1-2-3 Come Do Some Fall-Themed Math Activities With Me

Oh my goodness this packet took a lot of time to put together! I hope you find it super-helpful and time saving, as it's chock full of quick, easy and fun math activities, that cover a variety of Common Core standards.

They are very versatile, so you can differentiate, making the lesson easier or more difficult, to fit your needs and grade level. (PK-1st).

Use them throughout the month for early finishers, extra help for strugglers, brain breaks, centers, review, table top lessons, assessments, homework, ESL help, or "just for fun” plug-ins when you have a few spare minutes. Tuck a few in your sub folder too.

Pick and choose what's appropriate and put together a Happy Thanksgiving packet to send home over break.

There are worksheets, several craftivities, puzzles, as well as dice, spinner & paper-pencil games, for the following:

* Counting
* Sequencing
* Ordinal numbers
* Telling digital & analog time to the hour & half hour
* Counting to 100 and 120
* 100 chart activities and games
* Skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's
* Sorting odd and even numbers
* "What's Missing?" worksheets
* "I Spy a Number" worksheet-games, for numbers 0-10 and 10-20, with a blank worksheet to program with higher numbers.
Perfect for whole-group assessing.
* Fact families
* Number words
* Strategy
* Coin counting
* 2D Shapes
* 10 frame activities
* Place Value
* Groups/sets
* Fill in the missing ad ends
* Addition worksheets and games
* Subtraction worksheets and games
* Tally marks
* Greater than, less than, and equal to
* +1 more worksheets
* +10 more worksheets
* "Dots and Boxes" game
* Graphing
* Listening & Following Directions

Wow! That's just about a little bit of most everything!

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to have a look see at this whopping 177-page, November Math Packet for PK-1st.

The featured FREEBIE today, also has a Thanksgiving theme. 

It's an educational placemat that you can use for your Thanksgiving feast, or if you don't do one at school, use it on that last crazy day before break.

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

I'm anxious to get some smaller Thanksgiving packets completed, before I run out of November! Wishing you a relaxing day.

"If months were marked by colors, November in New England, would be colored gray." - Madeleine M. Kunin

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Seuss Hat Activities With Me

Dr. Seuss's iconic hat that he created for his Cat in the Hat character, is the perfect vehicle to make some quick, easy and fun activities that help practice a variety of standards.  Today's blog features some popular Seuss-hat downloads, as well as "Rhyme Time", which I just finished creating today!

Teachers assign a word, or give students a choice.  Children write the word on the brim of their Seuss hat and then think of as many words as they can that rhyme. They jot them down on a sheet of scratch paper, then write the rhyming words in aphabetical order on their hat. 

As is often the case with Seuss, have students dream up one nonsense word, which they define on the back of their bookmark.  Completed projects make a sweet Read Across America bulletin board. Caption: "Hats Off to Wonderful Word Work!" or "Rhyme Time With the Cat in the Hat."

I do this Cat Hat Place Value Mat  activity, as a whole group. Students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns. 

This is a quick, easy and fun way to practice, as well as whole group assess place value.  

Another way to practice place value is with this Cat in the Hat place value game.

The 3 red rings show the 1s, 10s, and 100s columns.  Children "spin" them to make whatever 3-digit number is called out. 

Are your kiddos learning to identify coins?  Then I think they'll enjoy this "Cent-sational" Seuss hat craftivity, which reviews the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar coins.    

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick game, which includes a variety of ways to play. 

Students choose a  "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations that make that number on their Seuss-hat mat.  (Reinforce addition OR subtraction, or combine both).

This is an easy and fun way to practice and whole group assess a variety of concepts, including fact families. I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers. 

Time to the hour was another math standard that we practiced via Seuss's hat.  Students add digital time stripes to their hat by rolling dice.

They trace the stripe, place it on their hat and then manipulate the paperclip hands to show the analog time.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT slider, was my 1st hat "craftivity", which was made years ago before I had all of the graphic programs I now use, but it's still a popular download. The packet includes a variety of worksheets too.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.  

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket chart cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the Cat in the Hat story.  This can be done independently, or as a whole group activity. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket chart cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation. 

They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving a space, so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes. I made up 108 sentence choices, from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories, so  each students' hat will be different.  Completed projects make a nice bulletin board. 

Thanks for visiting today.  If you're looking for more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES click on the link to pop on over to that section of TeachWithMe.  I also have an entire board of Seuss-themed activities on Pinterest, with lots more ideas and freebies.   

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Math Core With Me

Yesterday, I published a huge 70-page Common Core Thanksgiving Math packet.  It met with rave reviews and became one of my top downloads this month.  If you want to read that article, simply scroll down to yesterday's blog post. 

As with most of my ideas, I have a zillion going on at the same time.  When a packet starts to get pretty big, I try to sort through items that can be used as a separate file, such as a particular craftivity, game or assessment. 

Such was the case with today's posting.  Initially, these activities were going to be part of the Common Core Thanksgiving Math packet, but didn't quite fit that worksheet and game format, so I pulled them to make the following separate activities that I hope you'll enjoy.

Mayflower Mayhem is a quick, easy and fun counting game.  The mayhem comes in, because in order to win the game, you need to use critical thinking skills and a bit of strategy, as there are several "routes" your Mayflower can take.  Some of them include shortcuts, so there's that to consider as well. 

Children pick a partner and take turns rolling the dice.  A roll of 1, 2, 3, or 4 moves your ship forward, where as a roll of 5, has you going backwards one space. A roll of 6, puts your sails in "irons" and your turn is skipped.

There's more fun to be had, if you land on the same square as your opponent; one of the perils of going in the same direction as your partner chose.

This simple and quiet game, is perfect for that crazy last day before Thanksgiving break.   Click on the link to view/download the Mayflower Mayhem Math game.

Fact Family Feather Fun, is a cute turkey craftivity that your students will enjoy making, while they practice fact families, writing them on the turkey's feathers. 

I added a "real" feather to the top of the turkey's head for that finishing touch. 

Turkey Talk, is a quick, easy and fun way, to whole-group assess: listening and following directions, numbers, number words, ordinal numbers and colors.

Because the teacher reads the directions, you can omit various steps for younger students, who may be at different levels.

Completed worksheets are really quite cute.   Click on the link to view/download the Turkey Talk Whole Group Assessment Tool.

Finally, I had a request for some Thanksgiving sliders.  Cindy, from Virginia, has used a few of my other seasonal ones, with her young kinders, and wanted to know if I had any with a Pilgrim or turkey.  (Didn't - - but do now.)

Sliders, are also a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess a variety of standards. 

I call them "sliders" because children slide the paper strip up or down, to locate an answer in the "window" of their manipulative.

I've included a boy and girl Pilgrim, a boy and girl Native American, as well as a turkey slider pattern in the packet. 

I made black line ones so your kiddos can color them, but also included ones in color, so teachers can easily make samples to share. 

There are slider strips for upper & lowercase letters, counting to 30, counting backwards from 10 to 0 and 20 to 0; skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's, plus one for shapes.

The packet also includes a 10 frames spinner game.  These completed projects, make a nice bookmark.

Click on the link to view/download the Thanksgiving Sliders & 10 Frames Game packet.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Winter has hit Michigan earlier this year and everything is blanketed in the sparkly white stuff this morning. 

About 8 inches, so it's time to trudge outside to try and unbury my car.  Wishing you a snuggly, warm-fuzzy kind of day.

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser

1-2-3 Come Do Some Fun November Math Activities and Games With Me

This whopping 70-page "print & go" packet has a lot of quick, easy and fun math activities, covering a variety of Common Core standards.

The activities are pretty versatile, so you can differentiate, making the lesson easier or more difficult to fit your needs and grade level. (PK-1st)

For example, here's a sample of all of the options you have for the "Hats Off"  worksheet.

Because students get to play a game using dice or one of the spinners, they really enjoy the math practice.

I think you'll also like the "Show Me the Number" worksheets. 

I have one for numbers 1-10, 1-20, and 1-30. 

Simply run off an entire week or month's worth and pick a different number each day. 

Because you've already explained it once, there's no need for continuous directions and your kiddos can get right down to business. 

Use the packet throughout the month for early finishers, extra help for strugglers, brain breaks, centers, review, table top lessons, assessments, homework, "just for fun" plug-ins, when you have a few spare minutes, or tuck a few in your sub folder. 

If you're required to send something home over your school breaks, pick and choose what's appropriate and put together a Happy Thanksgiving packet.

There are worksheets, as well as dice, spinner and paper-pencil games for the following:

• Counting
• Sequencing
• Ordinal numbers
• Counting to 100 and 120
• 100 chart activities and games
• Skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's
• Sorting odd and even numbers
• "What's Missing?" worksheets
• "I Spy a Number" worksheet-games, for numbers 0-10 and 10-20, with a blank worksheet to program with higher numbers

• Telling digital & analog time to the hour with this cute little "Turkey Time" Itty Bitty booklet.  Great as an assessment tool too.
  
• 10 frame activities
• Fill in the missing ad ends
• Addition worksheets and games
• Subtraction worksheets and games
• Tally marks
• Greater than, less than, and equal to
• +1 more worksheets
• +10 more worksheets
• Dots and Boxes game

As you can see, I did a ton of work, so that you don't have to!  Click on the link to grab your copy of the Common Core Thanksgiving Math Packet, and let the educational fun begin! Would love your feed back, as I'm thinking of making one of these packets for winter.  diane@teachwithme.com or you can leave a comment below. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  It's time for a much-needed break.  I'll be braving this snowy day (Yes here in Michigan we are already blanketed in white.) My daughter is treating me to a pedicure, so I'm off to go pamper myself.  Wishing you a relaxing day!

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Cat In The Hat Activities With Me

I love the hat that Dr. Seuss created for his cat.  It's the perfect vehicle for all sorts of interesting activities.  I've designed a few more for today's article that cover a variety of standards.  I hope you enjoy them. 

I've had a few requests for more place value items, so I designed the Cat Hat Place Value Mat activity.  After running off the hat template, you can make it more durable and add some red to the hat,  by gluing it on a sheet of red construction paper, then trim and laminate.

Run off the number tiles on Seuss colors like red, yellow and turquoise.  Each number needs its own color.  Laminate and trim. 

I would do this as a whole group activity, so every student needs 10 of each of the 3 kinds of number tiles.   Store the set of 30 tiles in a Ziplock snack Baggie and make a class set.  By having 10 of each in the Baggie, you’ll have extras incase students lose one.

Have students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns.  This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.

The packet also includes a certificate of praise.  Click on the link to view/download the Cat Hat Place Value Mat

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick activity.  There are several ways to use the Seuss Hat for different number games. 

Students can put the "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, on their hat and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations, that make that number, on their Seuss hat.

Children place the Popsicle sticks on the hat in such a way, that they look like an ABAB striped pattern.

Students can show addition and subtraction as pictured, or to expedite things, just addition OR subtraction equations.

This is an easy and fun way to whole group assess a variety of concepts. 

I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers.  I've also included pages so students can work on fact families.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT family slider, is a fun way for students to see the various AT family words that they can make by pulling on the "slider."   Click on the link to view/download the Cat Hat AT slider craftivity.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.   Click on the link to view/download the I Can Read Dr. Seuss bookmark-writing prompt.

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the story. 

Students arrange the sentences in the correct order and glue them to their hat. 

Click on the link to view/download the Cat in the Hat story elements packet. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. 

Run off the cat hat template on red construction paper. 

Run off the sentence strips on white copy paper.   Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation.  They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving room so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes.  So that each students' hat could be different, I made up 108 sentences from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories. 

Completed projects make a nice bulletin board.  A caption could be: "Hammer, slammer, whammer; ___________'s class really knows their grammar!"  Click on the link to view/download the Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  To view more Seuss activities, scroll down for other articles and more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES.

"I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells." -Dr. Seuss

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

Our Gingerbread theme was one of my Y5's favorites for December. (Mine too!)  It's pretty neutral, so if your district is picky about what you can and can't do at your school, perhaps gingerbread will be "appropriate".

A few years ago I designed the schoolhouse fact family packet, followed up by the haunted house fact families, so why not make a winter-themed fact family right; what could be more fitting for a winter fact family than a gingerbread house? 

I've made some revisions and added a few more things to this newest collection of fact family houses.  I hope you enjoy today's FREEBIE. Click on the link to grab it. Gingerbread Fact Family Houses.

I really like it when my activities match, so I've used D. H. Inkers' adorable gingerbread house for a variety of lessons that I hope you'll enjoy.

I had a special request from Erin, in Montana, for gingerbread house number cards, so I got busy and whipped those together. 

I've included math symbols and counter tiles, so you can do even more things with them + games and several bookmarks.

I also dreamed up an odd and even sorting mat, and thought it would be cute to sort via odd or even gingerbread house "address" numbers. 

To practice the format for writing an address, as well as help children memorize their zip code, I've included a "give your gingerbread an address" activity.

When I made up my sample, I wondered if there really was a city named Christmas Cove and to my delight there was!  It's in Maine, the state my son Steven, was born in.  There's also a Christmas, Michigan (my home state) as well as a Christmas, Florida. (Oh to be there right now!)  Simply Google cities with holiday names, for a list of all sorts of sites, with this fun trivia.

If your kiddo’s want to locate their gingerbread house close to Santa, 99705 is the zip code listed when I googled Alaska and clicked on North Pole.  There’s nothing there for over 400 miles though; and just an FYI The North Pole is NOT a land mass. 

This is a fact that you should really share with your kiddo’s, because of the Polar Express ( a personal favorite) and other stories and cartoons, many children think that it is.

The North Pole is a definition of the latitude, which is 90 degrees north. That exact location will find you in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, so I don’t think there’s a floating post office out there.  There are ice flows though.

The most northerly piece of land on earth is Kaffeklubben Island, which according to Wikipedia is 83°40′N, 29°50′W, and is 707 kilometers (440 mi) from the geographic North Pole. I've included more information in the packet, and found some nice photography on YouTube from the weather cams at the North Pole. Click on the link to take the trip.

For the gingerbread address activity and number card fun, click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Number Fun Packet.

This led to making gingerbread house groups/sets cards.  Cut them up and make into puzzles and Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games. I've included counters for even more options. Click on the link to grab those to go along with the above packet.

I also made a Gingerbread House Slider.  Click on the link for this great whole-group assessing tool.  I've included upper & lowercase letter strips, numbers, shapes, + skip counting sliders for 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's. 

Add pizzazz to your kiddo's houses with glitter glue, white puffy paint, or colored confetti.  I really like the candy-like look of the confetti. 

You can buy a bag at most party stores for less than $2. Stock up for next year after New Year's when bags are as much as 75% off.

To reinforce patterning, have students pick a pattern and then use a red and green marker to trace the numbers & letters.

TIPS: It's easier for them to trace BEFORE they cut their strips apart.  Putting a piece of Scotch tape on the back of seams also makes for smooth sliding. Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread House Slider.

Finally, I had so much fun with the confetti, I thought of a gingerbread shape game.  Children pick a partner and take turns spinning, whatever shape they land on, they color that matching "window" on their gingerbread house. 

When they are done playing the game, decorate the roof tops with confetti.  For that added bit of pizzazz, have your students cut their door, so that it opens, and then glue a photo inside. 

I've also included a gingerbread man button matching game in this packet too.  Children play this shape game, by rolling a dice. When they are done, they draw a face on their gingerbread.  Click on the link for the Gingerbread Shapes Up Game.

Thanks for visiting.  It's time to go catch some snowflakes on my tongue, while I frolic as a child with my little grandson Kaiden.  Wishing you a fun-filled magical day. 

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is to sing loud for all to hear; and of course whipping up a batch of gingerbread to share." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Spook-tacular Activities With Me!

Halloween is just around the creepy corner, so I thought I'd blog about a few of our Halloween-themed FREEBIES. Since the Fact Family Schoolhouses were such a huge back-to-school hit,  I thought I'd repost the Fact Family Haunted Houses.

The Packet includes:

• Fact Family "craftivity" templates.
• Fact Family spinner game templates.
• Directions and link for a home-school math connection, for fact family online-homework practice.
• Directions and sample of how to make mini dry erase envelope boards.
• Fact Family T-bar "mad-minute" skill sheets +
• A certificate of praise.

If you're looking for a language arts activity, one of my favorites is the Trick or Treat Word Family packet, which will help reinforce Common Core State Standards: RF.K2a, RF.K2c, RF.K2e

It's a fun way to review the -ick and -eat word families.  Students make this "craftivity" and pull the letter sliders through the treat bag windows, to reveal humorous new ways to say "Trick or treat!"

I've also included traceable word flashcards for the -ick and -eat families (28 cards) + another "Trick or Treat!" word activity game extension.  Click on the link to view/download the Trick or Treat Word Family packet.

Thank you for visiting today.  I design and blog daily, so I hope you can zip on over tomorrow for more FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away. 

To ensure that "pinners" return to THIS blog article, click on the green title at the top, it will turn black; now click on the "Pin it" button on the burgundy menu bar.   If you'd like to see all of the wonderful-educational items that I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart to the right of the blog.

I wish you and yours a very Happy Halloween.

"The whole idea of living, is to believe the best is yet to be." -Peter Ustinov

Taking Delight With Dominoes!

To review the concept of subtraction, read any story that starts out with 10 of something and takes 1 away until there are none left. My favorite is 10 Little Dinosaursby Pattie L. Schnetzler. You can click on my Dinosaur YouTube video to hear me read the story.

Another is Ten Sly Piranhas by William Wise.

Have students show you 10 fingers and call them 10 dinosaurs, piranhas or whatever is the key character in the story and then have them “disappear” as you read.

You can view an excellent musical rendition of the piranha book on YouTube Click on the link to check it out.

Bingo songs are also a great way to show subtraction.  I have made up quite a few.

My Y5’s really enjoyed singing these songs.  They not only helped them “see” subtraction in action, as the letter cards were removed, but it helped build their vocabularies and learn how to spell as well.

Click on the link for the Bingo Song packet.

Give students 10 manipulatives and have them practice taking away a specific number and writing the number sentences and solutions on a sheet of scratch paper.

If you watched my video above, and wondered about the puppets, I produce 10 miniature dinosaur finger puppets in a magic trick, so that my students can manipulate them for a few minutes to see "subtraction in action."

So where do the dominoes come in?

They are just another fun way to help students understand fact families in a hands-on way.

Spill out several sets of dominoes on the floor. Call out a sum and have students look at the dominoes and tell you which ones have that many spots.

Using their mini-dry erase boards that they made out of a glossy sheet of ink jet paper that were mentioned in the previous articles, encourage children to write the addition equation suggested by the domino.

For example, the  domino on the right, could have 4 + 5 = 9 as an equation.

For another activity, choose two dominoes with the same number of total spots, and then display them with one crossed over the other so that both parts of the upper domino but only one part of the bottom domino is visible.

Tell your students that both dominoes have the same number of spots. Can they guess how many spots are covered on the bottom domino?

When a correct response is given, display the domino and ask how they figured out their answer.

Do the example 2 or 3 more times, making sure everyone understands the concept.  Make sure you choose an empty-sided domino, so you can explain what happens when zero is added or subtracted.

Have students choose a partner and take turns being the teacher, so they can focus on the relationship of subtraction to addition.

Tell them to also sort the set of double 6 dominoes by the sums that the dominoes represent.

Set the timer for 5-10 minutes, then call the children together.  Show them how to write the 2 addition and 2 subtraction sentences, which a non-double domino represent, and then call on a student to choose a domino, and write their 4 sentences on their mini board.

The domino on the left, would represent the following addition and subtraction sentences:

5 + 2 = 7

2+ 5 = 7

7- 5 = 2

7 - 2 = 5

Repeat the exercise 1 or 2 more times, to make sure your students understand it and then have them either work independently choosing dominoes and writing equations on their recording sheet, or working with the same or a different partner.

If you are doing my Student Space Travel Learning Log, reward everyone with an alien or spaceship sticker for this activity.

I've included templates for a set of paper dice like the ones featured in this article. 

There's a small set for students and a larger set for teachers to use as flashcards + medium and jumbo blank templates.

I try to include several standards while I'm teaching math, so I've also included 2 templates called "Ready-Set-Sequence!"  You can review ordinal numbers at the same time you're going over fact families with your students and nail 2 birds with 1 stone!

I've also included domino fact family skill sheets for all of the fact families 5-10, an anchor chart, 2 posters, a happy gram + a certificate of praise.  I think you and yours will really enjoy the hands-on fun of this packet.

Click on the link to view/download the Domino Fact Family Fun Packet.

What Else Can You Do With Dominoes?

Would you believe that the picture of Abraham Lincoln (above right), was figured out mathematically, so that the artist could put it together with dominoes?

If you click on it and enlarge it, you will see the dominoes! I think this is absolutely awesome.

The artist is kind enough to share the “how to” so you can do it with your students, by only using 12 sets of dominoes. 

I get mine at The Dollar Store.  You can check out his other cool artwork and get the pattern by clicking on the link.

He has pictures of Martin Luther King and the Statue of Liberty as well.

One of the interesting things that I do for 100 Day, is stack a snake-like line of 100 dominoes, so that my students can watch them fall.

I knew they would think that was pretty cool, so one of the 100 day books I read is 100 Days of Cool by Stuart J. Murphy, who suggests putting dominoes together that have 100 dots.

Follow up the story or your 100 domino falling activity by watching these very short, YouTube videos.

To see what 60,000 dominoes look like falling click on the above link.  They took days to set up and only 12 seconds to fall!

The really cool Nintendo domino video that follows will also impress your students! After putting together my mere 100-domino snake and freaking each time I shook a little, I can’t imagine putting something of this scale together!

Once your students have enjoyed making fact families with dominoes they might be hooked and want to play more games.

The best site I’ve found for a huge variety of domino games, is at the Domino Plaza.  They’re a “must see” and have been around since 1995!

I hope you and your students are delighted with dominoes and how they add to the fun of learning and practicing  fact families!

Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything you feel others might enjoy.

"The important thing in not to stop questioning." -Albert Einstein

It’s time to Blast Off With Me and Learn a Fact Family

Since the Fact Family Schoolhouses were such a huge hit, I wanted to dream up some more things that would get students excited to WANT to learn and practice their fact families.

Let’s face it, things can get pretty tedious when you’re a kid, and teachers only have so much time to think outside the box.

That’s my forte’ and I had an absolute blast designing a Space Travel Fact Family Learning Log!

I really think this idea will get your students “hooked” and they’ll actually be asking to work on their math facts, because they’ll want to collect the “stickers”!  Collecting something is quite addicting to a child.  That’s why it’s such a hot market in the toy world.

Stickers are an easy and fun way to motivate them and build their self-esteem at the same time; besides, playing the games and doing the activities are also entertaining!

I’m not sure why a small scrap of paper is such a big deal to a little kid, but I’m all over it, because of its success as a motivational and incentive teaching tool.

I’ve designed several types for students to choose from; you print them off and they cut and glue them to their booklets, or you can use my clipart designs and drag them into a label and truly make them “sticky”.

The more opportunities you can think of to immerse kids in fact families, the easier it is for them to remember them, ‘til the light bulb finally comes on. 

“Practice makes perfect!” really rings true, when it comes to fact families, however, this can get rather boring.

“Worksheets” can quickly become “skill-drill and kill” sheets and is precisely why I don’t call tabletop lessons “worksheets”, but “skill sheets”.

Who wants to do work?  For example: Which statement gets you rarin’ to go? “Please do the worksheet on your desk.” Or…“Today we’re having fun practicing a skill by playing a game.” See what I mean?

Here’s How To Make A Learning Log:

Run off my masters.  Students will be taking a journey “…on a planetary path, learning fact family math.” 

Each time they learn a fact family, they get a planet sticker. Once they’ve learned ALL of the fact families in the galaxy, they receive the bonus Earth sticker for the “mission” accomplished” achievement.

They choose a rocket, name, cut and glue it to their booklet and are able to earn rocket stickers for a variety of in-class fact family work.

They also choose an alien friend, name, cut and glue them to that learning log page and are able to earn alien and spaceship stickers for still more fact family activities.

There’s also a page for miscellaneous reward and award stickers.  Here I suggest having a daily or weekly sticker posted, which keeps students motivated and gets them excited to work on some aspect of fact families, because they will want to earn that featured sticker

Finally, the last page is a congratulations page, where they have accomplished their math missions and their learning log is now complete!

I’ve included a fact family rocket spinner game, rocket booklet, traceable fact family number and equation cards, recording sheets, and other fun-filled fact family stuff for your students to do, to make collecting stickers and learning along their journey, most pleasurable.

Click on the link to view/download the Rocket Fact Family Packet   I hope you and your space travelers enjoy this packet as much as I did creating it!

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"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." -Malcolm Forbes