My Number of the Day Routine for the Kindergarten Focus Wall!

In this post, I am excited to explain how I use my Number of the Day (or Number of the Week) Focus Wall set!  I use these set of pocket chart cards to help form a daily routine to help teach children the numbers from zero to twenty in an active way that is engaging and fun for them.  It was designed to be used in a Kindergarten or Transitional Kindergarten (TK) class, but would also work great in a Pre-K or first grade class as well.  The number can be changed daily or weekly, as desired, so it can be the Number of the Day, or the Number of the Week.  So that's just based on teacher preference!




Because the Number of the Week chart is part of my Focus Wall, I review it daily with my students.  Or rather, I TRY to go through it daily, but let's face it:  sometimes things get in the way!  If your school is anything like all of the rest I have taught in, then there may be any number of assemblies, special programs, or an extra long project that your kids may need to attend/complete during the week that may prevent you from getting to that Focus Wall time.  SO, I just do my best and know that I probably won't get to it every single day.  But, if I can review all of the elements on my Focus Wall four times per week, (or even three!) then I know that most of my kids will have learned most of the content.... hopefully!



 
And by the way, that purple pocket chart came from Amazon, right here.

And now I will outline my routine for the Number of the Day/Week Focus Wall!

Number and Number Word:

This part is simple:  I just say, "What is our number this week?"  And the children call out, "Eight!"  If we have learned the number song from our Number Jumble DVD (or the internet streaming videos) then I would also have them sing that song or just spell the word.  If not, I have them show me eight fingers.






Ten Frame:

Then I say, "Let's look at our ten frame!  We have a full frame on top.  How many would that be?  Let's count!"  Then we count and clap up to five.  Then I say, "Okay, keep counting!"  And then we all say, "Six, seven, eight!"




Domino:

For the domino, I ask them to subitize first.  "Show me with your fingers how many dots you think are on this side of the domino.  Five, good!  And now show me how many are on the other side?  Three, that's right!  Okay, let's count them all."  Then we count five fingers by touching each of them on our chin, and then count on from five by counting three more fingers on our chin.




Tally Marks:

For the tally marks, we just make big tally marks in the air, saying, "One, two, three, four, FIVE! (drawing the diagonal one on five,) and then count on with "six, seven, eight."




Counting Skills:

For counting skills, I make sure that the children can see a number line in front of them.  (There is one included in the set.)  First we find the target number of the day or week on the number line.  Then I ask them which number comes before or after, making sure that I mix up the order that I ask these questions in often!  Otherwise, the children will just memorize the correct answers.  For example, the first one you ask is the one before, and the second one you ask is always the one after.  I did this, and was surprised when I mixed them up and found that they really did NOT know the concepts of before and after!  :(

Counting on and counting backwards also require the use of a number line, at least at first.  But once the children get used to counting forwards and back from any number, they can certainly do it without the number line. I discovered how IMPORTANT this seemingly simple skill is when I was teaching first and second grade, and found out how many kids could only count backwards from TEN, and how many could only count forward from ONE.  At that point, the teachers are WAY too busy to practice!  Do your kids a favor:  DO THIS DAILY!  Kids can't quickly figure out what eight minus two is if they can't count backwards from eight.




Counting Creature:

The Counting Creature poem is tons of fun!  We either sing or chant the number poem and then clap and jump as we count up to the target number!  The kids LOVE this!  The Counting Creature songs are also on the Number Jumble DVD (or on internet video.)





Number Writing Rhyme:

For this, we sing the number formation songs from the Number Jumble DVD or internet video!  Of course, it works just fine to simply chant it as a poem, too.  I resort to that if I can't recall the tune, LOL!






Note:  If you choose to change the chart daily and do a Number of the Day, then you may want to consider repeating the numbers from one to ten several times until you think your whole class has them all.  For example, when you get to number ten, just circle back to number zero and start over again!  That is what I would do before going on to number 11.  I usually don't introduce the numbers from 11-20 until the majority of my class knows 0-10.


Well, that is about it for my Number of the Day or Week routine!  I hope it is helpful! If you're teaching virtually, I also created a PowerPoint and Google Slides version of this same set! Check out my blog post here for more info on those!




Have fun!
- Heidi :)




P.S. Don't forget all our videos are available to STREAM on UScreen, FREE for the first 30 days! It's an awesome way to bring some EASY, active learning to your students during this time, and they can always cancel right before they are ever charged, like on day 29! Check out the info page on our website for more info!




----------------------------------
Follow me! Did you enjoy this post? Do me a favor and share it with your friends! And follow this blog by signing up for my email updates here, and follow me on TPT! I'm also on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, too! Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter for special deals and promo codes that you won't find out about anywhere else.

Popular posts from this blog

Creepy Crayon: Free Craft Template!

Image
Today, I am going to give you a link to our free Creepy Crayon craft that we made to accompany the book Creepy Crayon by Aaron Reynolds!   Yay!  If you are a fan of Creepy Carrots and A Creepy Pair of Underwear ,  then you were probably just as excited as I was for the next book in the series, Creepy Crayon !  And so by popular demand, we have have included the Creepy Crayon craft here as a free download!  We have also included links to our other crafts for Aaron Reynold's creepy books, too.  They are such fun! The Illustrations are FAB! I definitely need to give a shout out to illustrator Peter Brown, whose wonderful illustrations play a huge part in the popularity of these books!  I love the way he made almost all of it in gray tones, except for the crayon, of course!  The illustrations really give the story a creepy, but friendly tone.  I know I'll be a Peter Brown fan forever! This is a photo of my Creepy Carrots crafts samples in my classroom before I retired. Check Ou
Read more

How to Help Children That Have a Hard Time Learning the Alphabet

Image
Is your child (or student) having a hard time learning the alphabet?  Are those letters just not "sticking?" Does your child seem to know a letter one day, and then forgets it the next day- or even just a few minutes later? In this post, I will share my most recently developed techniques for helping kids learn and remember the alphabet. Check Vision- Thoroughly! During the past 30 years as a teacher, I have tried many things for all of the different types of learners that I’ve had. One thing that I would highly suggest is that you have your child's eyes checked, just in case you have not yet done that. I know that most schools have their school nurses do this, but I would suggest that a nurse is really not an optometrist, nor is he/she an ophthalmologist. I wrote about one little guy with vision issues in my post, Tips for Teaching the Alphabet to Struggling Learners . In that post, I shared that I had been teaching one child that had had such a difficul
Read more

Fun with STEM: A "Punkin Chunkin" Catapult with Craft Sticks!

Image
In this post, I am going to tell you about a really FUN, seasonal STEM project that I did with my first and second graders:  they made "Punkin" Chunkin" catapults with craft sticks and masking tape!  Then we measured to see who's pumpkin went the farthest!  The "punkins" were actually orange pompoms, so we had to use our imaginations, but none of the children cared.  They had an absolute BLAST! For this fun activity, we invited our new fifth grade buddies to come in and give us a hand, but I really think that the first and second graders could have done it on their own as well.  So if you are thinking of doing this with your own young students alone and without the help of older students, go for it!  I think that Kindergartners could do it too, but I would do it in small groups so that I could help those that needed it. My inspiration for this came from many different child constructed catapults that I have seen on Pinterest- along with a
Read more

Teaching Kids to WRITE the Numbers! – FREE Number Poems!

Image
Teaching children to write the numbers  correctly can be very frustrating for early childhood teachers! Also, attempting to GRADE their writing can be equally TRICKY! What does a number written correctly look like, versus one that is not?  In this post, I am going to tell you how I teach my students to write the numbers. I’ve posted some examples of student work showing numbers that look correct and some that are not, in my opinion.  I explain under the photos why certain numbers “would pass” or not.  I also have some FREE number formation poems to share with you, plus a FREE download of a parent guide that explains what those correctly formed numbers should look like- and the incorrect ones! So it seems that every year, getting the children to write those numbers can be something like pulling teeth: it comes slowly, and getting them to just “CARE” seems to be half the battle!  Perhaps the reason for this is that we know that the most important learning in math comes from wo
Read more

Getting Control of a Very Difficult Class: TAKE TWO

Image
Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tomorrow, and be fine with it?  This is a repost of a piece that I wrote several years ago when I was teaching Kindergarten.  I'm now in second grade, and finding that I have many of the same problems!  Since I actually went back and read my own post again, I thought I would post it here for you again, too, with a few of my updated comments inserted in italics.  Hope it's helpful! This is the original post. ********** This year, I have one of the most challenging classes I have ever had. I am still working on training them to do what I want them to do, but I know that in the end, I will win! Meanwhile, we are spending a LOT of time on classroom management, modeling routines and procedures often. Here is a list of some classroom management tips and techniques that I have used successfully in Kindergarten, but I think that they would prob
Read more

An EASY Critical Thinking Game for K/1 Kids!

Image
Today I'm going to tell you about a fun and EASY game to help boost critical thinking skills in Kindergarten or First Graders!  I call it The Critical Thinking Comparison Game, because in it, the kids are simply comparing one thing to another and telling what they think are the similarities and differences between two objects.  Believe it or not, my first graders LOVE this game and often ask me if we can play it again!  I think they like it because the game makes them feel successful and "smart."  I have also played it with Kindergartners, and they enjoyed it, too! The Critical Thinking Comparison Game is really very easy to play!  All you need is a few questions like the ones below, and something for the children to color, just to keep them busy while they wait for a turn to talk.   ( I also used my Critical Thinking Comparison Cards as a visual aid, but you can certainly play it without them! ) Here is the type of question that I ask in this game: How
Read more

Teaching Phoneme Segmentation: Separating Sounds in Words (Freebies!)

Image
Teaching children to pick out all of the phonemes (or sounds) in a given word can be tricky!  This requires good listening skills and well developed phonemic awareness in general.  For some children, mastering phoneme segmentation can seem just about impossible!  Here are some teaching tips that have worked for me in the past. *  The best advice I can give is to practice segmenting words with a designated MOTION for a short time every single day with your whole class.  Even just one or two minutes per day will help! Look for suggested motions on this post. There is also a downloadable list of words to use, plus a homework sheet that you can download here. Here is where you can get another  word list for practicing words with two, three, and four phonemes. And here is another post with lists of words with four, five, or six phonemes. *  Give kids beads to slide down a pipe cleaner as they segment the word.  I made these "Segmentation Sliders" out of p
Read more

20 Hands-On Ways to Build a Sight Word, (And Research to Back it Up!)

Image
Today I am pleased to share TWENTY great ideas for building the sight words to help kids learn them in a hands-on way!  Making sight words (AKA high frequency words) in lots of different ways allows kids to choose their best learning modality and really take charge of their own learning. I'm super excited about this way of teaching, and I hope you will be, too! When my teammate and I do this, we focus on just ONE of the trickier sight words per week and have the kids BUILD JUST THAT ONE WORD over and over again in many ways.   If there happens to be a parent volunteer at that center, they are to ask the children to spell it and tell what the word is often. This is what our Sight Word Building Table looks like.  We put out a variety of choices, and the children can change seats each time they finish to keep building the word.  If there happens to be a volunteer, she ask them what word they are working on and to spell it, and will hand them a different manipulative.  
Read more

A Creepy Pair of Underwear Craftivity FREEBIE!

Image
Today I have a fun and easy craft based on a SUPER fun book by Aaron Reynolds called A Creepy Pair of Underwear .  After reading this book just ONCE with my class last year, it instantly became the class favorite, and I KNEW we had to make the project!  The illustrations by Peter Brown provided the perfect inspiration.  We are providing the master and instructions free for you today at the end of this post.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! If you are unfamiliar with this fun book,  you can read the synopsis here on Amazon, where you can also purchase the book .  Another great book to go with it is Creepy Carrots, by the same author and illustrator.  Both are instant Halloween classics, in my opinion!  Don't miss them! My teammate Jeff Pang is super creative, and he adapted the design from the book to make it into a craft that would be simple enough for the children to make into their own little Creepy Pair of Underwear!  So kudos to Jeff!  He seems to be able t
Read more

A Twist on the Headband Game!

Image
Here’s a fun, new, twist on the classic Headband Game that makes it reusable and adaptable to any subject and any level!  AND it gets the kids up and moving as they learn, so that’s an even greater bonus!!!!  This awesome idea was suggested by a participant in one of my workshops when I presented the Sight Word Headband Game and wondered aloud how to make this adaptable to kids in higher grades that learn their new words much more quickly.  So I tried it out myself, and voilá!  It worked out great!  My own class has done this now a few times and they LOVE it! So here is how it works; I’ll remind you of the my original version first.  With the original  Sight Word Headband Game , I wrote a word on a strip of paper and formed it into a headband.  The kids all put one on, and then walked around the room and wrote the words that they found on their friends’ heads next to their friends’ names on a sheet of paper. Now with this second “twist” on this “Advanced” Headband G
Read more