Sweet Valentine Math and Literacy Centers and Small Group Materials
This kindergarten teaching unit makes learning FUN for both boys and girls during the month of February.
You’ll love having one easy place to start from to teach all of the skills you are currently working on!
Familiarize yourself with the games and activities included and you’ll have a great set of lesson plans to cover your small group instruction in math or reading.
You’ll love how easy this Sweet Valentine Literacy Centers or Small Group Materials is for you, the teacher to implement!
After all, it is my motto to work smart, not hard.
Let me break down the reading activities, math activities, writing resources and craft template that’s included for you.
Reading activities
It has 5 reading activities. Each one is differentiated (and four also come with an editable version), so really you’re getting 20 different reading activity options.
Say what?
Yep – for real!
I wouldn’t expect that you’d necessarily use all 20, but I make it easy to find exactly what will meet the needs of your kinders right now. See the entire product preview.
The rest could be bonus material to use for RTI or to meet the needs of your accelerated students.
1. Roll, say, keep
Roll, say, keep is a game that is just as the name implies. Students roll a dice, say a word and keep their card as points. It’s a simple game used for reading or identifying.
How to play
Students use a deck of cards and play with a partner. The use a gameboard to lay out six cards at a time and take turns rolling a dice.
On their turn, they roll the dice and read the card aloud that is in the gameboard spot they rolled. If they read it correctly, they get to keep the card as a point.
Once a card is taken from the board, a new replacement card is put in it’s place on the gameboard.
Play continues until all the cards are gone or time is up!
Differentiated versions
There are four different roll, say keep gameboards included in this packet and four versions of cards.
- a version with 40 pre-primer sight word cards
- a version with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) three-letter word cards
- a version with blank printable cards
- a version with editable cards
You can see how I use the same game mats as above with students working on cvc words.
And for this student who is still working on letter recognition… we keep an alphabet chart handy for reference as they play independently.
I had letter flashcards already made for this student, but could have easily used the editable cards to make her set based on the letters she doesn’t know yet.
2. Fluency practice
You’ll get both letter-naming fluency charts which you can also use for students who need to practice letter-sounds.
There are three charts to help support students at every level so they can learn to:
- track print left to right (using a small number of letters to avoid being overwhelmed)
- do more by following a row of boxed-in letters
- challenge themselves by doing the most by following rows of letters
Then I’ve included nonsense word fluency charts that also come as three different levels.
These are designed to help kindergarten students learn to be effective at producing letter names, sounds and reading CVC words (like to practice for Dibels) in a way that is age-appropriate and scaffolded.
We’ve broken them down to give a “just right” amount of practice for where your reading groups are right now.
3. I-Spy and record
Playing I-Spy with my reading groups is one of my favorite activities.
Students use a magnifying glass to look for super-teeny hidden letters, sight words or CVC words and record their findings.
You can even type in your own letters or words on the editable I-Spy mats and then print. These are great to laminate or slip into a plastic sleeve protector.
4. Pokey pinning
We make pokey pinning designs a staple in our classroom and it’s amazing for improving fine motor skills.
We also call these sunlight sight word catchers, because they look awesome when you hang them in the window. The sun shines through the poked holes, revealing the image and words or sentence.
I’ve pre-made nine Valentine versions for you – that cater to both boys and girls or you can type in your own sight word phrase or sentence to match what you’re working on in class.
We’ve included pre-made designs that are ready to print or you can create your own with sight words you want to focus on.
5. Spin and change
Build stronger readers with this classic CVC word work activity.
How to play
Each students puts a stack of CVC words onto their own dry-erase gameboard. Then they write the word, spin the spinner, and replace a letter sound to match.
Then they write their newly spun letter in the word (in the correct placement) and read their new word aloud.
If they read their new word aloud they get to keep their card as a point. They repeat with the next card on their stack.
The player at the table with the most points at the end of the time wins.
Differentiated versions
There are three different spin and change gameboards included in this packet and one blank gameboard.
- a version to change just the beginning sound
- a version to change the beginning or ending sound
- a version to change the vowel
There are 27 CVC word cards included that can be used with any of the gameboard versions.
Math activities
There are four math activities included and each one is also differentiated. See how much you are getting in this awesome pack?
We’ve made sure to hit the most core math standards, making your job easier.
1. Addition bump
Bump is a fantastic game to play in kindergarten. Rotate in a few themed games throughout the year to ensure your students are getting fun, adequate addition practice.
How to play
Students play in pairs and have a gameboard, die (or dice) and linking cubes.
Each player takes turns rolling the dice and covering the sum with their color of a linking cube.
Here’s where it gets fun: If a number is already covered by the opponent’s cube, the player may “bump” the other player off that number and place their own cube on it. Hence the name of the game!
But, a player can lock a number to keep from getting bumped off by landing on that place twice and stacking two linking cubes on top of each other.
The first player to run out of linking cubes wins.
Differentiated versions
There are three different bump gameboards included in this packet.
- a counting version for numbers 1-6 (using 1 die)
- an addition version to add numbers 2-12 (using 2 dice)
- an addition version to add numbers 3-18 (using 3 dice)
2. Color by ten frame
Ten frames are now a staple in my classroom as ways to model the days in school, compose and decompose numbers 11-19 and as manipulative materials.
So, I have three different color-by-ten frame worksheets for your students. They use the color key in the directions to correctly color the picture to complete it.
This is easy to send home as homework.
It comes with three different versions:
- identifying numbers 0-10 (using a ten frame)
- identifying numbers 10-20 (using ten frames in tens and ones)
- solving equations 10-20 (using tens and ones in equation form)
Pick which level your students need and they all go home with the same picture, not realizing they worked on different skills.
3. Memory
Get your students making five and ten and building their addition fluency.
Play a game of memory (in partners) to find two cards that are added together to make five.
Or, use the versions that make ten.
Differentiated versions
This game is designed to help students see different ways to make (both five and ten) – and there are three versions for each number.
- Some students will need to use ten frames to accurately see how to add.
- Others will be ready to move on to seeing organized objects to add.
- Students who are more successful in this skill already are probably ready to move onto finding matches just using the numbers.
I keep these types of matching memory games are in my math zone/center as a staple activity. I just change out the theme which makes it feel “new” to my kinders.
4. Problem solving prompts
If you teach with rigor, then you know that engaging students in problem-solving opportunities is part of what we now do in kindergarten.
I’ve got prompts with multiple parts to solve to help get you started.
These work great to use in small groups. You can go through the prompt a few times, discuss what it’s asking for and clarify for students before letting them have some time to solve it independently (or together if the support is needed).
There is the full sheet (or half-sheet) for them to solve the problem.
Then you can talk together and share their responses, encouraging those that drew pictures to show their thinking and added words to convey their work.
Differentiated versions
There are two prompts for each of these levels:
- numbers within 5
- numbers within 10
- numbers within 20
The first prompt features a two-part question (which we know is tricky) and focuses on using addition or subtraction to solve.
The second prompt features a missing addend (oh golly, can this be tricky) or has a “ways to make” solution.
Of course, these are Valentine’s day themed and include storylines using candy and Valentine cards so your students can relate.
Writing and craft activities
Plus, there are writing tools and a craft included!
1. Class book
You can create a class book featuring your students’ opinions.
Students write their opinion on one of two Valentine’s Day topics we’ve picked (you can even pick your own).
Then gather everyone’s responses together to make a class book to read and place in your classroom library center.
Pick from multiple printable book covers or you can make your own with an editable template.
2. Writing starters
Get your students writing. Use these kindergarten-friendly writing organizers to help students thinking about what they want to write during their writing time.
Use one of the included five writing organizers to help students create a Valentine’s Day story or writing piece.
You can choose from these templates:
- web
- cycle
- labels/diagram
- bullet points
- brace map
3. Craft
Make a craft with a matching writing prompt to get in the holiday spirit.
All of the template pieces you need are included so you can print and go for this activity.
Let’s wrap it up
While this theme has plenty of “Valentines” colors and items, boys won’t be overwhelmed by red and pink since there’s a good balance with robots, aliens and animals.
Of course, you can always print the items in black and white to save on ink too and it still looks great!
As always, I’ve included teacher tips, how-to pages, and organization labels to make this entire unit ready to go into your classroom.
If you’re a fan of incorporating themes into what you do in the classroom, I hope this can help save you time. Get it now.
How to buy
More Valentines Day
- Teacher Valentine’s Day Playdough Gift Toppers
- Valentine Card Collection Keepsake Book {Printable}
- How to Make Cupcake Crunch for a Valentine’s Classroom Snack
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
I have windows that face south, so I like your sunlight site word catchers idea. I combined it with the wax paper valentine idea I saw at http://monthbymonth.scholastic.com/create.html in the 3 simple steps activity. I used some 1″ roofing nails I had in my garage to punch slightly bigger holes. Looks great so thank you for the idea.