As we inch our way closer to spring (didn’t feel like it this week with all the snow and freezing rain that we got), we have been continuing to do spring activities in our classroom.
Spring Math Sensory Bin
We used this sensory bin last week to practice using tally marks. They seem to be a real struggle this year, and our students can use all the practice they can get. The base for the sensory bin is dyed chick peas (just put chick peas in a Ziploc bag, add food colouring and squish around), cotton balls and gems. Then we added the tally mark rain cloud cards and the recording sheets. Students picked a card, figured out what number it was, and traced the number on their recording sheet.
If you would like to use these cards in your sensory bin, the bundle comes with 10 sets for every month of the school year. Every set comes with ten frame, number and tally mark cards. There is also two recording sheets included: number 1 to 10 and numbers 1 to 20. They are so perfect to practice number sense throughout the school year:
Worm Hunt
At the beginning of the school year, my teaching partner and I saw that the fine motor skills in our classroom were abysmal. We were really worried about their writing and cutting skills. So we decided to implement a fine motor center every week to build on their fine motor skills. It has worked! Every one of our students have great cutting skills, and their handwriting has improved drastically.
This past week, this worm hunt center was very popular. Students had to pick up the pipe cleaner worms with the clothespin bird and put it in the nest. So much fun, and a great workout for their fine motor muscles!
Buzz Along the Number Line
We worked on adding with a number with our Hop Along the Number Line a few weeks ago (you can see that post here). So this week we challenged our students to use higher numbers with these subtraction task cards. Our students love using the mini erasers to move along the number line, and it makes it a lot more fun to learn about subtraction! You can get it here if you would like to use it:
Can you build a nest?
This invitation to create is perfect for getting students to problem-solve. We provided the students with the materials and a picture for inspiration- and they did the rest. They loved coming up with their own nests, and I love how every one of their nests turned out so different!
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