6 Cool Penguin Resources to Energize Your Math

Judy — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 20:35:12 +0000

Who wouldn’t love some cool penguin-themed resources to supplement their math instruction? Make learning about these amazing birds a January highlight! Penguin Awareness Day falls on January 20th.

Here are 6 math resources, great for first and second grades, which include those amazing birds.

Dress a Penguin

Let’s start with an easy to prepare freebie!

Here’s a color, cut, and glue activity for applying mental computation strategies to the basic addition and subtraction facts. Try it for morning work or as a math station.

Your students need to be familiar with the strategies. They will look at equations and determine the best of two strategies to apply. The two strategies for addition are Make 10 and Doubles Plus One while the two for subtraction are Count Back and Count Up To.

There is one set of pages for addition and one for subtraction. The first page in each set has two penguins, each labeled with a strategy. The second page has items of clothing with equations on them.

Select and print a set of pages. Add crayons, scissors, and glue. Now, you’re all set!

Your students will:

Look at each equation.
Choose the best strategy.
Apply the strategy.
Write the sum or difference.
Color the clothing.
Cut out the clothing.
Sort the clothing by strategy.
Dress each penguin in the correct clothing.
Glue the clothing on the penguins.
Color the penguins.

Be sure your students have the background knowledge and the fine motor skills required for this task. You want it to be fun and relaxing, not frustrating.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to download your free copy.

Featured next are my newest resources.

Winter Cover-Up Addition and Subtraction Facts to 20

While penguins are included in these resources, there are polar bears and snowmen too. I just couldn’t resist this adorable clipart created by Violet and Thistle!

You’ll love this winter-themed activity, with both digital (for use with Google Slides^TM) and print versions, that is designed to help your first and second-grade students practice, review, and develop fluency with the basic addition and subtraction facts to 20.

Use this engaging resource to support your instruction in mental computation strategies. Assign one or two slides/ mats at a time. Give the same ones to all students or assign them to individual students based on instructional needs. Try them with your small instructional groups, as a math center, or as a virtual activity.

Give Me the Details

There are 16 addition fact activity slides/ mats and 18 subtraction fact slides/ mats, sequentially organized by mental fact strategies. These activity slides/ mats coordinate perfectly with my other addition and subtraction fact resources.

The slides/ mats alternate between ones, generally, focusing on a single strategy with ones providing a cumulative review.

The print and digital versions follow the same sequence and have the same format. However, the equations in each grid are in random order so you can use both versions with the same students.

Each slide/ mat has 9 addition or subtraction equations. Students look at each equation and apply a fact strategy to determine the sum or difference.

With the printed format, students will place number tiles on top of the equations. In the version for use with Google Slides^TM, they will drag and drop a snowball or snowflake number on top of the equations.

Where Can I Find Out More?

Click on any of the highlighted words to waddle on over to my TpT store. Read the descriptions and check out the previews for more information. You’ll find three options for purchasing Winter Cover-Up; to print, for use with Google Slides^TM, or as a bundle.

Find more blog posts about teaching addition and subtraction facts. You’ll discover more information and yes, freebies!

More Penguin Themed Math Resources From My Store

Get up and moving on a cold, winter day with these two roam the room activities.

Telling Time With Playful Penguins

Here’s a set of 72 task cards for telling time to the hour, half-hour, hour and half-hour, quarter-hour, five-minute intervals, and one-minute intervals. You can easily mix and match sets to meet the instructional needs of your kindergarten, first, second, and third-grade students.

Penguins at Play Tens and Ones

Use this place value activity for first and second-graders to reinforce representing two-digit numbers in different forms; base ten, standard form, expanded form, and number word.

And finally, spend some time playing a game or collecting some data.

Make Ten Waddling Penguins

Get set to play three small group games (penguin collection game, memory match, and go fish) for learning the Make 10 addition facts with this resource that’s ideal for kindergarten, first, and second grades.

Play these games after you have introduced the Make 10 addition fact strategy, for either further development of the concept or to help acquire fluency with the facts.

It’s in the Bag for Winter – A Data Collection and Graphing Activity

Engage your first, second, and third-grade students with this seasonal activity. They’ll collect data by picking and replacing the letters of a word in a paper lunch bag until all the letters have been picked. Afterward, they’ll use their data to complete a bar graph and answer questions.

And of course, one of the words included in this set is penguin!

Click on the highlighted titles above to learn more about each resource.