Math Monday (& a Birthday SALE-A-BRATION)

Happy Monday!

God willing I will be celebrating another year of life on Saturday so this is technically my birthday week.  Does anybody else draw out their birthdays and celebrate for a week?!?!  If I'm being honest, I don't do that anymore, but when I was younger I sure milked my yearly milestone as long as I could  :) 

This year I thought it would be fun to bring back that weeklong tradition I used to covet, only now I want to celebrate with YOU!  So each day this week I'll be having a little birthday SALE-a-bration and posting all about the topics you see posted below :) 

Now let's get on with today's planned event.

Today we're talking all about Math and I wanted to share with you some of my favorite tips, tricks, and activities for building a strong foundation in numeracy with your kids.  

These number anchor charts are a huge part of my instruction and one of my most frequently used resources in the classroom.  We all know how important it is for our kids to represent numbers in different ways and these anchor charts provide great reminders for them.  In Kindergarten, we focus on one number a week.  We don't teacher "number of the week", but we do have an anchor number on which we focus (whole group, calendar, etc.)  I place these on our focus wall for the week and then move them under the white board for easy access and reference.

Because numeral recognition and writing can be tricky for our littles, I also use this story about the "naughty numbers" to help my kids remember the direction the numbers face.  

Basically, Zero is the teacher.  He's where it all starts.  He's really serious about sequencing his kids in the right order when they walk down the hall and his only rule is that they line up in order facing forward.  1, 2, 3, & 4 do just as they're told.  They ALWAYS follow directions.  But 5 & 6?!?!  Well they're just up to no good and they're always turning around to sneak away from the rest of their class.  1, 2, 3, & 4 have NO idea what's going on behind them because they're always facing the right way.  But 7, 8, & 9 are appalled!!  They try to tell 5 & 6 to turn around, but they NEVER do!!!  They're just SO darn naughty!!! Works every time ;)

One way I reinforce numeracy is with my Number Line Prompts.  These are super simple and easy to incorporate into the day and have proved to be very effective!  

Each of my kids gets a laminated number line and a counter to keep in their desk.  I laminate and cut out the prompts and place them on a large binder ring and keep them in an easily accessible spot in my classroom.  When my kids are at their desks either enjoying snacks, finishing up a task, or transitioning from their desks to another spot in the room and/or lining up, I have them take out their number lines and counters and prompt them using the number line prompts on my binder ring.  These prompts are perfect for quick review.  I typically read anywhere from about 4-6 prompts at a time before moving onto the next activity/transition.  I walk around and observe my kids as they follow the prompts to ensure accuracy and provide help if needed.  Not only has this little activity helped to build a strong foundation in numeracy skills, but it's also helped to increase my kids' "math talk" and vocabulary.  Win/win! 

Composing & decomposing numbers is a skill we practice and review all year long.  Here's a fun little whole group game I love introducing and playing at the beginning of the school year.  We do this off and on throughout the year as needed.  My kids LOVE it!  Find a friend and make a 10!!!

Speaking of making 10, here's another simple to implement activity.  This one is perfect for an anchor activity (fast finisher).  

Another activity my kids LOVED for fast finishers (anchor activities) was our Math Missions!!!  They LOVED earning mission badges and completing their missions!!  TOO much fun!  You can read all about how I used the Math Missions in my classroom HERE in this post.

Problem Solving plays a HUGE role in my classroom, too.   I blogged all about different ways to incorporate problem solving into your daily routine back in November.  You can read all about that HERE and grab some quick and easy to implement ideas!!

I know this doesn't cover everything, but it's great to start with!  I'll be back next week with another edition of  MATH MONDAY and we'll be talking all about setting up your math block.  Everything from organizing materials to setting up centers and stations!  I started to included it all in this post, but lawd...it was TOO long!!  So we're saving it for next week instead.  

Now let's get to the SALE-A-BRATION, shall we?!  

Since we're talking all about Math today, all of my Math resources are 20% off today only!

That includes all of the resources mentioned above plus lots more!  Here's how to find them...

CLICK HERE FOR RESOURCES

Now remember how I said I don't celebrate all week?! I *kind of * fibbed.  I'm heading out to have our annual mother/daughter(s) shopping/lunch date today under the guise of celebrating my birthday.  I think that gives me a free pass from all domestic and parental responsibilities for the day...at least that's what I'm goin' with ;)

Have a GREAT day!