Alphabet and Number Seek and Find Mats - Back to School Buses

It's that time of year when we all start going back to school.  One thing that goes on in many preschool and kindergarten classrooms around this time is an evaluation of what letters and numbers your students already know so you can begin instruction where it is most beneficial for your students.  These back to school mats provide a fun, hands on way to introduce letters and numbers, or for students who already have learned to identify letters and numbers, this activity provides an engaging way for students to review this material.

There are a variety of ways to use these alphabet and number mats.  One of our favorite ways to use these mats is to use dot markers to record the letters we find.  Once a card is turned over (or found if you hide them in a sensory bin or around the room) is for students to use the dot marker to record which letter or number they saw.

Students can also simply color the number or letter they turn over or find.  This makes a great fine motor activity for students to practice staying in the lines.  

Adding bingo chips makes this a great table top center for students to work on independently.  Students will turn over a card then use a bingo chip to cover the correct letter or number.

Instead of bingo chips, you can use magnetic letters or numbers.  You can place this page on a cookie sheet to actually have the letter or number magnets stick.  With this activity, students will turn over the card, find the matching magnet and then match it to the number or letter on the mat.

If you want just a simple matching activity, you can just use the mats with magnets or mini erasers to match the letters on the mat.  In this picture my toddler would grab a magnetic letter and then find it on the school bus mat and place it on top.  

Another activity is a write and wipe activity.  This can make a great writing center for students who need some handwriting practice.  Students will turn over a card then trace the number they found.  This can also be a write the room activity where students walk around the room to find the number then trace it on their mats.

Skills Practiced with these Mats:

• Letter Recognition
• Number Recognition
• Handwriting
• Fine Motor Skills
• Hand Eye Coordination

Back to School Seek and Find Mats for Letters and Numbers

FOR A LIST OF ALL THE THEMES AVAILABE FOR THESE MATS CLICK THIS LINK

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Pencil Addition Puzzles

My oldest daughter loves to do puzzles.  When she was in Kindergarten, I would try to make as many puzzle activities as I could to help her practice the different concepts we were working on.  These addition pencils was just one of the activities I made for her to practice her addition facts.  

These pencil puzzles make a great math center for kindergarten or first grade.  When I used them with my daughter, I would just give her a set of pencils and ask her to put them together as she solved the problems.  

She would always line them up in a long straight line as she solved each addition fact.  She would end up having a line of puzzles from our front door all the way into our living room!  I know she loved the fact that these puzzles were hands on and allowed her to demonstrate her knowledge of addition facts without having to write all the answers down on a sheet of paper.  

I have recently learned about task boxes, so I have been going back through my older items and organizing them into these task boxes.  My pencil puzzles fit perfectly into the task boxes I have purchased.  This allows for easy center storage and easy center set up!  I can now just pull out the box and the center is ready for my child to use (my third child is currently in kindergarten and just learning to add).  Besides task boxes, these cards can be used as a small group activity, a table top center or as an independent math center for students to practice on their own or with a partner.

Back to School Addition Pencil Puzzles

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Subtraction Facts Flash Cards and Math Mats for Comparing Differences

Becoming fluent in subtraction is one thing every child will need to move on to higher maths.  Students need to be able to quickly determine the difference.  These math mats give students a variety of ways to practice subtraction fact fluency while also comparing differences of different subtraction problems.

With this subtraction math mat, students will draw a math problem and match it to the difference.  This helps students to work through subtraction problems in a fun way that doesn't involve your typical worksheet.  Students can also see which subtraction problems have the same differences.

With this mat, students will match subtraction problems with the same difference.  They will begin to recognize related subtraction facts using this sorting mat.

This mat allows students to compare the differences between two subtraction problems.  Students will choose two subtraction facts and place them on the mat to make the number sentence true.

Here is another mat for practicing related subtraction mats.  Students will choose two numbers and place them on each side of the mat, then look for subtraction facts with those differences.

Subtraction Flash Cards and Math Mats for Comparing Differences

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