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

One of the reasons I decided to do “Diane’s Dollar Deals” is because I love the feeling I get when I go into The Dollar Store and find all sorts of goodies for my classroom for just a dollar.

I excitedly pick something up and say “I can’t believe this is only a dollar!” then happily drop whatever in my cart.

I’m hoping to give you that same feeling when you purchase one of my dollar deals.
They’re still the same high quality as my other “stuff”, but only a dollar.

* This 52-page number fun packet is my newest Dollar Deal creation and includes a set of large, colorful posters, as well as a smaller set with 2-on-a-page.
Use them as anchor charts, a border, bulletin board or flashcards using them as an easy way to whole group assess too.

Print an extra set to use for an independent math center.
Students can sequence the cards or sort them into odd & even piles.

You could also make an additional set, cut in half or in quarters for a puzzle center as well.

* I love when “stuff” matches in my room, so I made a set of little cards perfect for sequencing, sorting, or playing Memory Match or “I Have; Who Has?” games.

* The black and white “color me” booklet also matches.
Students color the picture, then trace & write the numbers and number words, then circle the number in the sequence.

There are covers so that you can make a counting booklet from 0-10 or 0-20. You could also make two separate booklets for each set.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love having a little workbook for my students.

It’s an easy-peasy Friday for me when students do a page in their various workbooks once a week. Everything’s kept in a folder which keeps things neat and organized.

Little workbooks are perfect for conferences, showing what we’re working on as well as improvement. Then at the end of the year, kiddos take home their folder and have a wonderful keepsake. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is an apple math mat.  There's addition on the front, and subtraction on the back.  You can also show greater & less than equations.

The dice and manipulatives make things extra fun. Once you make a set, you'll have a super-fun math center you can use for years. 

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

Two of my 9 grandchildren are coming over today, so it's time to put my Nana hat on and get ready for a fun-filled day. 

Wishing you one as well.  Filled with lots of hugs and giggles.

"Children are a living message sent to a time we will not see." - Neil Postman

Monkey Business

Are a few of your students still struggling with skip counting, or are you teaching PK and decided to raise the bar and add a K standard to help out for next year while you still have some days left before school ends?

I’m always looking for fun ways to reinforce skip counting with kids, so I dreamed up “Barrel of Monkeys!”

There are traceable number cards for skip counting by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s as well as counting by 1’s to  30 with, matching covers for each set so that students can make their own Itty Bitty booklets.

Make a large “teacher’s monkey” and laminate.  Pass out your class set to the students and “feed the monkey” while you count whatever set you want to reinforce.

Play “I Have; Who Has?” and feed the monkey that way. i.e. “I have 2 who has 4, 6, 8?" etc.

Make class sets in a variety of colors.  Children choose a partner.

Mix up the cards, but keep the packs separate.  Each child flips over a card.

The one with the lowest card goes first and skip counts from that number ‘til the end.  If they do it correctly they get both cards. i.e. if they flip a 4 and their partner flips an 8, they get to count 4,6,8,10 all the way to 40.

If they can do that, they get to keep their 4-card and their partner’s 8 card.  If they can’t do it, their partner gets a turn to try it.

If they are successful they get the cards.  Play continues ‘til all of the cards are gone.

You can also use them to play Concentration-Memory Match games.

Click on the link to view/download Barrel Of Fun Monkey cards.

A nice companion to this packet is the rhyming easy reader booklet Counting Monkeys, which includes a graphing extension, to reinforce yet another standard.

Click on the link to view/download Counting Monkeys.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more fun tips.

Do you have one you'd like to share?  I'd enjoy hearing from you diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas. I really enjoy hearing from you.

It's OK to PIN anything you think will help another teacher or parent as well.

I hope these activities have your little monkeys having a barrel full of fun!

President's Day Games & Activities

A quick and easy center for your students on President’s Day is to make an Itty Bitty Alphabet or Counting booklet.

Students trace the upper and lowercase letters, cut them out and sequence them.

My Y5’s always enjoyed taking these “just the right-size” booklets home to share with their families, which helped reinforce the lessons that they learned.

They also liked collecting all of the different little booklets each month.

Make extra sets for in class.  Run the uppercase letters off on a DIFFERENT color from the lowercase ones and laminate them so that you can play Memory Match games.

I find that if you differentiate the sets via color, you make it less frustrating for little ones to play memory games and they don’t take an inordinate amount of time either.

You can also distribute the cards an play “I Have…Who Has?”

Click on the link to view/download the President’s Day Alphabet cards.

Besides these traceable word cards, I help my students learn letters by making up Bingo songs.

The Bingo song is a great way to review the concept of subtraction and a clapping pattern as well + students LOVE singing.

What better way to review who the President and Vice President are of the United States than with this little song.

Print off the OBAMA and BIDEN bingo cards. Put magnet strip on the back and put them on your white board. Use them to sing the Bingo song.

Here are the words:

Obama is the president.

He is our Nation’s leader

O-B-A-M-A   O-B-A-M-A

O-B-A-M-A

He is the President.

Biden is the VP

He helps the President

B-I-D-E-N   B-I-D-E-N

B-I-D-E-N

Joe helps the president.

Click on the link to view/print the Obama Bingo Cards and song.

Click on the link to view/download my other Bingo Song Cards

If you teach a song each month you will have reviewed all of the letters of the alphabet except X.

Besides the alphabet, I made sets of numbers for counting by 1’s with pennies, by 5’s with nickels, by 10’s with dimes to reinforce not only skip counting, but recognizing these particular coins and their value.

There’s also a set for counting by 2’s and 3’s.  All have covers so that the students can make individual Itty Bitty Booklets as well.

Finish up the counting activities by getting the wiggles out and have students count backwards from 20 or 10.

Once they’ve jumped into the air they can bounce out to their lockers and take their booklets with them.

Click on the link to view/download the President’s Day Counting Cards.

Whatever you’re doing on President’s Day I hope it’s letter perfect!

It's All In the Cards... How Do I Love You? Let Me Count The Ways!

I LOVE playing cards and have purchased decks at The Dollar Store to make a variety of math center games.

It was while looking at all those heart cards that my brain was thinking: What can I do with these to make a February lesson ? when “It’s All In The Cards” was born.

This little booklet will help reinforce a number of skills: writing, reading, counting, and sequencing in a fun way + provide a keepsake valentine for parents!

Here’s how to make a booklet:

Run off copies of my templates with the playing card clipart on it.

Students cut and sequence their cards and then glue them to the appropriate pages.

If you’re running these off on a copier, you might want to have students trace around the hearts with a red marker to add some zip and color to their pages.

You could also give them 10 red heart stickers to place one on each card.

Children trace and then write the numbers and number words.

I did mine with markers, in rainbow color order + pink, brown, gray and turquoise.

To make this even more of a keepsake, make copies of your students’ school pix, cut into small ovals and have them paste it on the last page.

Boys use the king card, girls the queen.

Students cut their papers into 1/4ths following the lines, then sequence their pages and staple.

When everyone is done, read the booklet as a whole group activity to reinforce concepts of print, then have children pair off and read it to each other.

Students will then be able to read their valentine to their family--a double gift of love!

Click on the link to download the Playing Card Valentine Booklet

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for another valentine activity.

Do you have a cute one you’d like to share?  diane@teachwithme.com

If you print mine, I’d enjoy a comment! Thanks

Last summer 123 Count With Me By The Sea launched with our website, to rave reviews.

Students enjoy counting the seashells and then X-ing off that many squares, putting in stickers, or dabbing the boxes with a bingo dot marker.

I have been using this bingo-dot concept with my Y5’s for over 10 years on skill sheets, as well as “find and circle the number in the sequence of numbers.” Both these techniques are fun ways for students to learn numbers.

As with the seashell booklet, many of my booklets also have a cut and glue the group/set of objects to the matching box in your booklet.

This helps reinforce counting, one-to-one correspondence, matching groups of objects and numbers, as well as having students refine their fine motor skills.

Several subscribers asked for more of these counting booklets as they cover a variety of standards, skills and subjects.

Students can do them independently in 5-8 minutes so they can be plugged in for Daily 5, centers, or something for students to work on, at their own pace, when they have completed other work.

They also make wonderful “Easy Readers” that help reinforce word wall words and build self-esteem.

You can also tuck them in a take home folder for “homework” or a home-school connection; or for parents to work on with a struggling child.  They are perfect for a substitute as well.

I sat down to make a template and a list of all the themes for back-to-school and came up with apples, buses, crayons, and footballs. 

I made 123 Count With Me booklets for each of them and plan to make at least 4 for every month.

October’s counting booklets will be leaves, pumpkins, bats, spiders and candy corn.

To celebrate the launch of the 123 Count With Me booklets I designed a special counting booklet that has a similar format.

It’s entitled: The Students On The Bus.

This one is more of a keepsake, because students glue their own photo on the first bus and then 14 of their friends’ school pictures on the next 4 buses.

Teachers simply print their class composite on the photo setting of their copier for each student.

The last page is made extra special as well, when the teacher glues their picture over the driver’s face before running it off.

Click on the link to view/print The Students On The Bus back-to-school booklet.

Why not become a subscriber and be able to download all of the 123 Count With Me booklets (There will be approximately 40!) Click on the link to see how.

Do you have a counting idea that works for you?  I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com

Remember…commenting or sharing an idea are 2 ways to enter our back-to-school-button bracelet CONTEST! Click on the link for all the details.

LIKE us on Facebook and link this article and then e-mail to let me know, and there you have another way!  Thanks for participating.

This article will go towards next week's winner, which will be announced Monday August 8th instead of Friday the 5th.

Check out this week's winners in the article after this one.

Simple scroll down! (We had 3 winners!)

Be sure to pop in this week for back-to-school idea #28 and make an adorable Alligobbler to help your students understand the concepts of less than and greater than.