Leaping Leprechauns! (Freebie)

I love St. Patrick's Day!  I love the leprechauns, the rainbows, pots of gold, and magic!  All of this is irresistible to both me and to children.  I wanted to bring the magic of St. Patrick's day leprechauns to the process of addition.

What better way to do this than with active learning??  I created a free product for all you wonderful teachers and parents out there.  This is sure to get your "little leprechauns" leaping!!  Click here to get your freebie.

I created a number line out of gold coins.  You can use these gold coins to build a class number line on the ground.  I use painter's tape to attach the numbers to the ground.  I also included an anchor chart that helps students learn how to "count on" from the largest number.  It teaches students to literally "knock" on the largest number.  This helps kinesthetic learners to "lock" the largest number in their brains.

I included both a large leprechaun "focus wand" and a smaller version for the personal number lines.  Students will "knock on" the numbers with the focus wands.  They will then leap with their leprechauns the remaining spaces in the addition sentence.  For example, in 5+3=8, students will find the number 5 with their focus wand and literally leap (jump) forward 3 spaces to find the sum.  This is a great exercise to make addition concrete.

 

You can do this exercise in a whole group or small group setting.  A volunteer can demonstrate the addition sentence on the class number line and the rest of the class will follow along on their personal number lines.  They will use the smaller leprechaun focus wands.

There is also an extension worksheet included.  Students can act out the addition sentences on the class and personal number lines. 

If you loved the active learning with number lines in this free product, check out these products!

Monster Munch

Snowball Addition



Delicious Donuts: Addition



Devouring Donuts: Subtraction

 

How's It Hangin'?

I have a paid product St. Patrick's Day Math Scavenger Hunt: Numerals, Ten Frames Counting Cardinality. 

I used the cards from this product to use in conjunction with the "Leaping Leprechauns" freebie.  I mixed all the numeral, ten frames, and object cards together.  I had students play "War" with the cards.  Each student had a number line and a leprechaun focus wand.  Students would flip the cards and find their number on the number line.  They would compare their number to their partner's number.  Whoever had the largest number gets to keep the cards.

For number recognition, I had students pick a card and find the number on the class and personal number lines.

We did the same thing, using ten frames.  Students needed to identify the number represented by the circles in the ten frame.

We repeated this exercise, using the object cards.  Students needed to show their proficiency with one-to-one correspondence.  They also needed to recognize that the last number counted out loud represents the amount of objects counted.

We played memory with different types of cards, ten frames and numerals.

 

Numerals and objects.

And ten frames and objects.  I typically use 10 sets of matches, but you can use more or less depending on the abilities of your students.

There are many differentiated recording sheets included in the game.  You can use the recording sheets for so many skills.  Here a student is counting the circles in a ten frame and tracing the numeral 4.

Counting objects and writing the correct numeral.

Identifying the amount in the ten frame.

Creating the appropriate number of circles in the ten frame.

Identifying amounts in ten frames up to 20.

Solving addition problems and finding the correct sum.

And create your own recording sheet!

I also have an St. Patrick's Day Alphabet Scavenger Hunt with differentiated recording sheets.  I hope you have a fun and festive week!!

 

I've linked up with The Primary Gal's weekly linky: Friday Free-For-All!  Go check out the amazing freebies!!