Commutative Property of Addition in First Grade

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You can help your first graders begin to develop the algebraic skill of the Commutative Property of Addition.  This understanding is an important building block and will serve them well as they continue to grow as mathematicians.  The Commutative Property of Addition states that no matter what order we add numbers, their sum will remain the same.  This concept is often referred to as "flip-flop" or "turn-around" facts for first graders and is the first step in understanding fact families.  I do think it is important that we begin introducing the proper math terminology to our first graders, but it is fun to use these terms as well, and they make sense to the kids.

Links are a fun way to begin teaching this concept!  Students can build a problem with two colors of links.  Then, they can "hook" the matching addition problem to the link.  Now, they flip the link over and can see the related "commutative" problem and add the matching card.  You could even have kids write and hole punch index cards for this activity.

Dice are always a hit with kids!  They especially love these dice within a dice.  Students can roll and record the two commutative facts for the dice.  Don't have these dice- no problem...regular dice work great as well, just use two.

Cubes are always great for hands-on math activities.  Students can build, color, and write the commutative facts.  They can really see how the problems are "turned-around", but not changed in any other way.

Ten frames work great for a variety of manipulatives; cubes, counters, erasers, just about anything you can think of.  Dot markers and colored stickers also work great on ten-frames!  Students can "spin" the ten-frame and see the commutative fact.

Similar to the dice activity, dominoes also work great!  They are easy to flip-around to see the new fact.  You can also have the kids draw the dominoes they used.  

Don't forget about center time!  All of the above activities can be placed in centers for continued practice. Clip-cards, puzzles, and memory also make great centers!

  

You can find these activities (and more!) in my Commutative Property of Addition: Hands on Activities on TPT.

Guided Math Mats for Kindergarten

I love math mats!  They are quick and easy to prepare (most are print and go!), easy to differentiate, and can be used again and again!  Quickly change out the manipulative you are using and the activities feel new and fresh again!  

I recommend using reusable write and wipe pockets.  They are sturdy, easy to clean, and FUN for kids!  If you don't have access to the pockets then you could use page protectors or laminate the mats. 


Here are a few of the mats:

One of the additions I tried to make to the Kindergarten mats is to have a fine motor component.  Here students can use tongs to put the poof balls and bears onto the mats.  

Once students have practiced with the mats during Guided Math groups, many of them can easily be moved to an independent center for additional practice.

Each mat comes with a teacher sheet that lists math standards, materials, directions, and options for changing it up!

Make it fun by changing out to a different manipulative!  I love all of the seasonal erasers!

Many of the mats come in multiple levels, so it is easy to differentiate!

Dice, magnetic numbers, and playing cards are an easy way to mix it up!

Subtraction smash is always fun!  Build the first number with playdough balls, then smash the number being taken away!

Don't have geoboards?  Kids can draw the pictures!  Great for visual perception and geometry vocabulary!

Want to learn more about the mats?  Click here.

Earth Day Reuse It Craft

Are you looking for a fun and easy Earth Day craft?  Your students will love this project!  

To complete the project you will need the following:

• 1 can per student (standard sized)
• crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc.
• plain construction paper or copies of the wraps
• tape

You will need to do a little prep work for this project.  Send a note home to parents asking them to bring in a clean can, or collect them yourself ahead of time.

Begin by teaching a lesson to your class on the importance of reusing.  Some items your students might be familiar with reusing are: reusable water bottles, reusable grocery bags, reusing a box or container in a new way, etc.

Next, have students color their chosen wrap. I recommend using cardstock for durability.

Now you are ready to tape the wrap to the can, scotch tape works great!

Now students have a reusable pencil container!  They will love to keep it on their desk to hold their supplies!

You can download all the supplies you need for this project, including a note to send home, here!

Beginning Consonant Blends

After your students have learned to read short vowel words, it is time to work on beginning blends.  Most beginning blends fall into one of three categories: l blends, r blends, and s blends. Work on one type of blends at a time.  I have always thought s blends are the easiest for students to master first, then l blends, with r blends being last.  Spend at least a week teaching each type of blend.

These are the most common beginning blends.  I created these by using my hot glue gun to glue magnetic letters together.

Here are some activity and center ideas for working on blends:

1. Reading and sorting words by beginning blend.

Here is another activity center idea for sorting.  By changing how the sort looks, it feels like a different activity to the children.  You can find the sorting cards here.

2.  Building blend words with onsets (the blend) and rimes.  

 You can download the cards here for free.  Print the blends in one color, and the rimes in a different color.  Students can use the cards to build and read real (and nonsense) words.  This works great as a table top activity during guided reading or intervention time.  

I created these mats with some word family sticky notes I found several years ago. 

This set makes a great center.  Students add blends with magnetic letters, letter cards, or dry-erase markers.  Click here to see this set in my TPT store.

3. Bingo type games are always fun!  In this version students draw a picture card, and find the matching word on their mats.  You can find it here.

4.Write and Wipe mats

 These mats make a great center or independent activity.  Place them in a write and wipe pocket, sheet protector, or laminate them. Students write the beginning blends.  You can find it here.

5. Roll and Read is another fun center idea.  Students roll the dice and find a word with the beginning blend.  If they can read the word they add it to their pile.  You can find it here.  

6.  Worksheets

Students read, write, sort and glue the words into the correct column. You can find them here.

Want all of the activities?  They are available in a bundle in my TPT store. 

 You can find the bundle here.

I hope this has helped you to think of some fun ideas and centers for beginning blends!

Math Mats for First Grade

I love the versatility of dry erase pockets! They are great for so many reasons; they are easy to prepare, easy to clean, durable, and students LOVE them!  They are great to use for checking for understanding and guided practice.  Students can hold them up like dry erase boards to quickly show you their work.

Today I wanted to share a few of the First Grade Math Mats I created to use in dry erase pockets. They are great for whole group and small group instruction.  Once the mats are introduced, they also make a great independent center!

Add some simple math manipulatives and you are ready to go!  In this activity, students use dominoes to work on the Commutative Property of addition (aka Turn-Around Facts).  Students place the domino in the first spot, write the fact, flip the domino, and write the turn-around fact.  You can walk around the room while students are working to quickly check their understanding of the activity.  When students complete the mat, they erase it, grab another domino, and keep going!  That is one of the great things about this mat, there is no "I'm finished!"  The exact same activity is perfect for centers!!!

With this mat, students record all the ways to Make Ten.  All you need are two-sided counters.  Students flip counters and record the different combinations.  

Use cubes to work on doubles.  You can orally give the students a double to build with the cubes.  Then they record the doubles fact.  At a center, students can build and record different doubles, you could provide doubles flash cards, or they can make their own doubles.

Students can put the "Fact-Family" in their house.  Give students three numbers in a family to record at the top (triangle flash cards work perfect for this!).  Then students write all four facts in the family.  When they complete one fact family, they can grab another flash card and do another!  

Or you can use dominoes for the family!  

Students can practice their place value skills with this mat.  Give students a number to build with place value blocks.  They also record the number in tens and ones. When you are ready to move from the concrete to the representational stage of understanding, students can color the number with their dry erase markers on the mats.  

Students can also compare two numbers using place value!  All you need are number cards to make a quick center.

Give students a time to record in digital form, then have them draw the hands on the clock.  Add a set of digital time cards and you have a center ready to go!

Use dice to work on adding three numbers.  Have students who are working at different levels?  Add dice with larger numbers for easy differentiation!  Another activity students can play for extended periods of time!

These are just a few of my favorites!  You can check out all of my First Grade Math Mats in my TPT store!

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Mats-Write-and-Wipe-First-Grade-2946859