Playing Uno During Math Small Group

Hi y'all! I'm  Francheryl from Primary Essentials.  I'm so excited to be apart of Who's Who and Who's New.  I teach K-5 math and reading intervention in the great state of Texas.

I use Uno cards to play games with many of my intervention groups, but rarely do we ever actually play Uno except in Kindergarten!  I use this game to practice number recognition for numbers 0-9.



You would be surprised the excitement this little deck of cards can bring your way!  I always have everyone's attention.  I remove all the special cards (like +2, reverse, skip, draw four, etc)  except the regular wild card.  You will need some way to change the color. 

I'm usually a player in the game with the students and I facilitate and keep the game moving.  I have the students lay their cards flat on the floor or table in front of them.  This way I can easily help my students make a decision on weather to play or pull a card from the deck.

We play the game the tradition way matching either the number or color.  The biggest difference is the students must say the number they are playing as they lay it on the discard pile.  Wild cards are used to change the color.  I usually help them pick a color to change it to, because they will pick the color they like most rather than a color that will help them play.  I don't require them to say Uno when they get down to one card either.  They person that gets rid of all their cards first wins that round!  It's pretty simple and they LOVE to play!  Who says you can't play Uno at school???  Next time I'll share other ways I use card games like Uno and Skipbo in my intervention groups!  Feel free to hop over and check out my blog or TPT store.

Well that's all I got!  I'll see you around the blogging world.

Learning Mats- Tens and Ones

Hi I am Abbie from Tales From The First Grade!  

I have always struggled with math small groups.  Where to start, staying focused, having a complete meaningful lesson.  In an attempt to better myself, my lesson planning, and most importantly my students I starting working on an interactive learning mat.  The mat focuses on the standards we are working on that month/week, depending on the rigor of the standard.   I incorporated basic math skills we work on all year.  After using the mat for the first time, I was hooked!  The lesson went smoothly, students were having ah ha moments, and I felt SUCCESSFUL!  Isn't that the best when you walk away knowing you did your best and it worked!  Here is an overview on how it works and the lesson I taught!

I use 5mil laminate.  The students can write and wipe right off!  

 One of the biggest struggles for my students is understanding 1 ten can equal 10 ones.  

 Organized kids are successful kids!  I like the students to keep their materials in neat organized piles.  The designated area really helps with keeping students organized. 

While teaching small groups I have a focus student.  The student is usually the one I need to progress monitor.  On top of progress monitoring, I usually spend a little more time on the main skill taught.  While I am working with that child the rest turn their mat over and complete the 100's chart activities and fact families.  I love how they are focused on foundational math skills and are able to stay engaged while I get some great one on one time with my focus buddy. 

So here is how the lesson goes!

 I give the students a number!  They then count out tens and ones to make the number

After they have counted the number out we talk about how many tens and how many ones.  We write it in expanded form and on the tens and ones table. 

Next we practice exchanging a ten for ten ones and determining the new amount of tens and ones.  We document the change on our tens and ones table. 

After a few numbers, I have the students turn over their sheets and work through math review while I work with a focus student!

I love that smile!!!

I hope this gives you some great ideas for math small groups!

Be sure to stop by my blog!