Differentiation Station Creations: Get Up and Move!!

We are in winter now and it is cold outside!! As the weather gets colder, sometimes recess and outdoor play is limited. As a parent and teacher, I know that kids need movement. They concentrate and learn better when they are able to use their muscles and move around. What better way to encourage movement, than to include it in your regular teaching routine. Students don't even realize that they are learning when they are able to move and "play" around the room.

So some teacher friends and I have teamed up to load you up with resources to make teaching a bit easier! We've included tons of resources that pair movement with learning and fun. Grab hold of student's attention with these engaging games and activities!!

I have two of my resources in the pack. They are perfect for winter math! One of my favorites is Snowball Addition! There is a variety of centers and games to get your students interacting with numbers. One of my favorite parts of this pack is the student made number line. You print out the snowballs and have students create a number line on your floor. It gets them invested in the number line.

I also provide "focus wands" to get the students to narrow their focus to individual numbers on the number line. These are easy to make and use.

There are individual number lines and a large class number line. This allows students to follow along on their own personal number line. You can work on addition, greater and less than with these number lines. I used them with a preschooler, first grader, and second grader. It was very easy to differentiate for each of their needs.

Here is a student "knocking on" the larger number and counting on. It helps those kinesthetic learners to physically count on from the larger number.

We played WAR with the numeral cards. This is great for understanding greater and less than, but still has the novelty of a game. Moving the focus wand along the number line really helps visual and kinesthetic learners. They are able to see the physical distance between two numbers and to actually move their focus wands forward or backward.

We also played WAR (or had a snowball fight, as my kids called it) with addition cards. Each player flipped over a card, moved their focus wand along the number line to add the two numbers, and determined who had the largest sum. Great fun!

There is a set of snowball mats included in the pack. Students will practice addition sentences with, or without, manipulatives. Students will add sums to 10, sums of 10, doubles, and sums to 20. We used the snowflake manipulatives that are included, as well as marshmallows. Can you guess which was the favorite???

Students will also be able to practice working with missing addends. Again, there are four different sets of mats: sums to 10, sums of 10, doubles, and sums to 20. You can differentiate for your students' abilities.

There are also a bunch of Roll & Cover games. There are three different options. Choose the one game boards that are appropriate for your students. I include adding 2 dice. Students will roll the dice, add the two numbers together, search for the sum, cover the sum if they have it. First person to cover all their snowballs, wins the snowball fight!

Students can also work on adding doubles. They will roll one die and add it to itself.

The last option is rolling 3 dice. Students can use their number lines to add all the numbers together.

I also have another great pack for getting kids up and moving! Let's Get Hopping is such a fun way to explore skip counting. You can check out Emmy Mac's post! I want to be in her class :)

I hope your kids love these activities as much as mine do! It's great to get them up and moving AND learning!!