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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
The start of the school year represents a range of emotions for your students. For some, there is the excitement of starting “big school” and they throw themselves into every challenge. For others, the step up from preschool is hard and it takes a while to adjust to the new routines and demands on them. For this latter group, finding math activities for kindergarten that feel safe and familiar help them to transition, and these kindergarten school supplies themed number building block mats give everyone some practice at number formation as well as counting revision.
How To Teach Multiple Skills At One Center
Each back to school center needs to be thought out to give you as many skills as possible. Sometimes, this has to be done creatively, like trying to develop some fine motor control skills by having students pick up small counting objects with tweezers. These 1-10 number practice mats put 3 separate skills together in a more open fashion. Firstly, students get some number formation practice by tracing each number with a pencil or rolling and shaping playdough into the correct shape (interestingly, this latter activity is also great for building hand muscles and fine motor skills). Next, students practice their counting and subitizing skills by counting the kindergarten school supplies and they finish each page by building that number out of bricks.
Preparing Back to School 1-10 Number Practice Mats
For this activity you will need:
Paper
Printer
Writing tools
Building blocks or Lego
Optional: laminator, playdough
If you don’t have the materials needed, don’t sweat! You can get it delivered to your doorstep really quickly with Amazon Prime. You can get a 30-day free trial here.
These math activities for kindergarten are simple to use; just download and print the numbers that you’re working on that week and your independent math center is good to go. Consider laminating them for use with next year’s class.
Extension Activities For Number Building Block Mats
As the kindergarten days go by and your students become more comfortable with being in school, they will also start to master their number formation and counting skills. At that point, try some of these extension activities:
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Write their own numbers – once students have practiced using the number building block mats a few times, you can get a quick assessment of their mastery by asking them to write each number from 1 to 10 without the tracing guide. This will give you an idea of which numbers they need further practice on.
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Guess My Number – the best way to help kindergarten students practice a skill is to turn it into a game. These 1-10 number practice mats give you 3 different versions of Guess My Number to play. First, students can use their words to describe a number shape to a partner who has to follow the directions to create the number. Secondly, they can give clues to the number of objects in a set such as “one more than 7”. Finally, they can build towers of up to 10 blocks for a partner, who has to guess how many are in there before counting to check their answer.
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Count in real life – the start of the school year means you’ve got plenty of kindergarten school supplies to practice your counting skills. It will be even better if you can have them match up the number of objects on the number building block mats to real world objects.
More Themed Centers Perfect for Back to School:
My Back to School Themed Centers is a variety pack of 10 games focused on early literacy, math and fine motor skills.
These are the games included:
1) Number Practice Mats – practice tracing the numbers 1-10 or form them from playdough, count out the objects and build a tower with the corresponding number of blocks.
2) Marker Measurement – use for standard or non-standard measurement; recording sheet provided for your students to write their answers.
3) School Supplies Addition to 10 – use the picture of the pencil case and school supplies to write out and solve the addition equation.
4) School Supplies Arrange By Size – 30 picture sets to arrange by length or size
5) Count and Tally Puzzles – 3 piece puzzles where students will match up the numbers 1-10 with the correct tally mark representation and count the number of objects.
6) Alphabet Writing Strips – laminate and use dry erase markers to practice capital letter handwriting.
7) Backpack Books Sorting – ask your students to sort the uppercase letters from the lowercase letters and place them into the correct backpacks.
8) School Alphabet Order – students will look at a series of 4 letters written on the board, decide if they are in the correct alphabetical sequence, and choose and thumbs up or down response.
9) School Bus Beginning Sound – match up the beginning lowercase letter to the object that starts with that alphabet sound.
10) School Supplies Syllable Count – students will need to clap out the number of syllables for each labeled picture and write the number in the box or build a tower with the corresponding number of blocks.
Check it out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Fun Books About Starting School:
Other Back to School Printables You’ll Love:
1) Back to School Worksheet Pack – 50 pages with all the skills your students need.
2) School Supplies Count and Write – Preschool and kindergarten kids will practice one to one correspondence and writing number words from 1 to 10 by counting adorable school supplies.
3) School Mazes – 3 different back to school mazes for fine motor practice
4) Lunchbox Notes –Kids will love them and remember fond memories of their time in school when you send them off every morning with these.
5) Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Use this printable treasure hunt as a fun literacy game in your classroom or as a hands-on activity to encourage reading for your homeschooling kids.
Get The Tools You Need For This Center Here:
Browse My Most Popular Math Printables:
1) Parking Cars Tracing Lines – More than 10 different tracing line patterns to choose from, all of which help with pencil control.
2) Scarecrow Arrange By Size – 3 different scarecrow-themed image sets that they will arrange from smallest to biggest.
3) Bumblebee Addition Game – Solve the sum and help the bee land on the correct flower!
4) Farm Shapes Mats – Use playdough, pompoms, stickers etc to learn 2D shapes.
5) Popsicle Stick Number Formation – Kids will love forming the numbers 1 to 10 when ice cream and popsicles are involved!
6) Valentines Printable Worksheets Pack – 50 pages of mixed literacy and math activities.
7) Zoo Animals Number Puzzle Strips – Complete these cute puzzles and learn the numbers 1 to 20.
8) Counting Colorful Bugs – This printable book will help kids count to 10 while also learning about color words.
9) Humpty Dumpty Numbers – In this printable game, your students will practice number recognition using 1 dice or simple addition when using 2 dice.
10) Build A Number Santa – Match the number to the correct number word, tally mark and domino to form a Santa Claus
