Flying Saucers

What's that in the math station tub?  A bird?  A plane?  It's a UFO!  One of the "alien addition" themed activities this week is Flying Saucers!  The kids have a bucket full of 20 flying saucers {really they are those 25 cent machine prize pods}  and they choose a saucer, read the addition fact inside, then solve the problem on their recording sheet!  Just something a little different from the old math worksheet!  Parents, please keep working with your first grader on doubles (to 20), doubles +1 (to 20), and addition facts to 10!  If anyone has fun ideas or things you have tried for home practice with addition, please share!!!

{Click the picture above to download a copy of Flying Saucers!}

Alien Addition!

 You've seen the penguins...now meet my little green space aliens!  They have arrived just in time for "Adventures in Space" week!  I found these green pebbles at Hobby Lobby, and created unique faces on each one using a black sharpie!  I can't wait for the kids to see these!  I am thinking about giving each child one to keep as a little alien pet--they can write about them, introduce them to planet Earth, and "imagine up" a name and planet where their new and unusual friend used to live!  I will be using the rest as counters and addition helpers.  I found the cutest flying saucer notepad {pictured below} at the Parent-Teacher Store, and will have the kids create story problems using the mat and aliens.  Stay tuned for more alien addition activities this week! Space ROCKS!

Bowling for Facts!

Today during math stations, the kids went bowling for addition facts...without the real pins and bowling balls, but still pretty fun! This is a partner game, and each player gets a bowling mat and a handful of colorful chips (I call them mini bowling balls). The players take turns rolling 2 dice, then adding the sums of the numbers rolled. When one of the players rolls a number found on one of their pins, they "knock over" that pin with a chip. The first player to have all pins knocked over wins the game!

If you'd like a copy of this game, there is a precious, new and improved version uploaded to Teachers pay Teachers for $1.00!  It includes directions and 10 game mats--perfect for math stations!!!

Dalmatian Addition

This week we are learning about fire safety, and I wanted a way to connect our fire safety unit to the math skill this week, which is addition. Using some sturdy Chinet plates, Word Clip Art, and just a little packing tape--I created what I like to call "fire engine plates"! During small group math instruction, I gave each child in the group a "fire engine plate" and a pile of "dalmatians" (lima beans with black Sharpie polka dots). I asked the kids to put a certain number of dalmatians on the fire hydrant, a certain number on the dog house, and then I had them pull the dalmatians out of the two top pockets and place all of them in the bottom section of the plate onto the fire engine to count the total number of dalmatians. After practicing this a few times, I had the kids write number sentences to go with the dalmatian problems. This turned out to be a great visual to reinforce the concept that addition means to join two numbers! I guess they looked good enough to eat, too--one student asked, "Can we eat 'em?"

**A few other fire safety ideas...**

We covered a large cardboard box with red paper, and made a cool little fire engine! See the little fireman in the window drawn by Bear? Cute.

Dollar Tree had some really cute fire hat cut-outs, so I put fire safety words on them and added the hats to the word wall for the week! (Teachers...they may still have these cut outs! They come in a pack with sheriff badges and construction hats.)