Freebies! Buttons, Pete the Cat, Math & Literacy

Over the summer, a friend of mine posted pictures of her son playing with his grandmother's jar of old buttons on Facebook.  My younger son can spend hours sorting and playing with beads, jewels, and other small manipulatives; I knew he'd love to paw through a pile of vintage buttons!  I called my mother, who had kept a box that belonged to her grandmother, and she generously went to dig it out of the attic for us.  After noticing this book online,

I decided to incorporate the buttons into our schoolwork.  We started by reading The Button Box, by Margaret S. Reid.  It's a cute story about a boy going through his grandmother's button box, sorting the buttons and imagining who they might have belonged to.  Colby loved it.

He was thrilled when I put this button box in front of him!

I gave him plenty of time to just enjoy it, and then I asked him to choose one particular button that he really liked.  He selected a matching pair of shiny gold ones, and I gave him this worksheet:

He drew a picture of the button in the center, and then came up with five adjectives to describe it.

Get a free copy of this worksheet here.

I asked him to imagine who might have worn the buttons, and he thought they probably came from some sort of military uniform.  He drew a picture of a soldier wearing the button, and then wrote about it.  

Get a free copy of the writing pages here.  

(There are several versions for different ages and writing abilities, and each version comes in color or black-and-white.)

Next, I asked him to sort the buttons.  We talked about all the different ways we could sort them: by size, or shape, or what they were made of, or how old they were.  Then he wrote down some of these ideas on this worksheet:

Get a free copy of the worksheet here.

Finally, we completed this pocket chart activity.  Colby matched the button cards with the appropriate numerals and number words.  He loves the way it looks so much that we're leaving it intact until we need the chart again!

Get a free copy of the button pocket chart activity here.

Who else loves buttons?  Pete the Cat, of course!  We read  Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, by Eric Litwin.   This is such a cute book!

We did some simple descriptive writing, with an illustration of course.  This page is from Team Sugar's Pete the Cat Journal Writing Prompts.  It's such a cute packet of writing pages, and so inexpensive!

This super fun Pete the Cat Subtraction Mat is a fabulous freebie from Learning With Mrs. Parker.  Check out her blog and snag a copy here!

We did some addition with these button ten frames and two d10 dice.

There are two different colored ten-frames for each number 1-10, so they can be used for adding doubles, or more complex addition.  (They're not all shown in the photo).  

Get a free copy of the Button Ten Frames here!

We finished up with buttons and continued with Pete the Cat, moving on to Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin.  This is my favorite Pete book thus far!  No matter what he steps in, Pete keeps his characteristic positive outlook and loves his shoes.

Colby really enjoyed this cause and effect activity by Allison Palm.

It comes with these great pocket chart cards, which we chose to use on the floor,

and this follow-up sheet.  Colby got to choose his own cause-and-effect scenario for Pete and his beloved white shoes.  Pete stepped in purple paint, and ended up with purple shoes!  You can find these activities right here.  (Super inexpensive!)

The next day, we moved on from learning about cause and effect and focused a little more on color words.  This fun freebie from Made For 1st Grade is actually meant to be assembled into a class book, but it works just as well for a single student!  I knew it was coming eventually - poor Pete stepped in dog poop.  Colby chortled the whole time he practiced writing "brown".

We practiced AB, ABC, ABB, and AABB patterns with this awesome free worksheet from The Groovy Teacher.  Colby loves to color so this was perfect for him!

For lots more Pete the Cat freebies and DIY ideas, try this Pinterest board:

Pete the Cat

Blogs & TpT Shops mentioned in this post:

Team Sugar

Learning With Mrs. Parker
Allison Palm
Made For 1st Grade
The Groovy Teacher

Teen Numbers Freebie and More

Have a look at what Colby's been up to lately, and don't forget to grab your freebie on the way by!

We've continued to work with Lavinia Pop's fabulous winter-themed Math Skills packet.  To see more about this in our previous post, click here.

Colby really enjoyed the Build-A-Pattern activity!  It's just one of eleven fantastic skill-building activities included in the unit.  Click here to check it out on TpT!

                                    

We've also been working our way through these Kindergarten Winter Math Worksheets by United Teaching.

Colby really likes the cut-and-paste activities, and these were a life saver when I wasn't feeling well and needed something quick and easy!

We've continued to work with Rita Mitchell's Letter Match: Uppercase, Lowercase, and Beginning Sound Centers.  We love them.  To see our previous post on this, click here.

Colban loves adding mini-books to his "Colby library"!  We have quite a collection already, and it's growing all the time.  This is one of Maria Manore's super cute Interactive Sight Word Readers.  

Check out "Winter is Here", and while you're at it take a look at the others.  We've purchased several, and at only $1.00 apiece I'm sure we'll be getting more!

We've been working on the "teen" numbers for a while, and while Colby has had no trouble with the counting (except for forgetting "15"!), I wanted him to have a better understanding of why these numbers look the way they do.  Because the English language has some very odd names for some of these numbers, it's easy to miss the pattern when you're first learning.

I'd seen something similar to these mats floating around Pinterest, but none of the links seemed to lead to an actual product I could get my hands on.  I whipped up my own version, with one mat for numbers 11-15, and another for 16-20.

First, I let Colby explore the base 10 blocks, as this was our first time using them.  We discovered how many little blocks it takes to equal one stick, and how every stick represents 10 blocks.  Next, Colby "filled in" the mats with blocks.

When he'd completed them, I gave him a dry erase marker and asked him to write down how many sticks and how many small blocks were in each column.  Then I asked him if he noticed anything, and of course he realized that the the numbers at the tops of the columns matched the numbers he'd written at the bottom.  It was really exciting to watch him making the connection on his own, and then blurting out, "That's what 'sixteen' means!  Ten, and six more!  And 'twenty' is two tens and none more!"

We continued to talk about place value and used the blocks to show some larger numbers, and I was thrilled to see the understanding he'd gained.

And of course we spent some time building with the blocks . . . 

just because. :)

Grab your Free Base Ten 11-20 Mats here!

I got these amazing Add to Decompose activities as part of the Moore Relief Effort Bundle, a Teachers Notebook fundraiser for the tornado victims of Moore, Oklahoma.

Colby uses one-inch squares of colored paper to show the addition problems.

He really enjoys these activities, and they are a wonderful way to promote number sense.  They're one of my favorite products (out of almost 600!) that I received in the fundraiser bundle, and I highly recommend them.  I also got the subtraction version, which I can't wait to use!  Check them out on Teachers Notebook, or visit the same seller on TpT.  She's also the creator of the Interactive Sight Word Readers I mentioned earlier!  

Maria Manore of Kinder-Craze donated her fabulous products to help people in need.  Please take the time to check out her shops!

Awesome freebie alert!  Check out these Penguin Upper and Lowercase Clip Circles by Teaching With Nancy.

Aren't they adorable?  We use so many of her creations!

Super cute Sound Sorts!

We love these cut-and-paste sorting activities by Andrea Knight; we do two a week.

We've been having a lot of fun with All About Penguins: Math, Literacy, and So Much More by Caitlin Clabby of Kindergarten Smiles.  This Sneaky Seal Addition activity is just one of over 30 included in the 162-page packet!

When coloring the seals on the recording sheet, Colby liked finding the perfect colored pencil to exactly match the shade of the cardstock seals.

He also completed this number sequencing activity (one of several that can be completed using that adorable deck of penguin number cards) . . .

and had fun with Skating Subtraction!  He was thrilled to have another opportunity to match the colors to his recording sheet.

Subtraction is relatively new to Colby, so we got down on the floor with our penguin counters.

He enjoyed working out the problems himself, and rarely needed any help.

These penguin counters are part of a math activity set from Learning Resources.  You can see it here:

Learning Resources Penguins On Ice Math Activity Set

Here's a closer look at the completed Skating Subtraction activity.  We'll be using a lot more activities from this packet, and will be able to continue to use it next year as well!  In case you missed the link above, to check out this penguin unit from Kindergarten Smiles, click here.

Shops & Blogs mentioned in this post:

Lavinia Pop

United Teaching

Rita Mitchell

Maria Manore

Kinder-Craze

Teaching With Nancy

Andrea Knight

Kindergarten Smiles

Christmas Fun in Kindergarten

Here's a quick look at some of the Christmas-themed activities we've incorporated into kindergarten this week!

You all know how my little nugget loves to measure!  

I was delighted to find this Christmas themed measuring unit from Simply Skilled in Second, and even more excited that it's FREE!  It's called Merry Measure (cute, right?) and you can find it right here!

Colby measured each of the Christmas objects and wrote his findings on the recording sheet.

We usually use one-inch tiles for this sort of activity, but to mix things up I had him measure with this ruler that I found at Wal-Mart.  Each inch is a different color which makes it easier for my little man to read.  It's also jointed at each inch mark and folds right up!  At only a dollar, it was a great find.

Gingerbread Shake & Spill! So much fun!  We used the fabulous, free Gingerbread Shake and Spill Math Mats from Teaching in Progress.  There are mats for numbers 3-10, plus a blank mat (which we used for this activity).  Colby spilled out two-sided math counters, and we wrote how many of each color on the math mat with a dry-erase marker.

Then Colby showed the combinations on these free worksheets from The Linton Academy.  The .pdf includes worksheets for numbers 6-10. (You can find them here!)  We recorded the combinations as we discovered them, though we plan to make similar charts after Christmas break that are better organized.  

Here's a closer look at the shake & spill mat. (And here's a link to the math counters I bought, if you need some: Learning Resources - Two-Color Counters, Math Manipulatives,)

Now this was a really fun activity! This pocket chart center is just one activity from from the Gingerbread Literacy and Math Combo Pack by Caitlin Clabby.

Using the printable reference sheet provided in the pack, Colby unscrambled the sentences and built the gingerbread man story in the pocket chart.  

We worked on the independent reader a little bit each day.  Colby wrote the word "the" on each page and colored the pictures.

The finished product was pretty great!

Colby looked at the pictures on these gingerbread boys, then stamped the initial sounds on the recording sheet. 

He colored the gingerbread boys on the recording sheet to correspond with the correct letter.  This was the first time we'd used stamps for a school activity, and he loved it!  

This fun worksheet required Colby to follow the directions to color the gingerbread men.  He likes coloring and counting, so this was fun for him.  

I tried hard to get a good picture of this "If I Were a Gingerbread Boy" worksheet, but it's still a little tough to see.  Colby drew pictures of what he would look like if he were a gingerbread boy (surprisingly, he would wear a lot of denim) and what his gingerbread house would look like.  He also wrote that he would run away from a fox, and a dog.  Sounds like a good plan to me!  You can find two FREE versions of this worksheet (one for a boy, and one for a girl) right here.  

You can also find this and the other activities in the 145-page Gingerbread Literacy and Math Combo Pack.  We barely scratched the surface of what's included, and will be using more of these activities next year!

And here's a little Gingerbread Write the Room Math Fun, from the three-tiered activity by Marsha McGuire.  I am a huge fan of her products; they are simple, meaningful, and fun.  Best of all, everything is differentiated.  There are two or three options to choose from, so you can match your child with the activity level that best suits his or her abilities.  I find that I can usually use more than one of the options - one level might be good for reviewing or reinforcing skills, while another will offer a little more of a challenge.

Here you can see that Colby worked on some simple addition within 5.  This was great practice for him!  He loved the colorful pictures.  (Only a portion of the activity is shown here.)

Also from Marsha McGuire, this I-Spy Gingie's Numbers activity was a blast!

There were multiple options for this activity; here you can see Colby practicing numbers 0-20.  He uses a magnifying glass to find the teeny, tiny numbers hidden in the picture and writes them on the recording sheet.  He then writes the two numbers that come after.  This was the perfect activity for him to help reinforce the "teen" numbers. (He can count past 20, but for some reason always skips "15"!)

For more Christmas ideas, check out our Pinterest boards:

FREE Christmas Printables {Educational}

Christmas Crafts & Activities For Kids

TpT Shops and Blogs mentioned in this post:

Teaching in Progress

Simply Skilled in Second

The Linton Academy

Marsha McGuire

Caitlin Clabby Kindergarten Smiles