Hi, friends!
I was recently chatting with a teacher friend who said that they were starting school next week! They could not believe that their summer had passed so fast! Are you starting school soon? What does it look like? Are you back to in-person teaching? I know some of you may still teach virtually or some sort of combination of the two. With so many uncertainties again this school year, I wanted to continue chatting about back to school prep with my Savvy Apple community.
This week, we are going to explore some fun math lessons and activities that will help you plan your first week back to school. We want our students to feel comfortable but also start to get into the swing of things. These fun math tips should help you plan for a smooth transition back to school.
Reviewing Math Basics CAN be Fun!
🙋♀️ Raise your hand if you ❤️ LOVE math as much as I do! Am I hearing crickets chirping 🦗? Okay, maybe you’re not a huge math nerd like I am (your students may feel the same way), buuuuuut let me tell you, there are some great ways to make math FUN even if it’s not your strongest suit. As we prepare for our first week back to school, let’s think about how we can make reviewing math concepts a little more fun for our students. We know that we should review, review, review (see last week’s post). Since last year was pretty tough for our students, let’s try to keep the beginning of school a little light and fun.
Like I mentioned , I always start with a review of place value concepts. It’s really important for our kids to grasp these concepts before introducing them to new, more complex material. My for Google Slides are fun, engaging, and super effective for reviewing and strengthening place value concepts in 1st and 2nd grade. (They are also on sale August 3 & 4) Click each image to see more about them.
🍏 Tip
Set up math stations/centers so you have 2 digital stations and 2 hands-on stations. For the digital stations, use the activities from any of the resources above to get your kids reviewing place value concepts. You could start with activities that focus on understanding ones, tens, and hundreds. The hands-on stations can compliment this material. You could put out place value mats and base ten blocks, and have your students compose and decompose 2- and 3-digit numbers, identifying the value of each digit/place. Giving them a mix of hands-on and digital activities will really help them stay engaged and motivated. 😉
End the School Week with Fun Math Games!
On Fridays, I always love to do math games with my students. Have your dice, cards, Bingo chips, and game boards ready to go! Pair up your students and send them on their way to play fun math games together! Here is a post I wrote about fun math activities, especially for outdoor fun. They can also be used indoors as well.
Math movement games at carpet time are also super fun. Students can skip count around a circle of students or exercise count through jumping jacks. Take your students outside to hunt for shapes around the school ground! ⭕️ Here is a post about more fun math activities in detail.
Not really a game, but another math activity that I love to do with my students during the first week back is to participate in “counting collections“. Gather fun little objects (marbles, beads, Bingo chips, snap cubes, blocks, etc.) and bag them in little Ziploc bags with each collection in a separate bag. Also grab a bunch of mini cups from the dollar store. Each student can grab a collection bag and practice counting by 1s, 2s, 3s, etc. by sorting the goods into the mini cups. They can then record how many groups of 2s, 3s, etc. there are in total. Similarly, they can guess how many might be left over. This is so easy to differentiate since students can challenge themselves as much as they’d like. You could also get your students to bring a collection from home to count such as cereal or toy cards.
Homework is Still Important for Student Success
Kids learned at home most, or all, of last school year. I know we are excited about being back in the classroom, maybe? 🤷♀️, but let’s not forget the importance of learning at home. Continue to extend learning by providing students, and their parents, with fun activities to do at home. A lot of families really enjoyed being a part of their child’s learning so let’s keep that interaction and engagement going!
Send some digital activities home with your students to work on for extra review or practice. It can still be fun! Do you need some fresh resources for the school year? These complete curriculum bundles for 1st and 2nd grade will provide you with plenty of resources for the whole year! And, they are 25% OFF August 3 & 4! Click each image to see ALL of the resources included in each bundle.
I have a handy checklist that helps me inventory my digital resources and helps me see which ones I need. I share it here for free.
I hope these tips and resources help you with your back to school planning. Comment and let me know what activities you are planning so far for getting your students comfortable in their surroundings.
Remember, my digital creation course opens soon! Get on the waitlist for the introductory price and for all the information! Creating your own resources is also a fun way to make your students and their interests part of the digital resources you use with them! Wouldn’t they love to see their name in the class’ digital learning activities? It really is simple to make basic resources. I break it all down in the course. Join the waitlist
to hear more about it!
Also, TpT and the Savvy Apple Shop is having a Back to School SALE with 25% OFF all resources! Check out my resources in my SHOP HERE or see the TpT digital resources that are on sale HERE! I appreciate your support!! 😊
Have a great week!
Jess 🍏