2D Shapes in 2nd Grade: Practice with "I Have, Who Has" Game and Polygon Riddles

Hello everyone!! January is flying by!! I just can't believe it. Anyhoo, we just finished up a 2d shape unit with is always a hit. "I Have, Who Has?", or loop game, is one of my favorite practice games. I made this little 2d shape game and my kiddos loved it. I made sure they used our 2nd grade math vocabulary, quadilateral instead of diamond, but it's great for ELL kids with colors too. About 25% of my class is ELL so I try to throw in any extra vocabulary practice I can. It's an old file so it is not yet updated with my new store name, etc. . . but over the summer I hope to update all my old files with my new information. Snag this game for $1.50 in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Here is the link I Have, Who Has 2d Shape Game

I also want to share one of my FAVORITE math websites and another fun activity we did within our 2d Shape Unit. The website is http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/ It is full of FREE math activities for K-5, all aligned to Common Core. It has literature connections and some paid products, such as their Math Journals which I use and love. This activity though was free and my kiddos loved it. My Polygon Riddle is where students pick a polygon, build it on a Geoboard, and then write clues to help a partner guess their shape. They loved guessing each other's polygons!! This activity is hands-on, incorporates vocabulary, and is a great formative assessment opportunity. I will take some photo of my students work later this week, but please check out this activity as well as all the other great things this website has to offer.

Happy Day!

Coin Counting Snowman Craftivity

I LOVE craftivities!! They are fun, keep students engaged, and usually turn out oh so cute! Here is a craftivity that I created this year. There are no templates, but it is easy-peasy to implement and adorable. 

We have been learning about coin counting for the past two weeks. I wanted a fun way to assess their skill so far so coin counting snowmen it was! 

Kids cut out three circles out of white construction paper. One big, one medium, and one small. Then they got to choose (choice is soooo important for kiddos) how many coins to put on their snowman. Of course the dimes had to go on the biggest circle because dimes have the most value, nickels in the middle, and pennies on top. Luckily our math curriculum came with these little paper coin manipulatives, but you could always just print pictures of coins off the internet too. Once they glued their coins, they had to find the value of each circle as well as the value on the whole snowman. After I checked that their math was correct, they could add arms and other details like bows and buttons. Some kids got really creative, even using pennies to make eyes and smiles. Happy day!

Holiday Themed Place Value Math Game Bundle and a GIVEAWAY

I finally finished my holiday math games! I love the holiday season; turkeys, elves, and snowmen, yay! I know my students do to so I wanted to put together some themed games to help them practice the math skills we've been working on. There are games for addition and subtraction up to 200, comparing numbers, expanded form, and composing numbers using hundreds, tens, and ones. The games are all common core aligned too in case you need that :)

You can find them in my TPT Store Mrs. Grisham's Little Lighthouse Learners. To spread the word about this new product I'm hosting a giveaway! It ends on the 22nd. Enter below
a Rafflecopter giveaway


I make several copies of each game and put them in sheet protectors. Then students play these games during math rotation with a partner using whiteboard markers. This allows me to quickly check student work and provide activities without wasting a ton of paper. 

Common Core Math Games plus a GIVEAWAY!

One of my absolute favorite ways of increasing learning in my classroom is with math games. They are fun and engaging! They are a Quick, Easy, Effective Instructional Strategy. They also can be super cute. They should be easy to use and good games are typically able to be played again and again. 

I wanted to make some colorful, fall and winter themed math games for my 2nd grade class this year. We will be focusing on addition, subtraction, and place value the first few months of school so I made games that aligned with these standards and had adorable, seasonal things like pumpkins, turkeys, gingerbread men, and penguins. The results is my Common Core Math Game Bundle. I'm excited to get to school to print and laminate :)

I'd love to do a GIVEAWAY of these game to hopefully add some fun to other classrooms and to make your job of teaching math a bit easier. Enter below!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are some of my favorite other places to get math games.

K-5 Math Teaching Resources
The Education Center
Evan-Moor

I'm planning on posting a FREEBIE from this bundle soon! Check back :)

2nd Grade Math Games and a GIVEAWAY!!

As soon as I heard I was teaching 2nd grade again, I got to work making one of my favorite things to do in my classroom, play math games!! I love when my students say, "I love math!!" and I know the way to hook them is with bright, colorful, and engaging games. 

There are lots of math games out on the market. I have a few from a big curriculum company, but a lot of the time those are a bit complicated and take more teacher instruction than I would like. I want to be able to print off a game, explain the directions once, and then have students play the game independently while I pull small groups. 

I'll be focusing on addition, subtraction, and place value in the first few months of school so I made a Math Game Bundle with fun fall and winter themes; pumpkins, turkeys, penguins, and candy canes!! Oh, and did I mention, it's aligned to common core and has a handy sheet explaining what standards each game meets :)

Here is the link to the product, I hope you find it easy to implement and useful for your upcoming year! It has 12 math games, all linked to common core, all bright and fun. Enjoy!
Math Game Bundle

Oh, and don't forget!! My GIVEAWAY of my Happy Birthday Pack ends tomorrow!! Just like my Facebook page to enter. Here's the link to my Facebook Page and a link to the Happy Birthday MEGA Pack product so you can check out the preview.

Happy Day!