Fun, standards-based and age-appropriate activities and resources to help you plan smart for teaching math and teaching guided math groups.
Work on addition skills with a free set of rainbow-themed bump-style gameboards. Teach your students to play bump once and use it all year for varying levels of difficulty. In kindergarten, students should have strong counting skills and be working to develop a strong understanding of addition. I find that using games during our guided…
Work on addition skills with a free set of bump-style winter-themed gameboards. Teach your students to play bump once and use it all year for varying levels of difficulty. In kindergarten, students should have strong counting skills and be working to develop a strong understanding of addition. I find that using games during our guided…
Work on subtracting within five with a free printable game. Grab this free subtraction bump game to build your students’ subtraction fluency skills. In kindergarten, students should be able to add and subtract fluently within five. This easy-to-play game focuses on that skill and makes it fun. This Grinchy subtraction game is perfect to use…
Work on subtracting within five with a free printable game. Grab this free subtraction bump game to build your students’ subtraction fluency skills. In kindergarten, students should be able to add and subtract fluently within five. This easy-to-play game focuses on that skill and makes it fun. This dinnertime subtraction game was inspired by Mrs….
Work on subtracting within five with a free printable game. Grab this free subtraction bump game to build your students’ subtraction fluency skills. In kindergarten, students should be able to add and subtract fluently within five. This easy-to-play game focuses on that skill and makes it fun. This off-road subtraction game was inspired by Mrs….
Practice describing 3D shapes with this fun hide-n-seek game for kindergarten. Students will describe a shape using vocabulary to look for hidden pirate treasure. This free hide-n-seek game is designed to play whole group or small group in kindergarten. Let me show you how to play and give you the free download so you can…
Let’s talk about when you should teach each of the math standards in kindergarten. Your curriculum guide may have it all laid out for you, but if it doesn’t or if you teach using a guided math format you may need to decide this for yourself. To help make this easier – let’s first cover which standards…
Give your students lots of opportunities to explore place value concepts like composing and decomposing numbers 11-19 in kindergarten. When you give them hands-on practice over and over they form solid foundations about numbers that lead to incredible results. It truly is amazing what they can do in kindergarten and how they can work through…
Fill your lesson plans in December with fun, standards-based learning opportunities. Here is a free download to practice composing teen numbers (11-19) using groups of tens and ones. It’s my hope that you can integrate this free printable Christmas I Have, Who Has card game into your small group teaching in December. Teaching students to compose…
Learn to identify 2D shapes in kindergarten with this free roll-a-shape activity. Kindergarten students need to get familiar with basic 2D shapes like the rectangle, square, triangle, hexagon, circle and triangle right away. Here is a free beginning-of-the-year activity kinders can use to practice recognizing shapes. Let’s go over what teaching 2D shapes looks like…
Introduce how to describe 2D shapes by simply using dots and lines. Here is a free printable booklet to describe the attributes of 2D shapes for kindergarten. Let me share why it works, how I used it and how to make it for your classroom. Why it works This little mini-book could be called a…
In kindergarten, students are expected to describe shapes like a circle, square, hexagon and triangle with the number of sides and vertices. What’s a fun, smart way to get them practicing this skill? A game. Here is a free 2D shapes game where students feel and describe shapes with a partner. Let me share how…
While I think using a classic game like bingo isn’t always the most effective way to teach a classroom skill – I do think you can give it a twist and make it worthy of small group time. Here is a free describing 2D shapes bingo game I created that is worthy of such instructional…
Work on understanding addition sentences and composing the number five with this free bingo game for kindergarten. Bingo is a classic way to practice recognizing skills in a small group setting. Here is a ‘making 5’ addition activity we do during our math groups to help practice our Kindergarten Common Core standards. Why I made this…
Here are some favorite kindergarten videos on describing and naming 2D shapes. These videos are quick and very handy to use in lessons or during a transition. For example, you just might need a learning video to supplement what you’re teaching or a brain break video that can help get the wiggles out. Let’s look…
Teaching math strategies in kindergarten may be easier than you think. Here are the top math strategies for kindergarten that you can use in your lessons and the questions you should be asking. I’ve got everything I’m sharing with you today wrapped up in my Guided Math Pack for kindergarten. That way you can use…
People often wonder how to explain 3D shapes to kindergarten (especially when they have to be able to tell the difference between 2D and 3D shapes). Let me share my favorite way of doing this. If you’re looking for how to explain 2D shapes to kindergarten then you should check out these awesome ideas below because the…
Teaching shapes to kindergarten is part of many standards-based curriculums. When you teach 2D shapes, you’re covering some basic geometry skills your kinders will build from for years to come. Let’s look at how to teach 2D shapes and dig into some 2d shape activities and games to help you cover this topic. How to…
Teaching the basics in kindergarten can go a long way. I find it key to teach the little stuff right up front in order to make the benefits lasts all year. I think that teaching kindergartners how to draw 2D shapes would fit in the list of the basics. Not only do they have to…
Decompose and compose teen numbers like champs in your classroom with this fun, frozen, wintery game. This printable game board and pieces gives kindergartners the repeated hands-on practice they need to master composing numbers 11-19. It’s a composing/decomposing game that builds numbers up to 20 using groups of tens and ones. It’s fun and easy…
Making 5 is one of the basic and fundamental ideas that come from the Common Core standards in kindergarten. Students should be able to subitize, manipulate, create and pull apart very well in order to lay a solid foundation for further concepts. This year, I realized that I should’ve slowed down in this area for…
Number sense and learning to write and use numbers 0-10 is a pretty big deal the first nine weeks of kindergarten. Here is a set of materials that helps me teach kindergarteners how to form the numerals and teach them how to count one-to-one all the way to ten. Because, let’s be honest. Lots of kinders…
Here is a measurement activity for kindergarten. This free measuring activity uses a printable and some linking cubes – which I’m sure you probably already have on hand in your classroom. During the first week or two of school, I’d read the book (affiliate) Titch by Pat Hutchins. It’s a simple read aloud and I like to…
Teach how to draw a ten frame so that it can be used as a tool throughout the year to show groups of ten – perfect for composing and decomposing numbers. This is a hugely important skill! I am laying the foundation for all of that now by teaching them how to draw it… I…