DIY Magnetic Pizza

October 7, 2016 by lauraschachter@gmail.com Leave a Comment

DIY Magnetic Pizza

Pizza is a favorite with many people. Why not capitalize on this love, by building learning centers around pizza! I love to create with my hands, so I decided to create magnetic pizzas that we can use for dramatic play, math activities and so much more.

[Read more…]

Alphabet Road Race & Numerals, Too!

July 29, 2016 by lauraschachter@gmail.com 5 Comments

There is nothing better than watching a child learn through play. When I create learning games for kids, I keep this thought in mind. Through the years I’ve found that any game with toy cars is sure to be a hit. Add them to letter and number tracing mats and kids can use the toy cars to trace letters and numbers. They will race their way to letter and numeral formation success. I love using the transportation themed tracing mats for lots of learning and tons of FUN!

[Read more…]

New and Improved Addition Machine

February 15, 2016 by lauraschachter@gmail.com 7 Comments

DIY Addition Machine: Math Manipulatives to Excite Your Kids

I am a huge believer in hands-on learning. Children are able to become active participants in their own learning through using manipulatives. They are able to learn by physically handling and manipulating objects to explore a concept.

I love using manipulatives with math concepts. It really transforms the math concepts into concrete learning experiences. Young children and kinesthetic learners really benefit from interacting with a concept and bringing it to life.

A long time ago, I started using a PVC pipe with a drain at the bottom to teach addition. I used a permanent marker to write an addition sign on the drain and my students were able to pour manipulatives into both sides of the pipe. Then, they would open the drain at the bottom and find the total number of manipulatives. It is a great visual for addition. See another blog post on addition here.

A month ago, I found this amazing picture on Pinterest. See the pin here. I couldn’t find the original blog post, so I’m not able to give credit, but you can see the awesome idea below.

I tried to recreate this amazing addition machine and came up with two different options.

In the first, I used an icing container as the base. I used the same PVC drains that I already had in my bag of tricks.

Wash and peel off the label.

Trace the drain’s opening on the top of the icing container and cut it out with an X-acto knife.

Cut the hole a little small, so that the top will sit snugly against the drain. Then, hot glue the icing top to the drain.

If you choose, decorate your addition machine. I used Washi tape. You have a quick and easy addition machine. Kids put the manipulatives in and take off the top to see the sum.

I loved the way the first addition machine turned out; however, I really wanted a see-through container for the bottom. I wanted kids to be able to watch the manipulatives fall through to create a new “whole”.

I chose to use a peanut butter jar, but it could be done with any see through plastic container. Another option is to use a mayonnaise jar. This will eliminate the allergens from peanuts.

Both the peanut and mayo jars have thicker plastic lids. I was not able to cut this lid as easily as the icing lid. I used the same X-acto knife to start the hole and then moved to an old kitchen knife. The circle was not neat. It came out raggedy and larger than the PVC drain.

To correct this problem, I hot glued the lid to the drain. Then, I cut out a circular piece of foam to line the inside of the lid. This helps to cover the raggedy cut and to guide manipulatives back through the hole. I hot glued the foam to the inside of the lid. Your addition machine is complete! It is a very quick project to make.

My kids and I explored many different types of manipulatives to use with this particular version of the machine. We found that small pompoms seem to work the best. To help test it out, I gave two different children some pompoms. Below, each child has 2. Each child pours their pompoms into “their” side of the drain.

Most of the time, the pompoms fall right through. If they get stuck, just give the machine a little shake.

We recorded the amount of pompoms, on each side, in an addition equation. After sending them all through, we counted the pompoms present in the bottom of the addition machine.

The kids were fascinated by the addition machine. My 4 year old daughter continued playing with the machine for days after we played it together. She loved putting the different amounts in each side of the drain and finding the total at the bottom of the machine. She is exploring the concept of addition through play.

The beauty of the new machine, is that you can flip it over and decompose numbers. I chose two children to help make the machine spit out a number into two different parts. Each child was responsible for one side of the drain. They held their hands underneath the spout, while I gently shook the machine to get the pompoms out.

I chose pompoms, because they seemed to fall out of the machine the best. Here the kids are each holding their part of the whole.

We were able to work with lots of different numbers. It was fun to watch the whole number break apart in different ways. The addition machine offers a great visual and kinesthetic experience with decomposing numbers.

We recorded the different equations as we decomposed each number. It was a lot of fun!

Thanks so much for joining me! I hope that you found these ideas useful and that they help inspire your kids to understand and love math.

Interactive Play Dough Mats: Bubbles!

January 16, 2015 by lauraschachter@gmail.com 1 Comment

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Interactive-Play-Dough-Mats-Counting-Centers-Games-Printables-Bubbles-1652752

Kids love working with play dough! It makes practice with any skill turn into a game! I have a bunch of different themed play dough packs, but my daughter requested a set of bubble play dough mats. I decided on a bubble bath pack! You pick it up here.

There are two components to each set of centers:
Interactive Play Dough Mats
Students will draw cards with numerals, ten frames, or addition sentences. Students will create play dough on their mat to represent the numeral, numbers on the ten frame or addition sentence. Students will complete an extension worksheet after using this center. Extension worksheets include: counting and writing the numeral, drawing the correct number of themed objects when give a number, drawing the correct number of themed objects when given a ten frame.

Use manipulatives, dry erase markers, or play dough to represent the numerals, ten frames, or addition sentences.

Ten Frames and Numerals

Addition Skills

There are bunches of prinatbles that can be used in a center, or as an extension activity. The printables will reinforce the skills that students practice with the play dough mats.

Interactive Play Dough Mats with Numerals
Students will identify numerals and add the correct number of themed manipulatives, or use play dough. Complete extension activities in representing a number of objects with a written numeral, use one-to-one correspondence to count out a specific number of objects and draw a pictorial representation of those objects, and trace and write numerals 1-10.

Use manipulatives to trace the numerals. Students will count out the same number of ducks.

Students can use a dry erase marker to trace the numeral.

Students can count out the duck manipulatives to represent the number.

Students can use play dough to create the numeral. This is great for tactile and kinesthetic learners. They can build the numeral and trace the numeral.

Students can also use play dough to create the same number of ducks or bubbles.

There are tons of printables to extend their learning!

Tons of fun!

Have the students color in the ducks, as they count each one. This will help with one-to-one correspondence.

A bunch of choices for tracing and writing numerals 1-10.

Hope you enjoy this pack! I am giving one away tomorrow morning. You can leave a comment here for a chance to win! Have a great weekend! You can pick up the pack, here, for 50% off for the next 48 hours.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

December 7, 2014 by lauraschachter@gmail.com 10 Comments

The holiday season is a great time to reflect on all of the wonderful things you have in your life. Many of us are so fortunate to have a roof over our heads and food on our tables. I feel so blessed to be able to have these things for my family. I got together with a bunch of other bloggers to bring a huge giveaway with a ton of our favorite things.

Before I get to the amazing giveaway, I wanted to share some things that I am so thankful for this season! Some are silly and some are more serious, but I am thankful for all of them!!

#1- Dr. Pepper. I am not a coffee drinker, but seriously need some caffeine in the morning. My brain will NOT function until I have that first sip of bubbly, sweet, and almost painful burn of the carbonation. It wakes me up in so many ways. I love it!

#2- Every holiday season since my kids were born, we create ornaments together. When they were little, they would get down to their diapers and get covered in tons of paint. We’ve done cinnamon dough, ceramic ornaments, and foam ornaments. It doesn’t matter what type, we just love to create together. We put on Christmas tunes and sing along, as we get messy and laugh. It is a priceless experience that I treasure. You can see the fun salt dough ornaments that we made here.

#3- I do love shopping, especially for teaching gems. One of my favorite teaching idea stores is The Dollar Tree. You cannot beat this store for wacky and wonderful teaching supplies AND the price is right!! Here are a few of the amazing finds that I’ve found at the Dollar Tree: lip gloss boots (you need to check these out), fun tongs for centers, foam to create my own two sided magnets that created my subitizing freebie! This is just a tiny fraction of the amazing deals that I find there.

#4- One of my most treasured teaching supplies is my personal laminator. Since I started teaching, I have tried out MANY different laminators. I have gotten really expensive types, and cheaper ones. About 8 years ago, I decided on my favorite laminator. It is a cheap, but wonderful power house. I put my laminator through a lot of work and it is up to the job. I chose to giveaway a Scotch Laminator for “A Few of Our Favorite Things Giveaway”. You can see the laminator that I will be giving away here.

I also have some of my favorite products on sale for the week of this blog hop. They will all be 50% off! Search my store for #myfavoritethings2014 to get all of the amazing deals. I can’t wait to share these exciting surprises!!

You can scoop up:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Romp-and-Stomping-Letters-Hands-On-Activities-Sort-Letters-By-Attribute-1283772

Romp and Stompin’ Letters usually $12 for ONLY $6!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-Hero-Roll-Say-Keep-Pre-Primer-Dolch-Sight-Word-Center-Extra-1504008

Super Hero: “Roll, Say, Keep!” Pre-Primer Dolch Sight Word Center + Extra usually $3 for ONLY $1.50!!

Delicious Donuts: Addition to 20, Number Lines, Missing Addends, & Printables usually $7 for ONLY $3.50!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bundle-Interactive-Play-Dough-Mats-Hands-On-Math-Centers-Games-Printables-1316496

My ABSOLUTE favorite!! Bundle of 8 Interactive Play Dough Mat Sets!! Full Price $32, get it for $16!!

Because we value our followers and wanted to treat you to our favorite things Oprah style, we have put together the best giveaway of the season! My bloggy friends and I welcome you to the best, biggest, most cheerful event of the season: