What’s in my Math Center

This is the first installment of “What’s in my Math Center”! Can you tell I’m just a little excited about this post?! When I was growing up I HATED math. I was not good at it, and it was not fun for me.  Because of my own personal experiences with math, I have vowed to make sure that math is fun for my students.  I do everything that I can to make sure that the activities I have available in my math center are hands-on and really engaging, so that my kiddos can see what numbers and quantities look like, and so that they have every opportunity to build real, concrete, understanding of math concepts, which will give them a great foundation when they start elementary school math and it all becomes a little more concrete. 

Here are the activities that I have in my Math Center this week:

Large Numerals and objects to count.  I LOVE these numbers and I use them all the time (these are old, but I have recreated them here).  They have the corresponding number of dots on them, so even children who are very new to number recognition can create the right quantity because they are able to count the dots as they count out the objects.  As we move into spring our class is really focusing on the weather, so the objects that I added to count are weather images.  These are FREE in my TPT Store!

Color Matching. These are actually paint chips, aren’t they fun?! There are two of each color, so students can match the colors, or they can walk around the room with them and see how many things they can find in the classroom that match that specific color. 

Monster Math Dice Game. Who doesn’t love cute monsters? This is a really easy dice game that kids of any age can play alone or with a small group.  Children roll the die and count forward that many monsters until they reach the end.  I usually put out a number of mats so that the children can play with as many friends as they wish. I have also printed these mats in a number of different sizes, so that they are easy for all children to use successfully. 

Raindrop Counting Practice. My students are finally starting to recognize their teen numbers, this has been a long process! This activity is one of my favorites for counting, and goes along with their interest in weather.  The children choose a cloud, and they have to count that many raindrops to fall from the cloud.