Thanksgiving Math and Literacy Centers

Today my little guys got super excited by the new math centers I made for them. The main goal for this month is for the kids to practice learning their numbers to 30 (for my kinder kids).  My math "Write the Room" activity was a HUGE HIT!! This is part of my Thanksgiving Numbers to 30 Math Centers.

Thanks to a bit of a meltdown during lunch for one little guy, I didn't have time to put up my turkey numbers for Write the Room. My little guys saw them and asked what they were for. I told them I was going to hide the numbers around the room and they would need to find them and write them down using the special clipboards. (BTW I learned my 2 little leftys need to use the clipboard the opposite direction as I use them, so they don't bump their hands on the clip. Funny discovery). Anyway... the kids were so excited that they didn't want to wait until tomorrow. They agreed to do their math worksheet outside the classroom door on the bench so I could have time to hide the numbers. This was the hardest quietest work I've ever seen! Then they came in a squealed at the turkeys all over the walls. They were so hard at work and I never had to prompt them. I also was able to use this as an informal assessment for their number formation as well as their ability identify the numbers.

Turkey numbers hiding on walls and bookcases

The Lefty way of using a clipboard

Great number for the beginning of kinder!

This wonderful success lead the kids to begging me to let them do it again tomorrow. I decided it would be a great time to introduce Write the Room to my literacy centers too. They weren't ready for it earlier this year, but now I know they can do it. So this little goodie made me motivated to make a whole set of literacy centers with a Thanksgiving theme. They are ready for you to pick up in my TPT store now too! If you think of a great topic to add to the literacy centers, I'd be happy to add to the unit.

Lastly, for those wondering about my Nurtured Heart Approach, my test kid is doing even better! He stayed on a good behavior chart color all the way until lunch when another student was being very mean and picking on him. He tried to use his words first (this is a big deal!) then he lost it when they didn't listen. On the upside, he's making huge improvements and he has gotten so much work done! This has still been a tough week though for another student. There was about an hour worth of screaming in my room. Clearly one of my kids needs to learn "size of the problem/reaction." That will be on tomorrow's agenda...