Monday, April 23, 2012

April Math Stations

Now that it's April my kinders can really do a lot in math! We just wrapped up our unit on measurement about a week ago, and have moved on to learning about addition, so our stations have lots of measurement and addition practice. Next month we'll study subtraction and then do some final review before the school year ends! I think my kinders are in great shape math-wise this year since they have gotten so much math practice each day from our work stations.

Here's some of what we've been up to at our math stations this month.

Station 1: Bug Jar Counting
(Each bug jar has a number at the bottom and students count out that many bug erasers into the jar. I made lots of jars so my students could practice with the numbers 1-31. I can't remember where I got my jar template, but here is a free mason jar template I found that is very similar.)

Station 2: What Comes Next?
(Students roll a die and write the number they rolled in the square. Then they write the numbers that come after that number in the carrots next to the square. Good counting and number writing practice! You can download this cute game for free from Kindergarten Hoppenings.)

Station 3: Adding Up Strawberries
(Students roll a die a place that many strawberries in the first basket on their workmat. Students then roll the die again and place that many strawberries in the second basket on their workmat. Students record the addition problem they have made on the recording sheet and then solve the addition problem. I got these plastic strawberries from Lakeshore, but you could also just use red unifix cubes and have the kids pretend they are strawberries. You can download my free workmat here and the recording sheet here. I copy the recording sheet back-to-back so they have space to do more addition problems.)

Station 4: Egg Addition
(Students open up a plastic egg and take out the erasers that are inside. Inside each egg I put different combinations of bunnies and carrots. Students write an addition sentence for adding together the bunnies plus the carrots and solve for the answer. My students used a recording sheet I got from Mrs. Ricca's April Math & Literacy Centers, but in the past I have also done this game with students just writing the addition problems on scratch paper. The mini erasers are from Target.)

Station 5: Hatching Numbers
(Students roll two dice, add the numbers together, and trace the sum on their recording sheet. This game, with the darling graphic of the very hungry caterpillar, is from Mrs. Wills' Incredible Egg Oviparous Math Work Stations.)

 Station 6: Best Cookies Ever!
(Students pick a cookie card and solve the addition problem written on the cookie. Students then record the addition problem on the recording sheet and set the cookie card on the cookie jar showing the correct answer. I let my students use unifix cubes to help them solve the addition problems as they played this game. This game is from Mrs. Wills' Frog and Toad Literacy and Math Stations.)

Station 7: Egg-cellent Measuring
(Students measure different sized eggs with unifix cubes and recorded the lengths on the recording sheet. This fun game is from Mrs. Ricca's April Math & Literacy Centers.)

Station 8: Picnic
(Students roll two dice and cover up the picnic basket with the sum on the game board. This game is from Mrs. Wills' Frog and Toad Literacy and Math Stations.)

Station 9: Domino Addition
(Students pick a domino, draw what their domino looks like, and write the corresponding addition problem for their domino. You can download the recording sheet for free here.)

Station 10: Measuring Weight With Carrots
(Students weighed classroom objects in our balance scale to see how many carrots they weighed. I found these little carrot erasers at Target and they were fun to use to weigh different things. If you bought these same erasers and want to have your students measure objects with them, you can grab my free recording sheet here.)

Hope you got a few new math station ideas! I'd love to hear what math stations your students are working on right now!

6 comments:

  1. I love all of the ways to practice addition...and the little carrot erasers!
    Michelle
    Apples and ABC's

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  2. Hi Meredith, love your blog, I just found it as I was looking for some learning activities for kids. Just wanted to give you a big thank you for putting out so much effort giving quality information for parents.

    I'm subscribing to your posts so I'll be sure not to miss any of your tips. I'm sure I'll be sharing some of your posts with my own Pinterest, Facebook and email subscribers which I'll be sure to credit you as the source. Looking forward to reading more tips from you. Keep up the great work!

    Best,
    Andrew
    Founder of http://StoryTimeForMe.com

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  3. Hi Meredith,

    I am your newest follower! I am so happy to have stumbled upon your blog. I'd love to see more of your centers....I cannot wait to continue & explore your posts!

    Maureen
    http://kdg-frogs.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Meredith,
    How do you explain your math stations/centers quickly? I love your ideas and would love to know how you manage them and make sure that students know what to do and are on task.
    Thanks!

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  5. Hi Meredith,

    I am wondering how you eplain all of your math centers quickly so that students know what to do at each one? How do you manage them and make sure students are on task while also running small groups? I love your centers!

    -Ashley

    ReplyDelete