Snowball Fight

My school outlaws snowballs....but I think the administration won't mind this kind.

My students love playing this game...we played with jingle bells in December.  Now I just need some big white pom-poms.  I have little ones, I have white unifix cubes, I could use ping-pong balls or styrofoam balls.  And look, my cotton balls are pretty big too.

Playing Missing Addend with Jingle Bells

First we count how many snowballs we have.  Then everyone will close their eyes and I will hide some in a cup...or maybe a hat, or even a mitten.  Once everyone opens their eyes we will try to figure out how many are missing.  We will practice our math talk.  That math talk is important to the common core, and important for these little ones to understand their thinking and learning processes and to find the words to express that.

We play this whole group a few times before I turn them loose.  Then I will help them record their game on these little handouts.  The first one is a recording sheet for their games, the second page is to help with the math talk.

 

Missing Addend is a Common Core Standard in First Grade (1.OA.B.8), but my kinders love playing this game and it is helping them become fluent in their math facts to 5 (K.OA.A.5).  

I love using seasonal "stuff" as manipulatives and I have several different versions of this same game in my tpt store.  They are in both color and black and white.  Come check them out here.

If you want to find more good ideas and Kindergarten blogs check out the linky over at Simply Kinders.  There are so many new blogs and old favorites, all with great ideas to use in your classroom.