Flexible Calendar Math Ideas (Plus a FREEBIE)

Do you do calendar math in your classroom?

If you don't, you may want to consider making time for this activity.

Calendar math is the perfect time to quickly review math skills and lay the ground work for upcoming instruction.

If you already do calendar math in your class, it might be time to revisit it and make a few tweaks, to better serve your young learners.

Here are a few simple ideas to create flexibility in your calendar math setup and maximize this instructional time in your classroom.

Pictured below is the flexible calendar math setup in my class.

It's on a magnetic white board. Since the board is magnetic, it is effortless to trade out skills. If you do not have a magnetic white board available to you, you can use pocket charts, velcro, and clips to change out desired skills.

On my current calendar math board I have a magnetic calendar, a 120 chart, a number of the day activity, a number line, and a touch number display. 

Because the board I use for calendar math is not very big, I have some other math related mini anchor charts clipped beside the board. Since they are clipped up, they are very easy to change.

Speaking of clips, I also use them on my white board. They hold the headings for each skill. Again, these clips make changing skills very quick and easy.

In addition to the clips, I added some self adhesive magnets to the back of other manipulatives and charts to use on my calendar math board.

If you would like a free set of the headings and other elements from my calendar math board, you can click here.

Some of my magnetic manipulatives are not "homemade" (like my base ten counters). You can find all sorts of magnetic math manipulatives online. These type of manipulatives will certainly save you some time.

Here are some of the resources that are helpful when creating a flexible calendar math area...

*a large magnetic calendar set

*magnetic base ten counters

*a magnetic clock

*a number chart poster

*magnetic ten frames

*magnetic pattern blocks

*magnetic fraction circles/tiles

*display clips

*self-adhesive magnets

*the board I use is 48 x 48

In addition to the whole group calendar math time, I also incorporate some independent calendar math skills during our math small groups (and sometimes for morning work).

Each month I put together a Calendar Connection booklet for my students. These booklets are a great way to hold students accountable for the skills we cover during our calendar math time and provide lots of great review.

Our Calendar Connection booklets are also very flexible. I can make them as short or as long as I need. Skills in these booklets include work with calendars, completing number charts, skip counting, graphing, word problems, number representations, and more.  

If you are interested in incorporating a written component to your calendar math, click on the picture below to check out my Calendar Connection.

You can also click here for a FREE sampler of the Calendar Connection.

Calendar math is a perfect way to reinforce math skills. If you are looking to add calendar math to your routine or are just looking for inspiration to make a few updates. I hope the ideas here will help you as you look for ways to best help your young learners.

Thanks for stopping by!

School Is a Happy Place is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associated Program, an affiliate program that allows this site to earn advertising fees.
Please know that all of the recommendations on this site are authentic and come from personal experience.

Last Minute Thanksgiving Resources {Including a FREE Directed Drawing}

Happy almost Thanksgiving. :)
I love this time of year.  The holiday season is just getting started. It's not yet December, so my kids aren't too crazy yet. Best of all, some delicious holiday eating is only days away.
To help take advantage of this special time, I thought I'd share a few Thanksgiving themed resources. I'll started with a quick and simple Turkey Directed Drawing.

This directed drawing is a favorite of my students. They always seems so surprised with their directed drawing creations and this turkey is no exception. These directed drawings make an adorable display that students are sure to be proud of.  Plus, this drawing is super simple to teach.

Click here for your FREE copy of my Turkey Directed Drawing.

Another resource I'll be using, during the days leading up to Thanksgiving, is my On Point Leaning Journal for November.  I've used these print-and-go math and literacy activities in a variety of ways over the years (depending on my group of students).  

In the past, I've made my On Point Learning Journal into a booklet that students work on at their own pace (if they've completed all of their work).  This year, I've been using the activities in small groups for review and reinforcement of skills from earlier in the year. Having quick-prep and meaningful, seasonally inspired activities makes planning a snap.

Click here for more details about the On Point Learning Journal for November.

One final Thanksgiving themed resource I'd like share is my Perky Turkey Fact Family Scoot. I actually created this scoot a few years ago.  Originally it was a subtraction scoot.  Well, this year, my students are in need of a little extra practice with fact families.

I tweaked the original Perky Turkey Subtraction Scoot so that my young learners can have a chance to work with fact families.

Students will scoot to each turkey card and write the fact family numbers on their recording sheets.  Then, students will write a fact family with each set of numbers.

My students love scoot and write the room. I know they'll enjoy practicing fact families with this activity.

Click here if you would like a FREE copy of Perky Turkey Fact Family Scoot.

I hope these resources are a help for you in the weeks/days leading up to Thanksgiving.
Thank you for taking time to visit School Is a Happy Place.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Nonstandard Measurement: A FREE Resource

I love teaching nonstandard measurement in my class. There are so, so many hands-on ways to practice this skill. 

I put together a prep once and use multiple ways activity to take advantage of the variety of units students can use for nonstandard measuring.

Rainy Day Nonstandard Measurement is a set of activities that is perfect for springtime.  It features twelve measurement cards and an array of recording sheets that allow students to use different units of measurement.

Pictured below are some of the ways Rainy Day Nonstandard Measurement can be used.  The activities are in no particular order.

First off, students may measure the measurement cards with raindrops.  The raindrops are on the recording sheet.  Students simply cut them apart and line them up to measure each object.

Students can also use cubes for measuring.  Each student will need about ten cubes to complete this version of Rainy Day Nonstandard Measurement.

Next up is measuring with round counters.  (I tried to keep in mind what kind manipulative are generally available in most classrooms).  Students will need about ten counters for this version of the activity.

The final option features a unit of your or your students' choice.  Decide what kind of unit(s) you would like for your students to use.  You can put out a few choices for your students to pick from or you can assign a unit.  Some possible options are pennies (or any other coins), pattern blocks, paperclips, erasers, etc.  Students will write the unit they used near the top of their recording sheets.

For my class I printed the measurement cards four times on different colored paper.  During math small groups, students partnered and shared the cards.  Four sets worked perfectly for my groups.
On a side note, when printing multiple sets of the same activity, I like to print on different colors of paper.  That way, if a card accidentally gets separated from its set, it's easy to return it where it belongs.

It is no problem if you do not have time or resources to print and laminate sets of these cards.  You can always print the cards on copy paper and toss them when finished or let students color their own sets.

I really like this activity because I can prep my materials once and use them (well really) as many times my students need. If you would like your own FREE copy of Rainy Day Nonstandard Measurement, you can click here.

Oh, by the way...I also included a nonstandard measurement assessment in this resource as well. 

I hope you and your students enjoy this activity.  Thanks for stopping by.

A Visit to the Solid Shape Museum

Last week we wrapped up our geometry unit with our Solid Shape Museum.  This activity is a favorite of mine.
I often change activities from year to year.  I guess I'm always looking to see if some new approach might be better than another.  But, the Solid Shape Museum has been a keeper.
The Solid Shape Museum is fun for students, it gives them a chance to tie-in real world examples to our math, and it is a fabulous assessment tool.  It's a  win-win-win.
Not that, over the years, I haven't tweaked how we've done our Museum.  For example, this year I added some shapes, to the ones students had to bring to class.  I also changed the recording sheet students completed at the finale of the Museum.  But, by in large, the concept of the Solid Shape Museum has stayed consistent.

Here's how it works...
Students bring in "real world" objects that represent the 3D shapes we've been studying in class.  Some shapes are easier to find than others.  As you can see from the picture above, triangular pyramids and square pyramids were particularly challenging to find.  Which is fine.  Seeing the difference in the number of objects brought in led to an interesting class discussion.
Students take turns presenting their objects.  They tell what the object is and tell what shape it represents.  Then they place the object in the correct category in the Museum.

After all the presentations conclude.  Students complete a recording sheet by choosing one object for each shape to illustrate and label.
I told them they could pick any object they wanted to illustrate.  They didn't just have to illustrate their own objects.  That way, if a students didn't bring in items, they still could participate in this part of the activity.

If you would like a free copy of the parent note, recording sheet, and signs that I used for our Solid Shape Museum, click here.

Like I mentioned before, we do the Solid Shape Museum at the end of our geometry unit.  For the weeks leading up to the Museum, we are working hard to learn about 2D and 3D shapes.
Our geometry unit consists of read alouds, hands-on centers, and independent assignments.
As my students progress toward mastering these geometry skills, they truly benefit from having visuals, such as anchor charts and models, around the room.  (If you would like a free copy of the 3D shape mini anchor charts pictured below, you can click here.)

They also really benefit from having hands-on models of 3D shapes to complete tasks in class.  Students need to put that their hands on shapes to really understand faces, edges, and vertices on 3D shapes.

I bought a class set of 3D shapes from Oriental Trading.  There are enough shapes (240 pieces in all) in this set for each student to have each shape.  These shapes are a huge help when students are working with a partner or working independently on 3D shape tasks.
How else would students actually test if shapes can stack, slide, or roll?  Before I had a class set of shapes, I would use my teacher set to demonstrate stack, slide, or roll.  Now, students can do it on their own.  I love this set of shapes.  It was $20 well spent.

If you are looking for more ideas and activities to use in class for your study of geometry, you may way to check out my Shape By Shape {Hands-On Activities with 2D & 3D Shapes}.  This set of activities focuses on 2D and 3D shapes.  It includes, anchor charts, eight centers (with recording sheets), and a game of I Have. Who Has?  

For more details, you can click here or on the picture below.

Geometry can be a really fun unit in math.  Adding real world connections and hands-on experiences help students grasp these important concepts in a fun and engaging way.

Best.

Free Number Line Activities Your Students Will Love

I have a confession, number lines are not my favorite tools for adding and subtracting with my young learners.  I always teach how to use them, but I don't spend very much time on them.  My main issue is that, students will not always have access to a number line.  I don't want them dependent on a tool that they may or may not be able to get their hands on.

However, after doing a bit of research about some of the additional benefits of number line learning, I started to rethink my feelings about them.  Besides solving basic addition and subtraction equations, familiarity with number lines helps students as they work with all sorts of other math tools.  Graphs, thermometers, clocks, and rulers all include number lines.  

Not only can our work counting forward and backward on a number line help us to add and subtract, it can also lay the group work for upcoming mathematical concepts.

Since I had a change of heart about the importance of number lines, I decided to devote more time to them this year.  Here are a couple of quick activities I used with my students that they really enjoyed.

First up is our Life-Size Number Line.  I used this big number line for a whole group activity, but you can easily adapt it for a small group or center activity.

I created it by printing the numbers 1-20 and laminating them.  I made my line with some masking tape and then placed the numbers on top.  The line wasn't straight and the numbers were't perfectly spaced, but that didn't matter at all.

I made several slides for our interactive white board with basic addition and subtraction equations.  (A regular white board will work just as well.) 

Students came to the number line individually.  They read the equation to the class and then they solved it on the number line.  They loved it so much that I used it with them the next day to solve word problems.  (one prep and two activities #forthewin)
Not only did the kids love it, I really liked using the Life-Size Number Line because it was an easy way to make sure students understood how to correctly move the number line.

If you would like to use this activity with your students, click on the picture below for a free copy of the Life-Size Number Line .

Another number line activity I incorporated was a quick and easy number line game.  (I'm always looking for ways to use my Target Dollar Spot erasers and this activity was perfect.)  All you need are some kind of game pieces, a number line, and a spinner (if you don't have a spinner, just use a paper clip and a pencil).  This game works well with two to three players.

To play, students take turns spinning.  If a student lands on plus five, he moves his game piece forward five spaces.  If he spins minus two, he moves his piece back two spaces.  The game continues until the first player reaches the end of the number line.
This activity was wonderful practice for students counting on and counting back.  Since we've covered addition and are nearing the end of our subtraction unit, the Number Line Spinner game gave students a chance to begin mixing their facts.

I plan on adding this game to our Early Finishers menu since the rules are so simple and there are so few pieces.  

If you'd like a FREE copy of this my Number Line Spinner game, click on the picture below.

There you have it, two simple ways to add a little more variety to your number line routine.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Happy teaching!

We've Got This (Activities and Freebies for Basic Fractions)

Hi all.
So happy to finally have a chance to touch base about some of the learning we've been doing.  Usually the last three or so weeks of the school year are extra busy.  But, something is going on this year that seems to have caused the craziness to hit a bit early.
Even though summer break is on the horizon, I need to slow down time with my young learners.  This year's class is an awesome group of kids.  However, some of them have consistently needed lots of lots of extra work with various math skills.

For the past few weeks, we worked and worked and then worked some more on basic fractions.  And true to form, quite a few of my little sweeties needed plenty of time and practice to grasp the concept of fractions.
Here are some of the resources and activities we used to understand halves, thirds, and fourths...

I used these simple anchor charts to introduce and discuss fractions.  We referred to them often during our fraction unit.  I took them down this afternoon, whole punched them in one corner, and added them to a ring.  They will be in our anchor chart tote for easy access for quick reviews.

If you would like a FREE copy of these anchor charts, click here.

Of course hands on practice is the best way for students to learn about fractions.  One fun activity we did was to use play dough to show fractions of whole shapes.
I made these quick and easy shape work mats.  Students used the mats to help them form each shape.  Then, using plastic knives, they divided the shapes into a specific fraction.
My firsties absolutely loved this activity.  Some of them actually asked to get it out during a rainy day recess.

If you would like a FREE copy of the shape work mat, click here.

In addition to our work with play dough fractions, we did lots of center activities involving fractions.

Students sorted food items divided into equal and unequal parts.

They matched fractional shapes with the correct fraction number.  

They sorted fraction/shape cards depending if the fraction on the card was correct (yes) or incorrect (no way).

They also worked with some print and go activities.  Students enjoyed making flip books to show what they know about fractions.

If you are interested, this flip book, the centers pictures above, and much more are available in my new packet, Fraction Friends {Centers and Printables for Basic Fractions}.  You can click on the picture below or visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you would like more details.

What are your go to activities and resources for teaching fractions?  I'd love to know.  I'm always on the look out for great ideas.
Thanks for stopping by.
Best.