Early Number Sense {freebies}

You made it…it’s the weekend!  Whoop!  Whoop!  I wanted to take a moment to share with you a few activities we’ve been doing in math.  I will also share a few fun and interactive games to play as well! 

Below is  snap shot of my days in school counting tape.  I mentioned before we are using Everyday Counts Calendar math from Math in Focus {Singapore}.  Each day we add a new piece to our counting tape.  I ask the students to guess what today’s color piece will be.  I always follow up with a “how did you know it would be…?” question.  I encourage them to always use their math words like above, below, next to.  However, I just love those “because I just know it is answer.”  I always respond with a “Yes, you are very smart and knew that…but you still had to think about it ahead of time!”

Zero the hero comes to visit us on the “0” days..hence the smile face 🙂

                

Anyway,  each day we meet at the carpet and make a circle.  We then count through our number line.  We clap on 10 and 20.  I then hand my finger pointer to a student and they “teach” us a card from the number line.  If they point to a number they might say, “this is the numeral 3.”  I have taught them the fancy word numeral…they love it!  If they point to the tens frame they might state, “this is the number 7 represented on a 10 frame.”  Finally, if they touch the fingers they say, “this is the number 5 using fingers.”  I have them alternate the teacher pointer boy-girl-boy-girl.

Click the below packet to get EVERYTHING you’ll need for your organic number line!

After this number sense routine we do another one of my FAVES…..dot card matches!  Sounds so simple because it is…yet very effective!  Below is a snap shot of the cards.  I am currently using just the numeral and dot cards.  I plan to add in the number word shortly! We make a circle at the carpet for this activity.

Here’s the jist of the routine:

{First time being played}
-point to the card and show students where the number one card will start then count out imaginary cards on the floor to the desired number you are working to…possibly 1-5.  So count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Each number move over your finger and point to where the card will lay.

-Pull out and place the numeral 1 card.  Continue with the remaining numbers 2-5.

-Then, move on to pulling our the dot cards.  Showing students how numbers can also be represented with dots!

I have now moved on to the following steps with my students and they are doing great!{Make it challenging}-point to the card and show students where the number one card will start then count out imaginary cards on the floor to the desired number you are working to…possibly 1-5.  So count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Each number move over your finger and point to where the card will lay.  

-Pull out random numeral and dot cards.  Possibly pull out the numeral 3 and have a student place it in the correct spot.  You can have them model how they knew where to place the card.  “I knew that one would start here so I counted over 1, 2, 3.”

Grab these cards and corresponding practice sheets below!

Another fun and exciting number sense routine is called Mingle!  It is best explained by watching the video below! {sorry it made itself a home at the very end of the post!!}

Finally, the last number sense routine we’ve been working on is count around the circle.  This is number sense routine takes lots of practice and patience {on the teacher’s part}.  Students sit in a circle and take turns giving a number in a given counting sequence.  Currently my students are counting to 10 and then we start over again.  I start with one and then we continue to count.  At 10 we start over again with 1.  Eventually we count to a higher sequence {100} and start at numbers beyond 1 {start counting at 23}.  We will get there I know…now we are just trying to stay focused so we know when it’s our turn 🙂

A break down of my number sense routines by day of the week:

Monday: Organic number line, dot card/numeral match, quick imagesTuesday: Organic number line, dot card/numeral match, MingleWednesday: Organic number line, dot card/numeral match, Count around the circleThursday: Organic number line, dot card/numeral match, quick imagesFriday: Organic number line, dot card/numeral match, Count around the circle

Below are a few random activities my students have been working on.  Again, we are using Math in Focus.  We are currently working on numbers to 10.
The above activity comes from THIS adorable five frame packet!  Students pulled a five frame, represent the matching dots on their five frame, write the number, and make the matching set using snap cubes!  The packet has several other cute five frame games!

I purchased these large blow up dot cubes from Oriental Trading!  I had the students stand in a circle and we took turns passing the cube.  The students would have to count the and state the number!  There are several variations for this activity 🙂

This acitvity and simple and effective!  Students roll the cube and represent that number on their tens frame.  Download the freebie ten frames boards HERE.

Number Bracelets!
 Read about them and grab these practice sheets in the FREEBIE packet below!

Below are a few snap shots from a new game we’ve been playing at the carpet as well.  It is called more, less, and the same!  I present the students with two cards and we decide if the card I mention is more, less, or the same.  There are picture and numeral cards to make it more tricky 🙂  This is another freebie that you download below!
2 is less than 3.
6 bees is the same as the numeral 6.

Click below to grab the freebie more, less, and the same game cards!

Below are some fun and engaging interactive math games 🙂

Click on the picture to view the link.

I will be back over the weekend…until then enjoy your weekend!