Kindergarten Math Contest

Friday we separated the two kindergarten classes into two groups and they faced off against each other one on one to determine who is the best & the fastest in math skills! We had six categories: shapes, calendar, addition, subtraction, counting, and number recognition. It was INTENSE!!! Several students won more than one category. They got these adorable little trophies. It was so much fun. ABSOLUTELY amazing to see how strong they are in math skills!

This little girl absolutely blew my mind with the way she was able to count on. This is a hard skill to get kindergarteners to fully understand but she has mastered it!! She dominated addition and subtraction. Way to go!!!

Counting champ!

She won shapes and numbers!

Calendar Champ- he has beautiful handwriting & used his tools to spell Saturday correctly. Way to go!!!!

So proud of our kindergarteners!

Ipad Addition & Space Men

He is a whiz at this! Didn't even ask directions!

Here he is teaching another student.

I use a VGA cable to attach the Ipad to the projector. So unfortunately the smartboard is not functional with this but at least the partner who is waiting their turn can watch. Plus the other groups watch and learn and I only have to give directions once. :)

Here are our space men! We use these during writing to make us more conscious of good spacing in writiing.

I just used old clothespins (thank you again Carolyn Bloodworth!!!) and taped a space man found online to them. The gap at the bottom and the space man serve as a visual reminder to put good spaces. After a few minutes they realize they don't actually have to lay their space man on their paper to make spaces but develop the habit throughout the assignment. These are available to them at all times & they LOVE them! :) 

 Here is one of my little guys using his space man to make wonderful spaces when writing a list from Lori Rosenberg's writing menu. We read the book Cowboys and he is writing a list of things cowboys wear to protect them such as a hat to keep out rain & sun, a scarf to keep out dust, chaps to protect their legs, boots to protect their feet, and things they use such as a lasso for roping cows & a canteen for water. He did a great job!

Caught in the Act!

Okay so do you ever have those moments when you are sitting at your kidney table doing small groups & look up to see a group TOTALLY doing something with a center that you DID NOT show them to do when modeling it????

Here I present one of THOSE moments....with photographic evidence!

SO I creep closer with my camera...trying to capture either a big NO NO or a Brilliant plan in motion...Which do you think it will be????

Closer...and they still haven't noticed me because they are so engrossed in what they are doing...

BRILLIANT BOYS!!!!

New addition and subtraction story boards

The kids love these! They are now one of the math centers they rotate through. I am thrilled that they chose the rug closest to my small group table to use this. As I am working with individual students or small groups, I can hear them telling their stories. Some of them are so creative. Others have memorized the little poem or song I taught them when modeling the correct way to use the story boards.

More Addition & Subtraction Story Boards

Robots

Apples

Strawberries

Addition & Subtraction Story Problem Boards

These were a lot of fun to make. The kids were so excited to play with them. I am in the process of making about 6 more pages. I just taped butcher paper onto a flip chart spiral thing & velcroed & hot glued like mad!  They are still pretty basic but I plan to add more stuff to make them more interesting. 

Stars in the sky

5 Pigs rolled in the mud 

10 Little Monkeys 

5 Little Ducks

Dice Addition

The kids love this one because it is up out of their seats & moving! Yet another center they have created their own variations for. They take turns rolling both dice or one each & combine their numbers to solve it. One student really worked hard learning the various dice patterns---instead of writing in numbers in the first two circles, he wrote in the dots for the dice patterns & of course since others saw him doing this, they did the same. They are awesome at recognizing dice patterns. This makes games go much faster & they are SOOOOOOOOOOOO competitive! Hard to believe there are cut throat competitive kindergarteners out there! You can get the recording sheets on sparklebox (http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/6041-6050/sb6050.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+co%2Fdjxf+%28New+Resources+from+SparkleBox%29#.T3xoqObFHas) Just click on download. There are several variations so be careful if you print a large number of the entire file. There is more than one page in there!

Math Facts

Yet another way for the kids to practice Math facts for addition or subtraction. They still draw little dots to represent the numbers (until they learn the facts solidly). Some are just online printable flashcards found here http://www.classroomfreebiestoo.com/2012/04/fun-in-sun-addition-flashcards.html, others are Spiderman or Disney characters from $ General. They use dry erase markers here as well. So much better than worksheets that will just end up in the trash!!!

Math Power Tower

Yet another Pinterest original. (Well.... from this original destination http://thegradetwozoo.blogspot.com/2011/02/another-math-printable.html) The kids love stacking! They are so creative in figuring out different ways to assign jobs for this one. Some will just show themselves the cup, figure the answer by counting the rocks (if they don't already know the fact), and then say the answer & check it. Other groups have one person in charge of the problem- they tell their partner how many rocks to use. Some divy the rocks up one set per partner & then add. They are awesome at finding variations!!! SMART KIDS! They are really learning their math facts quickly using this!  Pretty sure it is past time to add harder problems! I have always been fascinated with clear or see through glass objects so adding the rocks to this center makes it more fun to the kids because they are able to touch something of mine they aren't usually able to. I have switched it up according to holidays also- we started this around Valentines so they had those cute little translucent hearts in pink & red cheap at Target. The kids love all the little things they get to play with. :)

Pom Pom Addition

Kids were definitely ready for a more abstract way to practice addition. This center is awesome because it forces them to do each step of the addition problem. The egg carton has numbers 0-9 on masking tape in the bottom (because I can't bear to make anything permanent!). The kids close the carton & shake it. They have to write down the first number pom pom lands on, close the carton, shake it, and then write down the second number. BUT they know they are not finished yet because there is still a blank to fill in.