Holy moly let’s just all take a collective breath. 

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And another for good measure. 

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Ok. This year is going to be unpredictable. We can all just admit that. But ALSO, we love our students and families and, even in this crazy environment, are committed to supporting their education no matter what. We’re all in this together. (*cue High School Musical track*) So whether your school is 100% distance learning, attempting a face-to-face option, or some kind of hybrid model, let’s dive in and chat about how we can provide quality math units with the minimal amount of stress. Yes, I will be attempting the impossible: trying to siphon off stress from this crazy mess of a back to school season. 

Get Kids What They Need

Whatever your district is requiring, it’s clear that it won’t be safe for students to share supplies this year unless somehow you’ve got time in the day to sanitize things between each use. From a “work smarter not harder,” perspective, I’m jumping on the train of individual supplies for everyone. 

The immediate problem with the “every student needs their own supplies,” approach is this can get expensive pretty quickly and is likely way outside of budget realities for many schools. But let’s start our school year prep in an ideal world and assume you have the budget and adjust from there.

Build a Math Kit

The thing is, we need to focus on keeping learning (especially distance learning) as hands-on as possible this year. ESPECIALLY since so many students likely missed key learning points in the spring during the beginning of all this madness. Hands-on learning is more important now than ever. Endless worksheets (especially via Zoom) will not be enough to keep students’ education on track. Besides being important for our kinesthetic learners in the room, research shows us clearly that, “hands-on learning is uniquely positioned to support or elevate any type of learner,” (The New School). Plus, if students are at home, creating these supplies ahead of time and coordinating a drop off or pick up of them, will put everyone on an even playing field and imitate the classroom environment much more effectively than just crossing our fingers and hoping everyone has adequate access to paper and pencils. 

I’d recommend every student have a plastic box (with a lid), zippered pouch or even a gallon zippered bag that’s clearly labeled and exclusively theirs. Store it in their desk, locker, or cubby. The positive side of this is that students LOVE when things solely belong to them. It’s special and exciting. We’ll probably have to work on sharing a lot next year, but we can put a pin in that for now. 

This kit will serve as each student’s “Math Kit” and should store all kinds of fun manipulatives. Remember, we’re beginning our planning in an ideal world so, if you can swing it, here’s everything I can possibly think of that could be beneficial in this math kit. 

• Coins
• Base 10 Blocks
• Clock
• Measuring tools
• 100’s charts
• Counting manipulatives (Target dollar spot mini erasers are great for this!!)
• Number cards or playing cards
• Die/Dice
• Place Value Mat
• White board
• Dry Erase Marker
• Math journal

If you can include all those goodies in individual boxes for your students, your math blocks will be a breeze. They’ll have everything they need at the literal tips of their fingers without having to leave their desks for one second.
And for all my teachers who want to embrace in-person and virtual learning, I’ve got some great digital resources for you that will be sure to make math time go by in the blink of an eye. 

If you’re internally screaming at me because how dare I assume you’ve got the budget to buy 20 clocks for all your kids, I hear you. Don’t despair. I didn’t forget about you, I PROMISE! In fact, I created a free resource just for you. Because no classroom should go without the supplies they need to thrive at any time, but especially this year y’all we all need a little boost. 

For you, I’ve got a printable resource of manipulatives that’s FREE (yes, F-R-E-E) that will help you start creating quality math kits for your kids with no budget at all. 

Grab Your FREE Math Toolkit

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The most important thing we can do for our kiddos this year is to avoid panic, friends. Take another deep breath. Let’s come full circle and end this post like we started it. 

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And again. 

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I’ll be here with more math posts and ideas all year y’all. And if you missed our literacy series, head here to catch up! 

Now that you know WHY hoopla digital makes lesson planning easier, I want to show you HOW to use it!

First off, searching for resources is SO EASY. You literally type in the title you are looking for into the search bar at the top and hit search. You can even specify if you would like to find an eBook, audiobook, movie, or more. Once you find what you’re looking for, you simply “borrow” it and everything you check out is stored in a digital library right on hoopla digital so you can easily access it.

I’ve seriously been in awe at the wide array of resources that are available on hoopla. I’ve searched and searched for all sorts of titles for all kinds of lesson ideas, and guess what? I can always find exactly what I’m looking for!

How does hoopla digital increase student engagement?

So, let me tell you friends, the benefits don’t stop with my experience with hoopla. Student engagement is where it’s at! I love that hoopla digital offers the ability to project a book, making it large enough for students to see and follow along. Anytime I’m able to make things larger and easier for students to see, I immediately see an increase in engagement.

I also love that if students have different interests on a particular topic (and don’t they always) that you can borrow ebooks and audiobooks that fit their needs. Think about your Listen to Reading center – what if you could tailor audiobooks that matched your STEAM curriculum? Well, you can with hoopla!

What are my favorite titles available on hoopla?

Well, there are truly SO many, but here are a few:

Like I mentioned before, their resource library is MASSIVE!

In fact, I got so excited about what hoopla has to offer that I created another free lesson plan for you!

Using “Mechanimals” by Chris Tougas, available right on hoopla digital, students will work through the five step engineering process – (1) Ask, (2) Imagine, (3) Plan, (4) Create, and (5) Improve – to answer the challenge question: How can we design a mechanical animal that will perform a specific job for a farmer?

In this STEAM experience, students will create a mechanical animal that helps the farmer with a job of the student’s choice. Talk about opening the doors for your students to get creative!

You can truly go mild to wild with what materials students build with – from cut paper to clay, recyclables, and more. I made this turkey mechanical animal that has tons of eyes that act as cameras to help the farmer patrol for predators entering the farm – y’all literally ideas and creativity will be flowing through your kiddos’ minds!

Grab your free copy of this lesson plan guide by joining my email list below. You’ll be sent the password to visit the Freebies section of my website.

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No, really — take a second and picture it.

Are your students quietly completing a worksheet… or are they buzzing with excitement, collaborating, and truly thinking?

In my kindergarten classroom, math is loud, collaborative, and fun! My students look forward to math time because I use math games and centers that keep them moving, talking, and building real understanding. They think they’re just playing — but I know they’re mastering critical math concepts along the way.

And now, we’ve added a festive twist with our Thanksgiving-themed math centers!

Setting Up Thanksgiving Math Centers

While everyone’s favorite dollar spot didn’t have Thanksgiving erasers this year, I found adorable Thanksgiving manipulatives from Oriental Trading that were perfect for our games! I grabbed some storage containers from Dollar Tree, and we were ready to go.

(And if you don’t have seasonal counters — no worries! Printable counters are included with the games.)

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Math Games

Let’s take a peek at what’s inside this festive math pack. Each game was designed with differentiation, collaboration, and fun in mind — perfect for your Kindergarten Thanksgiving math centers!

Turkey Trot

Who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? In Turkey Trot, students practice addition and subtraction while collecting turkeys along the way. The player with the most turkeys at the end wins!

Teacher tip: This one’s a hit during Thanksgiving week — especially when energy levels are high!

Shape Voyage

Students roll a die, check the key at the top of the mat (ex: a 2 = circle), and move to the next real-world object showing that shape. This one builds shape recognition and helps children connect geometric concepts to real life.

Teacher tip: Play this one in small groups to encourage discussion and descriptive vocabulary!

Thankful Numbers

This fast-paced favorite builds subitizing skills — helping students recognize quantities instantly without counting each dot. It can be played solo or in partners, cooperatively or competitively.

Teacher tip: Use Thanksgiving manipulatives as counters for an instant seasonal refresh.

Race to the New World

I’m not even exaggerating when I say I’m obsessed with this one! Students practice skip counting by 10s to 100 as they race their way to the finish line. Perfect for small groups or math intervention.

Teacher tip: Add a timer for an extra challenge — students love to beat their previous time!

Number Harvest

Number Harvest practices one-to-one correspondence and number writing from 1–12. You can easily differentiate by letting advanced learners roll two dice and add them together to record sums up to 12.

Teacher tip: Add a simple graphing extension — have students tally how many of each number they roll!

Before and After

This game challenges students to identify numbers that come before or after a given number. Play solo, cooperatively, or competitively — the first player with four in a row wins!

Teacher tip: Use this game during your small group warm-up to reinforce number order in a fun, low-stress way.

Ready to Gobble Up Some Math Fun?

If your students are ready to gobble up some Thanksgiving math fun, all of these games are available in my [Teachers Pay Teachers store] — in both full color and blackline versions!

Click here to grab the Kindergarten Thanksgiving Math Centers and Games pack!

More Thanksgiving Classroom Favorites

Looking for more Thanksgiving activities for kindergarten? Here are a few of my favorites — just click the image to explore:

• Thanksgiving Literacy Centers
• Turkey Glyph Writing Craft
• Turkey Thematic Unit

SaveSave

Last week I went outside one day after school and took pictures of the bark of several trees right around our classroom.  I printed and laminated these to create a tree bark matching activity.  This center is super versatile!  Students can go outside in teams (with adult supervision) to try and find the tree that each picture matches.  This led to some of the best conversation of the day because students were unknowingly using great description words to justify why a certain picture match a tree or not.