Or are you curious and want to know more? No matter the reason that brought you here today, we have the answers for you!
Finding math lessons and activities for kindergarten can be tricky, especially if you have never had to do it before.
You head online for some guidance but are met with pages and pages of conflicting and contradicting information.
With the weight of young minds needing to be shaped on your shoulders, the stress hits. Will you be able to find new lessons and activities for the first 20 days?
Well, if you turn to us you will! Today, we are here with all the answers for you.
Keep reading for the best kindergarten math lessons and activities to try in the first twenty days! Get ready to become an expert and have your lessons mapped out in no time.
The Best Kindergarten Math Lessons And Activities To Try In The First 20 Days
The first few weeks of school are hectic, no matter the grade you teach. But kindergarten has an extra layer of chaos!
This might be the first time some of your pupils are away from their carers all day, in an environment they don’t understand yet.
You can expect there to be upheaval, noise, and big changes to their routine. And amongst all of this, you need to start teaching them!
While it can be tempting to let the learning slide for the first few weeks while you establish routines and get procedures in place, there is a way you can incorporate learning into the mix!
Not only does it help you stay on track with the curriculum, but it helps create a stable routine for the children that makes everyone’s day at school easier!
And we are here with plenty of plans for you! Not only do we have lessons and activities, but resources you can access to make the first few weeks of kindergarten a little less stressful.
The first twenty days focus on teaching your students about shapes and to count up to the number five.
So let’s not waste any more time and get into the lessons and activities now!
We have broken it down into smaller sections for you, allowing you to easily find the lessons and resources that you need.
The First 10 Days
In the first ten days, you will want to focus on shapes and objects. You can compare these to shapes and objects that are the same and different, tying in literature where possible.
Doing so allows your lessons to cover a variety of skills students need to learn but without the need for additional resources from you.
The National Geographic Kids book is a good resource to use here. You can make copies of the activities in the book, or have a book for each child.
Of course, this does depend on your budget. If you are making copies of the book, be sure to stick to the copyright laws to avoid any fines.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the activities you can complete in the first ten days.
Matching Shoes
Start by having your students identify shoes that are the same and different.
You can have them complete matching activities that are marked or the answers discussed as a group. You can also make this an interactive lesson with real shoes.
Your students will love taking off their shoes and matching them to different shapes or pairs in the class.
Sorting Shapes
You can lead on from the shoe activity by having your students learn how they can compare shoes in other ways.
You can have them sort shoes by color, size, and shape. Again, this works well as an interactive activity, or with cards. You can even do a digital version if your classroom has a projector.
You can use worksheets too where they sort their shapes, maybe as a cut-and-paste exercise.
When sorting shapes, you can also introduce counting. Have your students count up to five shapes.
Counting Shapes
You can incorporate counting shapes into other activities like we showed you earlier, or it can be a stand-alone activity.
You can focus on counting up to five and start with real world objects and items.
You can use their shoes to help them practice counting up to two, or you can use them to count up to five.
They could count the different colors you have sorted shoes into or the number of shapes in your matching activity.
When counting, you can have worksheets where there are different numbers of shapes in each section.
For example, there could be two squares, three triangles, and four circles. Have them count the shapes in each section and write down how many there are.
This will also help with their writing skills and allow you to teach them how to write the numbers. We recommend pairing this with an interactive activity.
You can use the whiteboard or projector to do this too, especially when showing them how to write down the number.
To help the students interact with each other too, you can have them re-create the shape of the number (lining up to be number 1), or have them sort themselves into groups of that number.
You might need to help them here, so don’t worry if this task takes a little time.
Animals are also a good object to bring in here that can help them count.
Days 11 To 20
In the first ten days, the activities you have taught will help your students count to five and begin to recognize different shapes.
They might not know the names of these shapes, but they can group them together and sort them when needed.
This allows you to lead onto teaching your students shapes. For 2D shapes, we recommend reading The Greedy Triangleby Marilyn Burns.
The book is beautifully illustrated and is popular with kindergarten teachers across the country.
It’s a good book that you can return to help teach your students about shapes and their names.
Let’s look now at some of the activities you can incorporate into your lessons to help your kindergarten students learn about shapes.
Identify Sides And Corners
A good starting point is to identify the sides and corners of shapes. For example, a triangle has three corners and sides, a square has four sides and corners.
You can make displays of these or large sheets where your students will use their counting skills to count the corners and sides before writing down the number.
Here, you are reminding them of the knowledge gained in the first ten days and allowing them to develop it further.
You are also helping them to practice writing too by having them write the number of the corners and sides.
Color In Shapes
You can lead on from identifying sides and corners with a cut-and-paste activity. You want shapes here with different corners and sides, and some with no corners (like a circle).
Have your students color these shapes before cutting and sticking them. They can place them under headings like, ‘no curves,’ ‘curves,’ ‘corners.’
You can also have them continue counting the corners and sides or sorting them based on how many sides or curves they have.
An interactive whiteboard can also be used for this activity if you want to cut down on the amount of paper being used.
3D Shapes
You can move onto 3D shapes once your students have grasped 2D shapes.
3D shapes can be a little easier, as the students can hold them and might find them more malleable than work done on paper.
Plus, it allows you to create some interactive activities too!
Interactive math games can be used to help teach your students about 3D shapes. You could use your interactive whiteboard to help them identify shapes or real world objects.
Small cones from the playground, toilet rolls, balls, and even toy cubes can be used to teach them about 3D shapes.
Have your students hold the objects and count aloud the sides and corners.
You can use them to discuss curves, different edges, and help them understand the difference between 2D and 3D shapes.
We still recommend using their workbooks for these shapes too.
You can include cut-and-paste shapes, or have them draw the shapes themselves. It is helpful to provide them with an example to follow, along with the name of the shape.
Leave some space underneath the name so that your students can practice writing the name too.
Sure, sphere and cylinder are tricky words for kindergartners, but you can focus on the shapes within the letters.
Teach them about the curves in the letters C and S, or have them follow the outline of the letters to familiarize them with the feeling of holding a pencil and writing.
It’s a great way to combine some literature with your math lessons. You can also add some creativity if you have your students draw and color in the shapes.
Assessments
At some point, you need proof that your students have learned the information. Assessments are a part of teaching, regardless of the age you teach.
So when you think about the introduction to your curriculum, it’s worth considering the assessment or assessment methods you plan to use.
A good tool to use is ESGI. The platform allows you to complete assessments and is super easy to use! You can create the assessments easily and keep them simple, with yes or no answer questions.
You can also track your assessments easily with ESGI, keeping everything you need in one place. You can also review your students’ progress, both as a class or individually.
This is super handy for when you need to prove results or provide carers with an update about the students’ progress.
You can see the overall score displayed in charts or as numbers, and you can print test scores out for carers too.
It’s worth noting that the assessments don’t need to be hard here. You are teaching kindergarten, so the assessments should reflect that.
The questions you include could be ‘click on the circle,’ or ‘choose the shapes with three sides.’ You might find it easier to do the assessment as a whole class.
You can read out the questions so the students don’t need to read, simply click on the right shape.
You can also work more closely with your students on a 1-1 basis too, if you can do so given your class size.
ESGI works well on computers or touchscreen devices too, as your students can simply tap rather than navigate the screen with a mouse or trackpad.
There is a free trial that you can take advantage of too, to see if it is for you or not. Don’t forget to see if this is a platform that your school already has access to as well.
Of course, if your school does not have access to the technology, you can use printed worksheets.
Or you can make the assessments interactive. These can be a fun way to engage with your students and take some of the negativity out of assessments.
You do need written proof that you have assessed your students and can say they have retained the information, but there are lots of ways to get that now.
You could record the students counting (if you have permission for video in your classroom), or save interactive activities you have completed.
Make sure you are dating the work so that you can prove when your students learned it.
Final Thoughts
And there you have it, the best kindergarten math lessons and activities to try in the first 20 days!
As you will have seen, none of these activities require too much planning or time for you. You can access resources for these easily online (and usually for free too).
Make sure that the activities you incorporate have an interactive element to keep your students stimulated and to include lots of positive praise for them.
You can use these lessons and activities to make math fun and incorporate other skills, like literacy, too, ensuring that your students enjoy a well-rounded and engaging education.
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
