game, or to play "I Have; Who Has?"  Add the "Kaboom!" bomb cards to make things more exciting. 

The packet includes:                                                            A Numb Skull slider, where students trace the numbers from 0-30, or insert a skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, or 10's number strip. 

There's also a slider for counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0.

I've included several games as well. There's A Numb Skull addition and subtraction game, plus  a Count to 100 Numb Skull game, where students add the dice that they roll and then  X-off that many skulls 'til they have added their way to 100.

Skull number cards from 0-120 also provide options for even more games.  Since the numbers are at the top of the skull, play a game of "What number am I thinking of?"

Students choose a card and then give classmates clues.  i.e. "My number is odd. It's greater than 20, but less than 27.  When you add 11 and 10 together, you'll know my number.

I've also included matching math symbol cards, so students can make equations. Use the blank skull cards to program with whatever, or to make groups/sets for the equations students create.

There are some Trace and Write the numbers from 0-120 worksheets, as well as quite a few What's Missing worksheets for numbers 0-120, plus all of the skip counted numbers.

There are several puzzles that you can use in a variety of ways, as well as Odd Todd and Even Steven skeleton sorting mats.  When students have completed whatever you deem appropriate, give them a certificate of praise for a job well done.

Click on the link to view/download the Numb Skull Math packet. 

Since I get quite a few requests for telling time activities, I decided to whip together a Numb Skull clock and a few telling time to the hour and half hour games too.

This packet includes analog as well as digital time cards that you can use as flashcards, or to play games with.   Click on the link to view/down load the It's Numb Skull Time packet.

Well that's it for today; thanks for visiting.  I'm off to take a drive in the country with my hubby. 

The fall colors have peaked and a windy afternoon with a bit of rain, threatens their ability to cling onto branches for too much longer. 

Even though it's a bit chilly, a nice cup of apple cider at our farmer's market will warm things up.                                                                                      Wishing you a lovely day.

"One man who has a mind and knows it, can always beat ten men who haven't and don't." -George Bernard Shaw

1-2-3 Come Play Some Leaf Games With Me!

You can make all sorts of number games and math centers with these leaf cards.  Print, laminate and trim.  There are 2 sets of cards: the bear with a leaf, as well as the yellow maple leaf.  Students can play independently or with a partner.  Children can match number cards to number word cards, or mix and match the sets and match numbers to numbers etc. 

Besides the Memory Match games, toss a set of cards in a basket and have children choose one to play I Have; Who Has? "I have the number one card; who has the matching number one word card?"  Add the "Kaboom" bomb cards, to make the game even more fun.  There are many more games and ideas listed in the 3-page tip-list that's included in the packet. 

I've also included mini-leaf tiles. so students can choose a numbered leaf card and count out that many leaves. They can sort odd & even numbers onto a leaf math mat, (included) or use the leaf math symbol cards to make addition and subtraction equations, or show greater and less than.

If you'd like your students to sequence and collate the cards into their own itty bitty booklet, run off the cards plus the cover master.  Click on the link to view/download the Leaf Math Game packet.

For more leaf game fun, you can prit off a set of alphabet leaf cards. There's a set of separate uppercase and lowercase letter cards too, as well as a blank set for you to program with whatever. A "What Else Can I Do With the Cards?" is a list of other ideas and games you can play with the alphabet leaf cards. Click on the link to view/download the Alphabet Leaf Cards

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  To ensure that "pinners" return to THIS blog article; click on the green title at the top, it will turn black; now click on the "Pin it" button on the burgundy menu bar.  If you'd like to take a look at all of the wonderful educational items that I pin, click on the heart button to the right of the blog. I write and design every day, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for the latest FREEBIES hot off the press!

"The universe is transformation.  Our life is what our thoughts make it." -Marcus Aurelius

35 pages.

You will love how many activities you can do with these apples that help cover numerous Common Core State Standards. The photo only shows a sampling of what's in the packet.

The packet includes: numbered apples from 1-120.  Use these as anchor charts or a help poster for your students math folders. The apple 1-120 individual strips, can be cut to form a number line to aid in counting up to 100 Day. There are 16 "What's Missing?" activity sheets.  Run them off for students to fill in, or laminate and have children place number tiles on empty spaces. There are apples with numbers as well as number words. Use them for games, pocket charts, or your word wall. Skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's is also included + 4 games, with the ability to create many more.  Math symbols allow students to use the apples to create and solve equations.

4 pages.

Print, laminate and use as a daily math center on your white board, or make a class set. Have students choose their color & glue their photo to the window. Easy & fun way to practice or assess as a whole group.