Friday, January 14, 2011

Target Dollar Bin Hearts and Erasers for Reading and Math


I am really excited about these foam hearts from the dollar section of my local Target in Greensboro, NC.
I plan to use them for a math center but they could easily be used for literacy centers as well.  Since I may want to "program" them for several different activities I plan to use small labels for the questions and answers I will put on the back of them.  I will use them first for an addition concentration game with math sentences on half of the hearts and the answers on the other half.  You could also use them for subtraction, multiplication or division facts.  The children in my classroom love the concentration format for game playing.  They could also be used for opposites or matching sight words.  The options are endless.  I also had to get a couple of packs of the small erasers for math manipulatives.  I use dice quite a bit in my math centers.  I am planning to use these as counters for math problems that the children roll with the dice.  One child may roll a four and then get four erasers then roll a six and six erasers.  They will record their rolls and then count all of the erasers to get the total. Link for recording sheet for this activity:  it is free
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentines-Day-Febuary-Addition-Math-Center-Recording-Sheet

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Welcome to Big Stuff Learning Activities!

I'm Sarah Tharpe-Winchell and I teach first grade in Greensboro, North Carolina  at General Greene School of Science and Technology.  I have taught kindergarten and first grade for 25 years and I love it.  I have enjoyed working with many student teachers, interns, teachers and children over the years.  Even though I have many years of experience I continue to enjoy coming up with new ideas and activities for the classroom!
This week I will be sharing a lot of great things I found at the dollar section of my local Target for math and literacy centers!  Enjoy!