Bring on Spring

Wow!  This weather is exactly what I needed in my life right now!  This weekend has been filled with good company, sunshine, and relaxation, could I possibly ask for more?!  

Last week we did a few math activities that I wanted to share with you.  We have been practicing how to decompose numbers in more than one way.  Last year a teammate and I thought of a way to practice this skill, decorate our bulletin board for March, and differentiate all at the same time.  

We made tracers for the pot of gold and gold coins.  Then we had students either make a pot of gold with coins where they thought of one number sentence for a number or make a pot of gold with a rainbow where they chose a number and thought of all the possible number combinations.  This fun activity lends itself nicely to differentiation because the kiddos who need practice adding can focus on one number sentence where as the kiddos who have a solid foundation with addition can challenge themselves and think of all the number bonds. Plus, the variety creates an eye catchy bulletin board for March. 
For the top of my bulletin board I had my students write about how to catch a leprechaun which fit in nicely with our ELA unit because we have been working on first, then, next, last writing.  That paper can be found in my March packet, (click on the picture below).
    
Another activity we did to practice number bonds is we made flowers.  Students choose a flower with a number on it and then thought of all the possible number combinations for that number.  
Some students chose to use cubes to help as they created their number sentences.

Students put the number sentences in the flower petals as well as on the leaves.

My class likes to help each other as they work on their activities. 🙂

Here is an example of a finished product.
We have Open House this week so we are hanging the flowers up in the hallway between our three Kindergarten rooms and titling it, “Our Kinder-Garden!”  
This activity as well as another math center number bond activity can be found in the packet below in my Teacher Pay Teacher store. (click on the picture)
I hope you find these activities and ideas useful in your classroom.  Have a wonderful rest of your weekend as well as a great week!