What we are doing in math this week:

Click here for your mat

This week I am using these mats to work on addition skills in my classroom. I colored the penguin's hat and scarf on the left green and made the one on the right orange. This is easier for kindergarten children to understand than left and right. I still have little ones pledging with the wrong hand! I am going to use unifix cubes in green and orange to have them build addition stories. Okay this is nothing new (you are thinking)

but I was in Walmart today and bought a cookie sheet for $4.00 that is magnetic. In another aisle I found magnetic tape that is adhesive on one side.



So now I can use this with a small group and model the activity easily and have students come up and manipulate the cubes. I will put magnetic tape on the cubes so they will adhere to the cookie sheet too.

Now everyone will be able to see what I am doing and this is a great way to provide guided practice for them. The number line at the top is a great way to use the cubes to figure out the missing addend. You might put 4 green cubes on and have students count how many more they need to get to 6.



click here for penguin cards to build stories

These cards are laminated and can be written on with a marker. It will prepare students for a worksheet where they will color in their addition story.