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.

Focus on Penguin Facts

Here are a few links to get you started with facts about penguins.

10 Facts About Emperor Penguins (National Geographic Kids)

5 Fun Facts About Penguins (CBC Kids)

Macaroni Penguins (Folly Farm) (They also want you to visit!)

African Penguin (San Diego Zoo) (Click the link for more detailed information.)

Click the highlighted words to download your free copy of Dress a Penguin.

I’d love to hear about your favorite fiction or nonfiction book about penguins in the comments below!

Photo credits: Volodymyr.Goinyk and Coffee Beans and Children’s Dreams

The post 6 Cool Penguin Resources to Energize Your Math appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

A Sale For the New Year

Check out this hashtag sale, #NY2025, on TPT to snag some fabulous dollar deals! What better way to get excited about teaching and learning in 2025?

The last time I checked, there were over 1,800 resources listed. But hurry because these deals are only available on December 31, 2024, and January 1, 2025.

With so many resources to choose from, you’ll want to use the categories at the top of your TPT screen to narrow down your search by grade level and subject area.

You’ll find two of my resources listed in this sale. My Addition Facts to 20 Addition Strategy Math Posters is a year-round seller. Roll and Read Consonant Blends and Digraphs is a newer resource that will give your kindergarten, first, and second-grade students the repeated practice they need to read 119 short vowel high-frequency words.

Check out these blog posts for more resources, ideas, and freebies related to addition facts, repeated reading, and consonant blends and digraphs. 

1. Addition Facts (site search for posts)
2. 6 Cool Penguin Resources to Energize Your Math 
3. Do You Want to Know All About Rapid Word Recognition Charts?
4. How to Address the Challenge of Consonant Digraphs

An Updated New Year’s Freebie for You

The year on this freebie has been changed to 2025.

I’ve never succeeded at making or keeping New Year’s resolutions. Have you? Here’s a free print-and-go resource that’s a little different.

The focus is on anticipating the possibilities a new year offers. I’m all for instilling a little hope for a better future right now.

Try this activity with children of various ages, at home or at school. The clipart and prompts are geared toward children, but the activity is suitable for all ages. The youngest can dictate their responses. You can also have children choose to respond to just 3 to 5 prompts or to complete them over more than one session.

Simply download, print, and provide writing tools.

Then, do a little brainstorming and you’re all set.

Use the first word as a prompt to complete the phrase in a way that’s meaningful for you. For example, my eight-year-old grandson might finish “See” with “The Grand Canyon”.

Here are a few of my possibilities for 2025.

• Make a quilt.
• Eat healthy.
• Be patient.
• Try to walk even farther.
• Learn more about teaching writing skills and decoding multisyllabic words.

Ah… the possibilities are wide-ranging!

Click the highlighted words to download your free copy of A New Year of Possibilities.

My hopes are for a healthy and forward-looking new year for everyone!

I’d love to hear from you! Pick a prompt and share how you would complete it in the comments below.

Photo in title image by Tigerpix LLC.

The post Who’s Ready to Ring in a New Year? appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

No snow here! It was sunny and 70 degrees the other day!

No matter the weather, teaching and learning (however sporadic) must go on! If you are looking for resources to keep your kindergarten, first, second, and third-grade students engaged in learning high-frequency words this winter, these two fit the bill.

Why are these words so important? High-frequency words are the words found most frequently in written text. They include both phonetically regular and irregular words. Because they occur so commonly in any text, students need repeated exposure to recognize them instantly or by sight. Recognizing these words by sight lays the foundation for fluent reading.

Are you wondering about the difference between high-frequency and sight words? Find out the difference along with some teaching tips in this blog post by Dr. Deb.

Here are two activities, including a freebie, to help you provide that repeated exposure.

Stuck in the Snow Game

My students loved to play word games similar to this one! And who can resist these adorable animals stuck in the snow?

You can play it quickly with a timer set for as few as five minutes. Use it with your guided reading, resource, or intervention groups. Or try it as a literacy station.

This game includes 355 high-frequency word cards suitable for kindergarten, first, second, and third graders. There are 40 pre-primer. 52 primer, 41 first-grade, 46 second-grade, and 41 third-grade words from that famous list of 220.

I also included the 14 remaining words from the first hundred, 49 words from the second hundred, and 72 words from the third hundred most commonly used words.

Regardless of your specific list or reading program, these words should have you covered.

How to Prepare

Choose the color or black/ gray/ white word cards. Decide which word cards will meet your students’ instructional needs.

Print (on card stock for durability), laminate, and cut out the word cards. Sort the cards into stacks by kind of animal.

Print, laminate, and cut out a spinner. Use purchased spinner hands; a paper clip and a pencil; or a brad and a paper clip. You will also need a timer if you choose to set a time limit.

How to Play Stuck in the Snow Spin, Read, and Collect

Include the game cards for a little extra fun. Just follow the directions on each card.

Place the cards face up in the four stacks you have sorted by the kind of animal.

Take turns spinning the spinner, taking the top card in the corresponding stack, and reading the word. Collect or keep the cards you read.

The game ends when the timer goes off or the last card is chosen. Count your cards. Who has the most, least, or an equal number of cards?

Click the highlighted words to purchase Stuck in the Snow Spin, Read, and Collect in my TpT store.

Check out the free activity below for another way to give your students even more exposure to these words.

Stuck in the Snow Free Activity

Here’s a handy activity featuring those irresistible animals! Try it as part of your small group instruction or in a literacy center.

Use this free set of 36 primer level high-frequency word cards and mat to help your kindergarten and first-grade students practice spelling and reading these words.

How to Prepare

You will need one mat for each student working on this activity at the same time.

Print (use card stock for durability) and laminate the word cards and mat(s). Instead of laminating the mats, you can place them inside a dry erase pocket.

Cut out the word cards. Store the cards in a baggie or seasonal container.

Select letters for building the word. Your options include letter tiles, letter cubes, lacing letters, and magnetic, plastic, or wooden letters. Check to be sure the letters will fit in the middle space. Another option is to form the letters with play dough.

How to Use

First, pick a word card. Place it in the top box on the mat. Say the letters. Read the word.

Then, build the word with letters in the middle space. Say the letters and read the word.

Lastly, write the word with dry-erase markers or crayons in the bottom space. And yes, say the letters and read the word again!

For additional words, use any word cards you already have or from my Stuck in the Snow Game.

In general, you can build 5 to 7 letter words. With lowercase lacing letters, you can extend this to 9 to 10 letters.

Any of these Stuck in the Snow word cards could also be used with a seasonal sensory writing tray. Can you think of other ways to have your students practice with these word cards? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

Download the free color or black/ gray/ white version of this Stuck in the Snow Activity from my TpT store.

Looking For More Resources?

I recently revised this open-ended flexible winter resource, Mittens on the Line, for sequencing numbers 0-120 in a variety of ways. Use it to provide individualized practice for your kindergarten, first, and second-grade math students.

It can be used for ordering sets of 5 or more consecutive or non-consecutive numbers and for counting by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, or any multiple.

I added a second set of ready to use, easy prep black/ white mittens with a variety of sequences, mixed-up within each set of five numbers (consecutive numbers 0-10, 0-20, within a decade 21-120, across a decade 21-120; and non-consecutive numbers 0-10, 11-20, 0-20, within a decade 21-120, and 11-120). This set is perfect for a color, cut, and glue activity.

Click on the links below to find additional resources for high-frequency words or winter.

• How to Encourage Engagement With High-Frequency Words
• Engage in the Magic of Learning With Roll-a-Rainbow
• Warm-up With a Free Hot Cocoa Number Activity
• Winter Resources in My TpT Store
• High-Frequency Word Resources in My Tpt Store

Photo in the title image by so_lizaveta.

The post 2 Stuck in the Snow High-Frequency Word Activities appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

Try this activity with your kindergarten, first, second or third-grade students. Use the four levels to reinforce ways to represent numbers, along with number sense and place value skills. Take advantage of the different levels to individualize instruction and reach all your students.

Hot Cocoa Numbers

Hot cocoa numbers is an open-ended color, cut, and paste activity. The pieces are over-sized to allow space to complete some of the math tasks.

Get Started

First, choose the number range(s) most appropriate for your students.

The Four Number Ranges

1. 1-10: number word, tally marks, dice, quantity, pennies, one more, and one less
2. 11-20: number word, tally marks, double ten frames, one more, one less, ten and _more, 10 + _ = _, and tens and ones
3. 11-99: number word, one more, one less, ten more, ten less, tens and ones, expanded form, round to the nearest ten
4. 100-999: number word, ten more, ten less, one hundred more, one hundred less, hundreds, tens, and ones, expanded form, round to the nearest hundred

Next, decide how you will construct the craft. Choose paper or card stock. Print the mug on white paper and color it with crayons. Or print it on colored paper. Leave the mug sheet intact or cut out the mug.

Cut around the dark outline of the marshmallows, spoon, and cinnamon stick. Or to make cutting easier, cut on the dotted lines. The first way will look more attractive.

Glue the pieces onto the cut-out mug, the intact mug sheet, or a 12 x 12″ piece of construction paper or card stock.

Finally, determine how to give your students a number. Let your students pick a number or assign one. Here are some ideas.

Assign the same number to everyone, verbally assign individual numbers, or write a number on each printed mug. Give your students a range of numbers to mentally choose from. Put numbers in a bag to draw. Use any number cards or flashcards you already have or write numbers on slips of paper.

Get Prepared

Once you have decided everything, simply print the corresponding two pages. Provide crayons, scissors, and glue along with 12 x 12″ paper, if needed.

If your students are completing this activity independently, you may want to make a sample to assist with “reading” the directions for each math task.

Put it Together

To begin, write your number on the mug. Complete all the math tasks on the mug and the separate pieces.

Then, color the mug (optional), spoon, and cinnamon stick. See if you can convince your kids that the marshmallows can remain white!

Next, cut out the mug (optional) and the separate pieces.

To complete the craft, arrange the mug along with the marshmallows, spoon, and cinnamon stick. Glue.

Don’t forget to display your hot cocoa numbers!

Looking For More Resources?

Check out the newest place value addition to my TpT store, Marshmallow Pals- Hundreds, Tens, and Ones, a perfect companion for the hot cocoa numbers activity.

It is a small group winter themed roam the room activity for second and third graders that reinforces representing three-digit numerals in different forms; base ten, standard form, expanded form, and number word. It also provides practice with rounding to the nearest ten or hundred, ten less/ more than a number, and one hundred less/ more than a number.

Be sure to click on the Winter, Numbers & Number Sense, and Numbers & Place Value links to find more resources in my store to enhance your instruction.

Read more blog posts (and discover more freebies!) about number sense and place value.

Download your free copy of Hot Cocoa Numbers from my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking on the highlighted words.

And yes, after whipping up a cup of hot cocoa and smelling it while I took photos, I enjoyed sipping it while cozying up with a good book!

Title image photo is by Natalia Mamysheva.

The post Warm up with a Free Hot Cocoa Number Activity appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

Like cookbooks, I collected many program manuals during my teaching career. Like cookbooks, I tended to try everything in the manual and then over time narrowed my focus to one or two components of the program.

One of the programs I selected and implemented was “Road to the Code: A Phonological Awareness Program for Young Children” (Blachman, B.A., Ball, E.W., Black, R. & Tangel, D.M., 2000). The Say-It-and-Move-It phoneme segmentation component of this program became a constant in my teaching from that point forward.

I used the Say-It-and-Move-It lessons as a daily part of my reading lessons with inclusion and resource groups of struggling readers starting the second half of kindergarten and extending into first grade, as needed. I love the carefully sequenced lessons which begin with discriminating between one phoneme (/t/) and one phoneme repeated (/a/ /a/) before introducing segmenting two phoneme (up) and subsequently three phoneme (sit) words. Each step is gradually integrated with the next. The program starts with blank manipulatives and transitions to a combination of blank and single letter tiles. The lessons are structured to provide modeling and corrective feedback.

As much as I love the positives of this program, I found the Say-It-and-Move-It mats in the manual to be rather drab. I soon started creating my own mats using pictures that were appealing to my students. Horses, vehicles, and dinosaurs are a few that come to mind. I also started collecting a variety of engaging counters such as buttons, erasers, gems, and glass pebbles.

Today, I am sharing a set of seasonal phoneme segmentation mats for January and February with you. There are 12 full-page size mats in this set, each in color and black/ gray/ white. There are three each of snowmen, penguins, groundhogs, and love bunnies. While “Road to the Code” has a fabulous set of lessons, these mats can be used independently.

Simply print (on card stock for durability), laminate, and add counters. Provide one more counter than the maximum number of phonemes in your lesson. Prepare your list of sounds or words to be segmented.

• Students place the counters on the picture.
• The teacher says one or two sounds or a two or three phoneme word.
• Students echo.
• Students say each sound while moving a corresponding counter, placing the first counter on the dot of the arrow.
• When using isolated phonemes, ask students, “How many sounds?”.
• When using words, (after all counters are placed) students say the word again while sliding their fingers below the counters.

Here are a few more ideas to use as your students progress with this important foundational skill.
1) Bead Slide: A Tool for Teaching Phoneme Segmentation Skills (Make, Take, & Teach)
2) Segmenting Freebies (Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten)
3) Phonological Awareness Interventions for Struggling Readers (Learning At The Primary Pond)

You can find additional ideas for phonological awareness interspersed on this Pinterest board, Letters and Sounds All Around.

SaveSave

The post How to Get Started With Segmenting Phonemes appeared first on Just Ask Judy.

As you return to your classroom in this new calendar year for a new semester of teaching and learning, your students will exhibit an equally wide variety of achievement levels and readiness to take on new tasks. Some of your littles will undoubtedly still need a daily review of letters and sounds.

For the sensory writing tray, I tried white rice with glitter. Seriously, glitter is incredibly messy used like this and I wouldn’t recommend using it in a writing tray unless you want to see sparkles everywhere for weeks to come. On the other hand, white rice with sequins and snow sprinkles made a nice mix. I love the idea from Kindergarten is Crazy for using plastic school supply boxes; easy to contain, stack, and store, and so practical for use with small groups.

As with the gingerbread men, these winter hats can be used in a plethora of ways, limited only by your imagination, including an It’s in the Bag activity. For students who have learned a limited set of letters or numbers, you can make multiple copies of those. Students take turns to pick a card (without peeking, of course) and respond. If the response is correct (or if you are providing corrective feedback), they keep the card. You can add the hedgehog cards for a little excitement (The Hat written and illustrated by Jan Brett). Pick a hedgehog card- lose a turn, put one or all of your cards back in the bag- you decide. Since I couldn’t find a winter-themed decorative gift bag (out with Christmas and in with Valentine’s Day), I included a page with hats and snowflakes to decorate a kraft bag.

How will you use these winter hat letter and number cards? Let me know if additional seasonal sets would be beneficial.

This free roam the room small group activity, available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store,  gets your kids up and moving while reviewing initial sounds.

For learners ready for numbers beyond 20, check out my newest open-ended resource, Mittens on the Line Ordering Numbers 0-120, which is perfect for kindergarten, first, and, second grade. Click to find more winter resources in my store.

Free Wintery Resources and Ideas for Letters, Sounds, and Numbers

You can also find a sprinkling of additional winter hat and mitten resources on my Winter Wonders Pinterest board.

The post Wonderful Wintery Ways to Review Letters and Sounds appeared first on Just Ask Judy.