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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
Get your students writing numbers 1 to 20 this Thanksgiving using these adorable number tracing cards that will become an instant Thanksgiving math center hit! The fun turkey pictures and clear directions will help your students master accurate number formation at the start of the year. There’s so much to do in the month of November in the preschool classroom and normally only 3 short weeks to pack everything in!
Early Number Formation Is Key
Preschool is all about nailing the essential skills that your students will need for the rest of their lives. Writing numbers 1 to 20 is a key skill to master for many reasons. Firstly, the fine motor control to form each number correctly will help their handwriting and letter formation. Secondly, number writing to 20 allows them to see the patterns of base 10 counting and students should recognize the repetition of the digits in the ones column as they trace the numbers in order. Finally, knowing the words for the first 20 numbers is key because after those tricky teens, they only need to master 10 more words to be able to count to 100.
Preparing Thanksgiving Writing Numbers 1 to 20
For this activity you will need:
Paper
Printer
Writing tools
Optional: laminator and dry-erase markers
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.
This makes for a quick and easy number formation Thanksgiving math center because you simply print and laminate a couple of full sets for your classroom. However, if you’re looking to save space or to encourage small numbers, you’ll want to print 2 or 4 to a page and cut them out before you laminate to make a deck of turkey-themed math.
How To Teach Number Formation With This Set
You will have started the year practicing each of the 10 single digits one by one, so this Thanksgiving math center should act as a review and further practice for your students. Given the importance of correct number formation, try some of these activities using the Thanksgiving Writing Numbers 1 to 20 set:
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Number tracing with different media – for those students struggling with writing numbers 1 to 20, try having them use different media for their number formation. For example, you could have them make the numbers from playdough, or cover each Thanksgiving page in shaving cream and ask them to trace the numbers with their fingers; any way that you can think of to help them build muscle memory for the number shapes will help.
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Call a number – to challenge those students who are mastering number writing to 20, have them listen to a number, find it and then trace it. This works both as a small group task led by an adult who picks the numbers and as a paired independent Thanksgiving math center where students read numbers for each other. A further challenge could be for students to write the numbers without the number tracing pages.
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Smaller pages – another way to encourage better number formation skills is to print each Thanksgiving tracing page to half or even quarter page size. The smaller that you make the tracing number page, the more accurate your students will have to be, and it will help bring their handwriting down to more acceptable sizes.
This game is also available as digital Boom Cards which can be used with Seesaw, Google Classroom and other distance learning platforms. Grab these Internet task cards here.
Like this? Then you’ll love my 10 Turkey Themed Literacy and Math Centers. These easy-prep games will get your students working on math, literacy and fine motor skills.
Games included:
1) Turkey Ten Frame Matching – Number 1 to 10 included
2) Turkey Number Writing Mats – These mats come with handwriting lines and prewritten numbers that will teach the child how to do it correctly.
3) Turkey in Disguise Shadow Match – This game will help improve the child’s visual discrimination skills while also develop their fine motor movement when using the clips.
4) Turkey Counting Mats to 10 – Give the turkey the correct number of feathers either by drawing, playdough or using real feathers.
5) Turkey Arrange By Size – 6 different turkey characters included, each in 6 different sizes for the child to arrange.
6) Gobble Gobble Turkey Vowel – 40 different cards that you can laminate and have your students fill in the correct missing vowel.
7) Tommy Turkey’s Alphabet Pie – Pick up a letter card and find it on the provided alphabet mats. There are uppercase and lowercase versions included.
8) Turkey Alphabet Matching – Print out and cut the cards in half. Ask the child to match the upper to the lowercase letters. This is great in sensory tubs, as a hunt around the room or just on its own.
9) Turkey Rhyming Clip Cards – Kids will work on rhyming and fine motor at the same time with these 24 cards provided.
10) Turkey Sounds Game – Song poster and letter cards provided. Kids will choose a letter card and can practice saying the sound or you could ask them to name an object that begins with the letter.
Check it out for more ready-to-go fun!
Funs Books Perfect for Thanksgiving:
Other Fall Printables You’ll Love:
1) Fall Printable Worksheets Pack – 50-page pack for your little one to practice letter recognition, writing, counting, tracing, coloring and so much more.
2) Fall Leaves Number Sorting – Sort out the leaves and find which numbered tree they came from to practice number recognition, reading number words, and count with ten frames.
3) Fall Leaves Pick and Cover Letters – Pick a letter card then find and cover it on the playing mat.
4) Count and Compare Acorns – Your child will count and compare the groups of acorns to help the squirrel chose the bigger one.
5) Acorn Tracing Lines – Practice fine motor skills with these 4 different acorn-themed worksheets to help the squirrel grab the acorn!
6) Scarecrow Sums to 10 – So quick to set up in just a few minutes, you can sit back and relax while your preschooler or kindergartener has fun learning to solve simple sums to 10.
7) Scarecrow Number Tracing Strips – Combine fine motor practice with early math skills in this scarecrow-themed game to practice writing numbers 1 to 10.
8) Scarecrow Arrange By Size – Develop early math skills with these 3 scarecrow-themed image sets to arrange from smallest to biggest.
Educational Tools For Your Classroom:
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
