Would you like a free count on turkey activity to make teaching just a little easier right now? Are you getting ready to add some holiday madness to your already unpredictable and difficult days?
Count On Turkeys
This engaging activity is easy to prepare and requires minimal materials; making it perfect for the season and these crazy times!
Provide practice or review with the count on strategy for addition in kindergarten, first, or second grades. Frequent practice and review also help to develop fluency with these facts.
Try it in the classroom or send it home.
Although this activity is designed to be completed with a partner or in a small group, each student uses his/ her own materials and can engage from a distance. While not quite as much fun, you can also complete it individually.
Get It Prepared
There are three separate count on and color sheets. There is one each for counting on one, counting on two, and counting on three. Directions are provided on each sheet.
Choose the one(s) that best fits your instructional needs. Assign the same one to all of your students or assign them based on individual needs.
Everything is black and white. Just print it on paper.
You will need:
- one copy of Count Up and Color for each student
- one copy of the optional recording sheet for each student
- a pencil and a paper clip for each student
- crayons
Get ‘Em Engaged With Count On Turkeys
Decide if you want your students to record the equations. Do you want them to record each equation or just the unique ones?
They can write the equations on the optional recording sheet, a whiteboard, or a piece of paper.
Use a pencil and a paper clip to spin.
Play with a partner or in a small group. Take turns.
- Spin. (ex. 9)
- Add 1, 2, or 3 to your number. (depends on the sheet you have)
- Record the addition equation. (ex. 9 + 2 = 11)
- Find the space on your turkey with the sum. (i.e. 11)
- Color that space. If the numbered space is part of a feather, color the entire feather.
- If all the spaces with that number are colored, you lose your turn.
- Who can be the first to finish coloring all the numbered spaces?
Based on experience, I know the trickiest part for your students will be to color the sum of the equation and not the number they spin! Just something you’ll want to keep an eye out for.
Click on the highlighted words, Count On Turkeys, to download your free copy.
Looking For More Resources…
Check out these turkey-themed blog posts. You’ll find a link to a freebie in each one.
- Encourage Engagement With High-Frequency Words (includes a freebie for pre-primer words)
- Have a Little Turkey Fun (a free activity for preschool, kindergarten, and early first grade)
- A Rafter of Timely and Terrific Turkey Resources (free Turkey Feathers Even & Odd Numbers activity for 1st and 2nd grades)
Find some thematic or skill-related resources in my TpT store.
Keep Calm and Carry On
We think of Thanksgiving as a time to give thanks. However, the experts tell us to practice gratitude every day. Why?
We’ll find meaning through giving thanks. This can have a positive effect on both our mental and physical health.
It can be akin to exercise, though, particularly during these trying times. You might be reluctant to get started and exert the effort today, but it will pay off in the end.
While reading about gratitude during a pandemic, I encountered an interesting tidbit in this article from Psychology Today about the saying “Keep Calm and Carry On”. It actually originated during World War II in Britain. Who knew?
This expression was one of three key wartime messages created (but never implemented) by their Ministry of Information in 1939. Satisfy your curiosity by reading more about its history at the University of London and Keep Calm and Carry On sites.
This year, I am grateful that…
- My friends and family are all safe and finding ways to cope.
- I can step out my door and go for a walk, encountering few (if any) neighbors, all at a safe distance and offering friendly greetings.
- My new range has been installed, at last! I can cook a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner, even if it will only be for my husband and me instead of the usual gathering of friends and family.
And finally, find a Thanksgiving Gratitude Game from Happy Go Lucky that is perfect for adults or kids, at home or at school, and even by Zoom. It caught my attention because it requires M & M’s!
Take time to think, write in a journal, or share in the comments below what you are thankful for and/ or ways to express your gratitude.
Photo in title image by NataPhoto.
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