Math facts practice kit activities for portable math learning centers

Here's a homemade mini math learning center. Use this shoebox math facts practice kit for independent, on-the-go learning. Retention of math facts and operations is vital for higher math. Use this math homework practice kit to reinforce addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.

 Children should practice 5-10 minutes 4-5 times a week. In a shoebox or plastic lidded box, place these items 

--color-coded list of digits. For example: 0-yellow, 1-blue, 2-red, 3-orange, 4-purple, 5-green, 6-brown, 7-pink, 8-black, 9-gray. Some 1,983 would be written blue-1, gray-9,black-8 and orange-3. Color coding helps many students visualize and organize numbers, learn place value and memorize math facts, 

--set of dice. Practice math facts by casting die and adding or multiplying two numbers shown. 

--set of dominoes (base 12 set is best) or homemade "domino" flash cards made from index cards. Write domino dot configuration in number color from chart. Student selects a domino and adds, subtracts or multiplies the two numbers. Write answers on back for self-checking. Here are free printable dominoes. 

--deck of playing cards--student chooses two cards and adds, subtracts, or multiplies them. Face cards are valued as such:(ace-1, jack-10, queen, 12 and king-0) Here's a free printable deck of playing cards. 

--math flashcards for each fact family. Purchase at Dollar Tree or discount store. Here are free printable math flashcards. Make flashcards by writing math fact (problem) in color code on one side and the answer on the back. 

--pencil, eraser and scrap paper squares--student writes out a fact family, or writes story problems, illustrating with items to represent (three apples times seven apples). Use for pop quizzes also.

 --tablet of small stickers or mini-stamper marker-- Child makes his own flashcards with stickers and scrap paper, for the math facts family on which he's working. 

--100 chart or cheat sheet. Student uses to skip count by different numbers (multiply), look for patterns, or practice facts. Here are free printable 100 charts. 

--yarn strung with 100 plastic beads. This homemade abacus is a great visual for math operations. Give student a problem, like 7x8, She counts out and add seven groups of eight. 

--food snacks with little pieces; fish crackers, breakfast cereal, raisins, candies, pretzels. Students demonstrate math facts with food while eating it. 

Keep math facts practice kit in the car. Use travel time for homework reinforcement.

Montessori math manipulatives from recycled trash: Easy, free DIY math activities

Educational wisdom says hands-on learning works best for kids. Here are hands-on Montessori math activities using homemade Math Their Way type manipulatives from recycled trash. Make easy, free or cheap eco-friendly math lesson plans for learning centers Homeschool parents, keep Montessori math activities on hand for homework help and summer enrichment. Use these math manipulatives to teach place value, addition, subtraction, carrying, borrowing, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percent, story problems, sorting and classifying, even basic algebra. 

Milk rings from recycled trash. Use milk rings in different colors to teach place value. Bundle in groups of ten like Montessori base10 blocks. Teach math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Twist ties and bread tags from recycled trash: As with milk rings, bundle different colors together to show groups of ten or one hundred. Use like Montessori golden beads. Math Their Way uses milk rings, twist ties and bread tags for place value, sorting, counting and classifying. 

Play dough math manipulatives. Save play dough scraps and give each child a tub. Have students make clay numbers or clay balls to count. Students can also roll clay out and cut with cookie cutters to create shapes, patterns and Montessori style geometric solids. 

Dice math activities: Keep these as car games for math facts practice, homework help or summer enrichment. Play multiplication, division, subtraction and addition games. Shake two die and add, subtract, divide or multiply the two numbers. 

Recycled game pieces. Save old game pieces, bingo or poker chips and game tokens to use for counting, like Montessori Teddy Bear Counters. Play Math Their Way sorting, classifying and organizing math games. Use to demonstrate story problems. Teach ratio, percent and fractions lesson plans. 

Domino math games . Dominoes make great hands-on math manipulatives. Use as car games for homework help and summer enrichment, practicing times tables and math facts. Have students add, subtract or multiply the dots shown on the domino. 

Playing cards. Recycle and repurpose mismatched playing cards as flashcards. Have students play math games like war, only they add, subtract or multiply the cards drawn. These make great car games for homework practice and summer enrichment. 

Stickers for DIY flash cards and math worksheets. Repurpose partially used sheets of stickers to make DIY math flashcards and math problems. Students create math problems by writing numbers on blank stickers. Students can also use picture stickers to show story problems. 

Yarn and straws. Cut straws into equal pieces and have students "string" straw pieces like beads.  Use for counting and patterns, abacus math and fine motor skills practices. 

Beads. String mismatched beads from broken jewelry and use like a DIY abacus, golden beads or base 10 blocks. 

Cardboard. Cut cardboard strips to make rulers for measurement, base 10 bars (like Cuisenaire Rods). Teach place value, geometry, multiplication, division. Make fraction bars and fraction pies from recycled cardboard. Make flashcards and file folder games. Here are some free printables for file folder games. (From ABCs to ACTs blog)

Homemade, Recycle Bin Shoe Box Dioramas, Miniatures, Props with Free Printables

Does this scene sound familiar in your home? It's 8 pm and darling daughter is wailing. She forgot to make her school shoebox diorama project due TOMORROW! Been there done that. I wanted to say "tough luck. Take the F" (which she deserved). But being a forgetful, eleventh-hour girl myself, I confess, I empathized. So I bailed her out. The whole family helped. We made an awesome woodland Native American shoebox diorama with recycled trash and household stuff. 

For homemade shoe box dioramas for any content area, all you need is a recycle bin, craft scraps, household junk and a little ingenuity. Here are free printable dollhouse miniatures and free printable habitat diorama backgrounds. I've included free printable scale model building patterns too. 

* Backdrop. Stand shoe box upright inside box lid. Get little-miss-last-minute busy drawing background inside lid (or on plain paper to attach to lid. Our shoebox diorama required an eastern woodland background. For a science habitat diorama, draw a nature scene. For English literature, create a scene from book. One son made a baseball field for a shoebox diorama from "The Chosen." Glue on cotton balls for clouds. Tape tinsel to box top for rain. 

* Buildings. Make 3-D house from smaller box. For 3-D yard or city scene, cut boxes and attach small portions to sides. Make a row of different sizes boxes for city. Cut doors to open. Decorate as house, church, store, office building, school. We made a longhouse from a butter tub. For a tipi, use a paper cone or cup.

* Furniture.  Use dollhouse furniture. Cover small boxes with fabric, wallpaper or wrapping paper for couch, table, bed or chairs. Cut chairs from cardboard. 

* Figures. Use action figures, dolls, Fisher Price or Lego people or Polly Pockets. Or draw face on round-head peg clothespin, pencil or toilet paper tube. Bend pipe cleaners or twist ties into dolls. Add wooden bead for head or paper face. Stuff a glove. Tie with yarn to make arms from outer fingers, legs from middle, head from thumb. Wrap dolls in scrap fabric or colored paper for clothes. Tie. Glue yarn, twine, plastic or paper scraps for hair. 

* Props. Use game pieces, toy sets, doll and action figure accessories, building sets, miniatures. Postage stamps and stickers make rugs, pictures, decorations. Roll paper strip and tie with yarn for scroll or diploma. Tiny yarn balls, beads and marbles make fruit, balls, rocks, cannon balls. Lids, pill bottle covers and tube caps make glasses and dishes. Thimbles and spools are buckets, hay bales, workshop accessories. For our native American shoebox diorama fire, we used broken pencils as logs and orange and red clear plastic for fire. Cut props from cardboard. Staple fabric scraps for curtains, blankets, doors. 

* Landscape. Use small branches for trees. Draw a"garden" on brown fabric or use striped material. Cover little boxes and pill bottles with fabric, grey for rocks and brown for hills, blue for water. Make paper trees and plants from paper tubes or straws. Use plastic toy animals for farm or nature scenes. 

* Military. Use vehicles, weapons and equipment from toy soldiers or GI Joe sets. Make bandages from brown grocery bags colored red (I used this in my Crimean War diorama from "Lady of the Lamp" in 6th grade). Drape material over tripod of sticks for tent. 

Make shoebox dioramas for literature, science, history or social studies crafts. 

Free Printable American History Lesson Plans: Battle of Yorktown

 The year is 1781. The colonial army of the United States has been at war with Great Britain for over six years. On April 19, 1775 'the shot heard round the world' began the bloody war for American independence. Yorktown ended the war. Here are free printable American history lessons on the Revolutionary War from Bunker

Hill, Lexington and Concord to the Battle of Yorktown. 

The Revolutionary War began when Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn American Continental Army of the American Revolution, of British "redcoat" troops arriving Lexington and Concord where the Revolutionary War commenced. Fighting continued at the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Quebec, led by American General Benedict Arnold. 

General George Washington led the Continental army of the American Revolution into battles at Fort Ticonderoga, Brandywine, Germantown, Saratoga and Camden and other New England sites. After terrible suffering over the winter at Valley Forge (click here for free printable American history lessons on Valley Forge) troops regrouped for a confrontation which came to be known as the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia.

The Battle of Yorktown (click here for free printable Battle of Yorktown lesson plans) lasted for

21 days from September 28 to October 19, 1781. General George Washington was helped by French

troops under General de Rochambeau. General Lord Cornwallis led the British troops. The British

soldiers hired German soldiers from Prussia to help them. These soldier were called Hessians and

both they and the British troops were highly trained in warfare and military tactics. Compared to the

Continental Army, the British "Lobsterbacks" and Hessians had more supplies, better weapons and

superior fighting skills.

But despite that, by 1781, things weren't going well for General Cornwallis and the British. His army

had suffered much. He took over the towns of Yorktown and Gloucester, but the help he was

supposed to receive from General Clinton never came until it was too late. French Admiral De Grasse

arrived in time to help General George Washington and together their armies attacked the British

from the York River. This river separated the two towns where Cornwallis had his troops. Without food

and ammunition from General Clinton, General Cornwallis was forced to surrender to General

George Washington on October 19, 1781. The Battle of Yorktown (click here for free printable

American history lesson plans, war maps and battle info) had ended the horrific Revolutionary War of

Independence in favor of the Continental Army.

Why did the superior forces of the British lose the Revolutionary War? They shouldn't have. The militia

of the American Revolution were glorified to Continental army, but they were just farmers, not

soldiers. They lacked guns, ammunition and training. Few soldiers in the American Revolution wore

uniforms. They wore regular clothing of homespun, animal skin leggings and fur trim. And that may

have saved their lives. Their uniforms may not have been as fancy, but they made great camouflage

in the wilderness battles. The British redcoats were easy to spot their bright uniforms.

British soldiers had also been trained on battlefields. British soldiers were used to life in a military

camp, not a rugged wilderness. The Continental army of the American Revolution knew all about

wilderness survival. They lived this every day! Colonials had learned hunting, trapping and fighting

skills from the native American Indians. They had learned to protect themselves. The Continental

army knew the land, the trails, how to stay hidden and how to navigate the area. In short, they fought

using guerrilla warfare. The Continental army was also fighting for their homeland. They had

families, loved ones, homesteads and farms to protect. They had risked more and so had more to

lose if they lost the war. British soldiers had homes to return to, so this war didn't mean as much to

them.

CBT, Rewards, Punishment and Classroom Management

I’ve been a certified special needs teacher since 1986. Special educators teach in different ways, using hands on and multisensory learning and individualized instruction. Discipline is different too. 

We used behavior modification. Despite its bad reputation, it’s actually very effective. It works well with young children, non-verbal and those who aren’t ready for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or REBT (rational emotive behavior therapy). Actually behavior mod works for everyone, even fully functional adults. 

In special education, we focuses on positive reinforcement over negative reinforcement (removal of positive) and punishment. We teachers learned that for every “negative” (admonishment, correction, discipline, thou-shalt-not) we should give four positive supports (praise, reward, encouragement, smiles, hugs.

This isn’t candy-coated hand-holding. Positive just plain works better. From years in general ed and homeschooling, these principles work there too. I’ve written for years about this kind of instruction. I’m writing a series on initiating special education techniques in the general education classroom. 

These are principles we should be using with all students. They are more effective than traditional educational techniques.