Kindergarten Halloween Centers

So I have a love/hate relationship with Halloween.  I love that I get to dress up and how excited my kids are to see my costume, but I hate that the weeks before Halloween are crazy.  I love pumpkins and candy corn and cute fall decorations, but I hate anything scary.  Honestly in years passed I ignored  Halloween until the day of.  But this year I found and made some cute centers that I love and I've been excited to use.

In Math I have a roll to 20 game the kids love playing.  It allows them to practice 1 to 1 counting and it is a game so they don't even realize they are doing math.  Each player rolls the dice and adds the correct number of candy to the board.  I use the candy erasers from Target but you can also use candy corn or pom poms or anything.

You can find it here in my Teacher's Pay Teacher store.  It comes with Candy ten frames and a roll to 20, 50 or 100 game.  It also come in color and black and white.

Another math center I love is my One More and One Less Frankenstein Center.  I just love these little Frankensteins.   Students must write the numbers that are one more and one less of the number given. This math center covers numbers 1-20. A number line is provided for additional support. 18 cards are provided. Simply print, laminate and cut out the cards. Place in a bin with an expo number and optional number line. It can be used as morning work or as a math center.

I also have a Frankenstein Missing Letter Center if you are looking for an activity to practice ABC order.

What do you do in your classroom for Halloween?

Greater than/Less than Game

In Kindergarten, making learning into a game always helps keep little 5 year olds engaged and they don't often realize that they are practicing the skills you are learning.  This week we've been comparing numbers.  We've compared objects and numbers.

I then found this free and simple dice comparison game on TPT.

I also created a simple game with some paper bags that I had an abundance of and playing cards because for some reason we had 7 decks at home plus the 2 decks at home which was perfect for partnering the students up.  I removed all the kings, queens and jacks and split up the kids into groups of 2.  The game was simple.  Whoever had the bigger number would place their card in the bag that said greater and whoever had the smaller number would place it in the bag that said less.  If the cards were the same number they would put it in the bag labeled equal.  The best part is there is no winner.  No tears.  No one gets upset.  To them its just fun and they get to practice comparing numbers.

The game is also differentiated because the kids can read the numbers or they can count the objects on the card if they can't read the number.

You can also use uno cards or dominos if you don't have playing cards.  You can even put this in your math center rotation.  So many options and the prep is minimal!

Mini Eraser Addict

Hello my name is April and I have a problem.  I am a mini eraser addict.  I already can't leave Target without buying 7 more things than were on my list and now I can't leave Target without checking out their Dollar Spot and searching for the mini erasers.  I even have my mom who lives in Wisconsin checking her Target for different erasers and I had my dad who went down to Florida go to Target to pick up the Pineapple mini erasers I saw people posting on Instagram.
   This last time I went to 4 different Targets before I found the adorable bunny and egg erasers.  So I created this How many more to 10 Math Center which is aligned to the common core standard:  CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.4
For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation.

So check out this activity in my TPT store.

New Math Centers

So one of the struggles I have as a first year kindergarten teacher is finding materials.  My big struggle is in math.  I wish I had math stations for my kids to rotate through so that I could work in small groups with my kids but that is just not a reality this year.  Instead I have fast finisher activities for my kids that quickly get concepts to do so that I can work with my kiddos who need a little more attention.  However, the plan is that next year I'll have enough centers that I can do small group math instruction.

So over winter break I came up with 12 winter center activities and I am pretty excited about them.

You can find them here at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Winter Math Centers

I'm so excited to get back to my classroom, print and laminate them and get my kids using them.  Now to come up with spring ones. 💭