Math, Math and More Math!

This is my first year teaching kindergarten and I am still trying to find out "what works for me." Over the summer I talked to tons of teachers, blog hopped, and spent hours on Pinterest tying to find great ways to teach math. I wanted rotations that were easy for me to plan, allowed for the kids to work independently or with a partner and also incorporated other subjects (handwriting, language arts, gross and fine motor skills science and social studies). All of the other teachers I work with in kindergarten do math tubs. Basically, they have 5 tubs that are each filled with various games that the students can work independently on. The idea is that the tubs are full enough so if the child finishes a game they can put it away and pull out another game from the tub. This is great but I really wanted MORE! Call me greedy :)

It is week 3 and here is how I'm doing...

Every morning during calendar I introduce the number of the day (the number is always the number of days we have been in school). This number is important for the math rotations!

Rotation 1 is play dough. When the kids are at this rotation they are expected to make the number of the day using play dough and use the play dough to represent the number of the day with tally marks and dots. This activity keeps them busy for a while! Once they have done this they can play with the play dough and make whatever their heart desires! Playing with play dough is a great fine motor activity, especially if you throw in cookie cutters! The kids love it! The trays are from the dollar store, great for containing play dough and it allows for easy clean up!

How great is this! It sets up the next activity perfectly!

Rotation 2 is math journals. I love having a math journal! The kids get excited about this rotation, they feel very "grown up" writing in journals! :) Gotta love kids! This is another rotation where the number of the day is very important. The kids use their math journals to represent the number of the day in as many ways as they can. I stole this fabulous idea from my sister! I love seeing how creative they get with this activity.

Rotation 3 is folder games. This summer my sister, my mom, and I spent a lot of time making folder games that related to our social studies themes. Right now, we are wrapping up our Olympics and Me theme so the kids are playing Olympic math folder games! Love it! And boy do these games get competitive in my room!

Rotation 4 is sorting. This rotation will probably change throughout the year but since it is the beginning of kindergarten sorting is a must! I found these trays at the dollar store as well! Great for a veggie tray but BETTER for sorting! I also like having books out at this rotation because some kids can sort at lightning speed and then they are bored. Having math books there and waiting for those quick kiddos is a great way to tie in literacy. My mom gave me the book idea! Thanks :) I even found some math books that had great pictures of animals (BONUS! That also incorporates science into these rotations!).

Rotation 5 is fine motor and ordinal numbers. Since it is still summer time we have been reading tons of books that relate to this time of the year. So I decided to bring in some sea shells. Oh how I wish I was still at the beach collecting these shells. I found this cup tray at target for like 2 dollars! Great deal! The students start with the shells in the first cup and then have to use the tweezers to move all of them to the second cup and then to the third. I also have math books at this rotation as well.

Off to a great start! I like these rotations because three of them will basically stay the same for the entire year. Of course I will switch out the folder games to match our theme and also change the play dough to keep the kids interested, (hmmm...maybe shaving cream or sand!) but these really are teacher friendly and EASY.

Share your fun ways to teach math here! I would love to hear them!

Please check out our store! I just added a kindergarten homework calendar for September. I will be uploading a homework calendar every month so take a look and see if it is something you would like!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/September-Homework-Calendar-A-Month-of-Homework-for-Kindergarteners