It was a hot one this week in the classroom. We got a crazy heat wave that is very unusual for us at this time of the year. Even with the high temperatures, we were able to have a lot of fun with our centers this week!

This super simple cutting activity is great for working on fine motor skills. I cut construction paper up into strips of different sizes (make this job easier with a paper trimmer), then used a black Sharpie to draw different lines and shapes. At this table, we were able to assess scissor skills and have students practice cutting along a line. This table is for two students at a time, and it was available for them to go to all week. It did get pretty messy with all of the scrap paper, but with a reminder to tidy their messes, students were able to clean it up on their own.

We moved on to working on tally marks this week. We read the book Tally O’Malley by Stuart J. Murphy to get us ready to use our tally marks in different ways. This math loose parts center was set up with different materials that students could use to practice using tally marks. We had popsicle sticks, these small matchstick wood pieces and small dowels, along with wooden numbers. The “Tally It!” work mats are part of my Number Sense Easy Print and Prep Math Centers. They worked great for introducing tally marks, the students that were beyond ten were able to make up their own numbers to represent!

Why is this picture so dark? The classroom lights were off because we were trying to cool down the room a little bit. We worked most of the week with the lights off just to get the small relief that it brings! Students were troopers and kept working through the heat, and they really enjoyed this Fill the Bus activity. I just added it to my Number Sense bundle, and it is perfect for working on ten frames!

10 Drowsy Dinosaurs is always a hit in our kindergarten class! We set out dinosaur manipulative and encouraged students to retell the story using them. If I were to redo this activity again, I would put out some ten frames too. I  think it would have been a great addition to this story provocation, but I didn’t think of it until after (I’m going to blame it on the heat making my brain turn to mush!)

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