I’m thankful for differentiated math stations this weeks. I LOVE math, and I love that my kinder friends love it too.
My plans for this month’s stations are set (It’s a short month with all the holidays and such), and I thought I’d give a little glimpse at the goodies we have planned. I’ll be finishing up my Daily 6 stations shortly.
If you need to print off a copy of these plans, just click on the picture and it will take you to the pdf that you can print. The plans show you how the activity is aligned to common core and how I differentiated it for my students’ readiness.
And here’s a little explanation of each station. You can click on the picture to find out more about each activity . . .
Station 1: Thanks for Counting- There are two counting mats to extend learning for this activity. Students count objects and record their findings. It is differentiated to challenge students at their readiness levels.
Station 2: What’s for Dinner?-This is a spin and compare game. Students are challenged to read numerals and ten frame numbers to compare to see which is greater and which is less. They spin to see who ‘wins’ a hand, the greater or less one, before placing another set of cards down.
Station 3:Gobbling Up Missing Numbers I-Spy – My kinder students LOVE working with magnifying glasses. Students search for a series of hidden numbers with a magnifying glass. They record the numbers they find and either supply the number that comes after, before or before and after depending on the mat that you choose for them to complete. There are several levels (1-10, 1-15 and 1-20) from which you can select.
Station 4:Thanksgiving Play-doh Ten Frames or Making Ten Fun.- This is a class favorite. You can choose plain ten frame mats and numbers or choose the making ten play-doh mats for your students. There are two different sets.
Station 5: Pilgrim Number Order – This activity has three different ranges of numbers that you can choose. Students pick three numbers and place them on the pilgrims from smallest to biggest numbers and then record their answer.
Station 6: Thanksgiving Number Yatta- This is a highly addictive number fluency game. This one has students quickly counting Thanksgiving objects and then locating the number on the counting mat. When they find it, they yell ‘YATTA’ (which means ‘I got it.’) and they keep that card. Play continues until all the cards are used up. There is a 1-5 mat and a 1-10 mat from which you can choose to use.
Station 7: Turkey Trot Self-Correcting Independent Missing Numbers – Students select a card and determine what number is missing in a series of numbers shown. They record their answer and then open the card to see if they are correct. This activity is differentiated to meet your students’ readiness levels.
Station 8: Thanks for Ten Frame Write the Room Fun. -Students travel around the room searching for ten frame numbers and recording their answers on differentiated recording sheets. There are also two sets of numbers for 1-10 and 1-20.
Station 9: Turkey Hunt – Use only the cards that appropriate for the readiness level of your students. One student hides the turkey behind a pilgrim hat while the others hide their eyes and turn their backs. Students take turns guessing where the turkey is hiding. They can’t just simple point, they must say the number correctly to ‘see’ if it is hidden behind that number. The student that finds the turkey, gets to hid it next.
And that’s it for math stations. Most of these activities come from my Thanksgiving Math Stations Galore pack. There are 11 station activities to choose from there. Each activity has a students instruction card to help make stations even more independent.
I use math stations three times a week and my students go to two different stations each of those days for between 15-20 minutes. Over a three week period, they will travel to each station twice. This set up works GREAT for my students, and I can’t imagine doing it any other way.
Of course I have a ton of word work activities for Thanksgiving too but I’ll try and post about those in later this weekend. For now I’m going to leave you with these adorable Turkey’s we finished up today from my sweet friend Jennifer over at First Grade Blue Skies. We did a little writing activity that went along with The Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman, and then made these. Aren’t they crazy cute. I’ll be sure to snap a picture when I get them up on our wall.
Until then, I’m thankful for all of you who keep coming back to listen to my ramblings. Thanks for being great friends.
Now if you want to see some more great plans, head over to Deedee’s for her weekly visual plan linky party.
Wow! Once again I am amazed by your ability to differentiate and come up with engaging, fun activities. Going on my wish list!
love this~ I have november covered, i am gonna take a glance at your december stuff!
I love your activities and how you differentiate and since I have prek and k together this is great. it is in my tpt cart. I have some questions. You do the stations 3 times a week, what do you do on the other days? Also if a lot of this is laminated how do you assess them?
I love this! The play dough mata are adorable!
Kelly
Myfabulousclass.blogspot.com
thanks Kelly. It’s a class favorite for sure.
Marsha
A question for you Marsha. These are your rotations for the month, and you say each group gets to each station twice during a three week period. Can I assume correctly that for the first week of this month, you will be introducing the new stations and supporting the children at them? And, like ‘pcklucas’ wonder what you do for the other two days, given you only do stations 3x per week. Thanks, Lisa
The reason I only do ‘math stations’ three times a week is because that is all I can fit them in. I actually do math everyday. I teach whole group through calendar math. At that time, not only is there ‘calendar’ work but we are practicing skills and introducing new concepts. Because my activities are very similar from one theme to another…perhaps not the skill, but the way the activity is organized, there isn’t a whole lot of ‘instructing how to play the games.’ They don’t need a ton of hand holding. I hope that makes sense. If not, please feel free to contact me mmmoffitm@gmail.com. I’m happy to answer any questions.
Marsha
I love this! Do you happen to sell the activities individually? Although I’d love to purchase this product, I haven’t taught many of these concept to my kindlers yet and will not do so before Thanksgiving. So, as can see, much of it will go to waste (and I hate wasting money). Any suggestions? Thanks!
The I-spy activity and the write the room activity are sold separately. I also have some freebies in my store that you may want to try. Just click on the tpt link at the top right of the blog.
Marsha
Marsha,
I used some of your Spider Word Work activities the day that I had my formal observation and I got a great review!! Thanks for always giving us fun, colorful, kid-friendly activities that fit the big range of skill levels that we have. I’ve gotten your Thanksgiving unit so I can keep giving my students your interactive, challenging activities. Thanks again for your talent and skill, you help me to be a better teacher. :0)
~Kathy
You made my day. I love it when administrators ‘get’ that we can and should differentiated in kindergarten and that we can and should make these activities interactive and engaging…not just work sheets. Yippee for you.
Marsha
Wow! You’ve made amazing products. If you want, I have a math linky every Thursday (where you can link up old or new math posts) and January and July are Kindergarten months. Have a happy new year!
~Lucy Kids Math Teacher
i like what i see by the way were do you get your materials from.