Kindergarten
Digital ActivitiesMathHolidays
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When it comes to learning numbers, this skill is often placed solely in the math category.
But as with most things education-related, skills and concepts are a lot more fluid than that.
Number words are an example of this.
They span the gap between math and literacy and this digital St. Patrick’s Day number words activity is a fantastic way to practice them!
Why Teach Number Words
Number words often seem like such a small thing when looking at math as a whole.
In a subject filled with numbers and symbols, we don’t put much thought into them.
In reality, though, these little number words help your child build the number sense foundation that will make them successful in algebra later on!
Teaching Number Words
Now, number words can be tricky for some kids.
In fact, there are often a lot of kids that do really well in math and yet, still struggle with number words.
Math is predictable, it follows rules and can be explained logically. Literacy, on the other hand, is a whole different beast.
Number words, for example, don’t always follow phonetic spelling rules and can easily trip them up.
Thankfully, number words are a fairly easy concept to practice and once they memorize the first twenty, the rest are pretty simple.
Getting through those first few, however, can be a struggle if you try to them at a child all at once. So, we start small.
Our basic framework for teaching number words starts in kindergarten with zero through ten.
Once a child has mastered that first set, we add eleven through twenty.
We practice these over and over again using everything from number sense activities to puzzles until they’re comfortable with them and can recognize them by sight.
St. Patrick’s Day Number Words
As with all things that we’re working on learning, we try to find ways to make practicing number words fun.
If you’re simply drilling a child until they have them memorized, you’re both going to wind up tired and frustrated.
With this digital activity, your students will work on number words for numbers one through nine while completing a St. Patrick’s Day puzzle at the same time and you’ll do the whole thing on either a computer or a tablet!
Don’t Forget the St. Patrick’s Day Books
Whether you’re wanting to focus solely on counting and numbers or just looking for a silly St. Patrick’s Day story to read to your students, there are so many fun ones to choose from!
Available on all three major digital platforms – Boom Learning, Google Slides, and Seesaw – your students will need to read the number word on the sign that the leprechaun is holding.
When they know what number they’re looking for, they’ll need to find and click on the correct number within the puzzle (on both the Boom Learning and Google Slides platforms).
As they work their way through the number words, these two platforms will let them know whether their answers are correct or not and the puzzle will begin to fill in on its own.
On Seesaw, they’ll read the number word and find the correct numeral just as they would on Boom and Google, but they will then drag the correct puzzle piece to cover the numeral before moving onto the next slide.
All three platforms give your students the opportunity to practice number words for numbers one through nine and watching that St. Patrick’s Day puzzle come together as they work their way through the slides is so much fun that they won’t even realize they’re practicing their math skills!
