Learning Fun With Number Bonds & Decomposing Numbers!

   Ok, so I will admit to not being up-to-date with all of this talk about Common Core. It's the latest and probably most disliked word in the field of education today for many in education. And as assumed, Common Core Standards are slowly trickling down into the preschool level.
    So as much as I want to keep all of the unnecessary and highly inappropriate ways of teaching youdng children at bay, I know that in order to prepare my preschoolers (and my 5 year old munchkin at home)  for what they will be exposed to in their elementary years, I have to learn more and embrace it.
    It doesn't mean I have to like it and agree with it 100%, but with all of the blogs I follow and the awesome work that I see created by teachers these days, I know that teaching with the Common Core is feasible and can be made to be fun for young children.
    Am I up for that challenge? Absolutely. If it means that my students have a better chance of success in school, then I will learn more about Common Core and find ways to make it engaging and fun.
   With that said, my kindergarten munchkin recently came home with some math homework on Number Bonds. It looked easy, I logged onto Pinterest to get some ideas on how I can help her at home and found quite a few ways to make this learning process in math something playful and fun.
Here is a fun little Snowman Mat that I made for her to work on number bonds and decomposing numbers.

She worked with two dice, rolled them and counted the dots to find out what number she would have to decompose. Then proceeded to use different colored snowflakes to create the visual. I then had her explain it to me. (Three blue snowflakes and four red snowflakes make 6 snowflakes.) Then I asked her to find a different way to make six.

Then we did the same activity with number seven,

It was fun and easy, so I made some Penguin mats to use with my preschoolers to simply introduce them to this same concept. We worked on making sets and decomposing the numbers four and five, by using different colors blocks to "feed" the Penguin.

Making sets of four:

Making sets of five:

Isnt't this guy the cutest little penguin? I love the eyes!!

     There are so many fun ways to teach this concept to kids and based on the thinking that was going on with my kids who are working at/above level, it was a bit of a challenge--which is what I feel they need every now and then, to avoid any boredom and repetition!

     So, as I learn more about Common Core and how to implement it, as well as all the good and bad things that come from it, I know that there will always be a fun and easy way to make it somewhat appropriate for the youngest learners.

Tons of Math Fun With Apples... and a little Freebie!

   We have been knee deep in our Apple Unit! My preschool munchkins have enjoyed the science behind apples-as we have learned alot about apples and have investigated the inside of an apple.
   We added in some math fun for our Apple Study. We read the book, Ten Apples Up On Top, by Dr. Seuss, and each child worked on their fine motor skills to stack as many "apples" as they could before they all came tumbling down. I used small foam blocks in the colors of red, yellow and green and also added little apple stickers, just for the fun of it.

They were all so very focused on stacking as many "apples" as they could.

    I think the most that any child stacked was twelve... and they all kept on trying to get their stack to be higher! It was good, competitive fun!

   Patterning is another fun activity that we did with Apples. We used the same "apple" blocks over the course of a few days, to practice making AB patterns.
   As an assessment type of activity to gauge their grasp on AB patterns, the munchkins created an Apple Pattern Crown. They created and glued an AB pattern, using two colors.

 Then we measured their little heads and made a cool crown!

    We also worked on our counting and number identification. I created these fun little Apple Count & Clip Cards (and picked up another set from Preschool Printables) and added some clothespins in our Math Center. Grab a FREE copy of my set here or in my TPT store!

    I have to say, the plastic clothespins I had were horrible! The kids kept managing to break them apart! I am definitely getting wooden clothespins for any future Count & Clip activities.

    And for a more tasty, hands on Apple math activity, we made an Apple Pizza! Talk about YUM! I have never made it before, but I knew it was easy to make. Turns out, it tastes alot like apple pie and/or apple crisp! Absolutely delicious!!

Here is the recipe:

Pie Crust: 2 cups of flour

                  1 tsp. salt

                  2/3 cup shortening

                  5-7 tsp COLD water

Prepare pie crist above OR use refrigerated pie crust. (We opted for the refrigerated pie crust!)

Place dough onto a greased pizza pan. Spread to the edges.

Slice 7-8 apples into thin slices. 

In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp. of cinnamon. Toss apple slices in and mix.

Layer the dough with the apple slices.

Topping: 1/4 cup flour

                1/2 cup sugar

                1/2 cup softened butter

Mix ingredients until it is crumbly. Sprinkle on top of apple slices.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

   The munchkins helped us in each step of the process: slicing, measuring, mixing, etc.

   Each child came to the table to slice up a piece of an apple... (Great fine motor work!) 

Some were obviously more skilled than others, but they caught on after they tried cutting a few slices.

The children helped to mix the butter, sugar and flour for the topping and helped us soften up the butter.

They mixed the apples pieces into the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

We laid the apple slices on top of the dough.

And added the crumbly topping.

We popped it in the oven and in 20 minutes:

 Delicious APPLE PIZZA!

Math IS fun..."No bones about it!"

    Our fun Pet unit is completely underway and the munchkin is having lots of fun learning and playing! I love it when, after breakfast, she asks, "Are we gonna do work today?"  She is such an eager little sponge who loves to learn and play, I tell you.

    To prep for this Pet unit, I grabbed a few pet related items at the Dollar Tree, such as dog treats, dog bowls, dog & cat toy and collars, etc. You know, things that the average pet owner has in their possession. And then I gathered a few of her thousands of stuffed animals to use in play activities.

    One of the activities that I had in her Math bin, focused on addition. She had two bowls, some dog treats and two of her stuffed animal dogs She rolled a foam die, counted the dots and gave each dog that amount of treats. When both dogs had their treats, she added them up and chose the correct number card.

    Another counting activity we did this week with the dog treats & bowls focused on counting and determining the larger amount.

She rolled the foam die to see how much to give each dog. She repeated it about 3 times.

Then she took out the bones in each bowl and counted how many each dog had received.

    After counting each bowl of bones, I wrote down the number of bones each dog had and she determined which doggie was the winner and had the most bones!

And for some more doggie & bone math fun, we played Shelby's Snack Shack Game by Educational Insights!

We LOVE this game!

    It is a great game for fine motor practice (as you have to grasp and pinch the Shelby clip to pick up the bones); as well as for counting and number identification practice.

    All these games are ones that she has repeatedly asked to play all this week, and has asked big brother and daddy to join in on the fun too!

    And just a heads up to all my avid readers and followers, I am prepping up for my First Day of Summer Giveaway, so stay tuned and be sure to check back tomorrow for details!

Fun with Math and Pete the Cat!

    Have you fallen into the Pete the Cat craze? We have been talking and learning about different types of pets, and alot of our learning and playing has been centered around Cats this week. And lo and behold, our favorite cat character made a comeback!
    We had a big Pete the Cat thing going last school year... and here we are again, knee deep in all things Pete. There are now quite a few My First I Can Read! books centered around the adventures of Pete the Cat. With the munchkin eager to read, we picked up a few and the whole obsession started again!
    Alongside having fun with the new books and reading and dancing to the songs in the older books, we also had some hands-on math fun, with Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.

   I felt somewhat crafty and made our Pete the Cat a litte yellow shirt from felt material. I am hopeless when it comes to sewing and ideally I would have sewn an actual shirt together BUT with the material that Pete is made of, there was no problem with the felt shirt sticking right to him! A simple velcro strip and velcro on the backs of buttons and we had a shirt for Pete... even if it was one sided!

    Anyhow, the little munchkin reinacted the story first, removing buttons as we read the story.

    Then I threw in some addition and subtraction work with the buttons, by placing a random number of buttons on his shirt and gave her a simple addition or subtraction problem and she removed or added buttons to find the answer.

And then she decided that Pete needed more shirts- so she made him some more:

THREE  more!  (That lucky Pete the Cat!)

Are you and./or your munchkins fans of Pete the Cat? 

If not, "It's ALL Good!"

Rainy Day Learning Fun!

   Well, things are looking great for my 1st Facebook Fan Giveaway and I ecstatic at how much it has reached my target audience! My fan page has almost reached 100 fans.... it is very exciting! I might have to start planning to have a "100 Fans" Giveaway very soon!
    Click HERE (if you haven't already) and join in on the giveaway!
    Anyhow, I know the past 2 weeks have been wild and my blogging routine was out of sorts, but I am working hard to get back on track. There are so many things to share with you, so let me get moving along.
   Is it raining where you are? It has rained almost every day this week and it seems the week will be ending with lot of rain. BLAH.... I guess it's good because then one day we will wake up and there will be lush green leaves on all the trees and  gorgeous flowers blooming everywhere.

    All this rain has inspired me to create some fun learning activities for the little munchkin. 

    The little munchkin is getting ready to end her preschool year and she is still working hard to learn as many sight words as she can. If I didn't know any better, I would think she really wants to be reading alot of words (and maybe even reading on her own) during the summer!

So, I made a few Sight Word Games with a fun, rainy theme:

Sight Word Match

Sight Word Spelling

(Both of these printable activities will be available in my TPT store by the end of the week)

Raindrop Counting

This activity was a simple, DIY idea that I came across at My Nearest and Dearest. 

Raindrop Rhymes:

    I made this game to give the munchkin some practice with rhymes. (Afterwards, she found that playing with the paper umbrella was much more fun!)

    We are in for some more rain for the rest of the week and I am looking for more Rainy Day fun for her to come home to! Please share any ideas that you may have!  

The Gumball Craze continues... and it's Freebie Friday!

   The Gumball Craze is still on!
    I took the Gumball Mat that we used to practice counting earlier this week, turned it into a spelling mat and the little munchkin was able to get some sight work spelling practice.

   And because my mind is constantly in teaching & learning mode, I am thinking of tweaking this even further to make a Letter/Sound Match Game. Oh, the possibilities!

Gumball Addition/Number Sentence:

Here is an addition activity she did. She chose two colors of pom poms, added them up, and then created a number sentence to match her picture.

   And then I asked myself: "What fun is a gumball theme if we can't work with REAL gumballs?!"

   So, I caved in and went to Party City to buy single gumballs (because there was no way I was buying a whole bag)  for another math game! I added in a candy scooper, an ice tray and a die.

Gumball Roll & Scoop Addition Game:

    She rolled the die once and then scooped and counted out the gumballs and placed them in the tray. She repeated that once more and then she added the total amount of gumballs she scooped.

    And the BEST part was that I let her try and eat one gumball after her addition practice! I say "try" because these gumballs were far bigger and harder to chew down on!!

    Now for the BEST part of Friday... 

FREEBIE Friday!!

    And because I failed to post a Freebie last Friday, I have TWO FREEBIES for you today!

    The first is the versatile Gumball Mat. In my past two posts, I have featured two different ways to use these mats and I am sure you can think of several more!

   The file also contains a blank sheet of gumballs so you can customize it to meet your learner's needs. 

    Click on the picture below to download your own free copy in my TPT store today!

And the other Freebie for you today is a Math Number Matching Card game... also Gumball themed! 

Click on the first picture to get your free copy!

Enjoy the FREEBIES!!