Camping Centers- First Grade

Recently I just couldn’t find what I was looking for to keep themes going in my classroom at the end of the year. You know they whole keep them busy and reviewing while you assess for the next teacher.

We all know that place. That exhausting part of the year when our curriculum is done, but we still have so much to do.

I sat and wanted to keep skills going that we learned this trimester fresh before our assessment for the district and decided to make it all about camping.

I am fortunate to live in a woody area and many kids have been mentioning that they all look forward to camping soon.

I have created a large file with centers all ready to print. I find it super important to make both Black and White version and Colored Version. We all have different printing preferences or availability. Each center does contain an answer key to save you time.

Camping ELA & Math

These centers are sold individually if you just looking for one center to supplement for your class.

Comparing Numbers within 100

This center allows students to practice comparing numbers within 100. Students can write on the cards if they are laminated. My students love to write on the cards and then record the answers on the recording sheets.

Adding within 100

My class has been amazing at adding within 100. I have been so proud. Now, I do let them use whatever strategy that they wish to solve these problems. One of the things they love is breaking the numbers apart to add the numbers. They are successful with this method and have super proud moments. Many students do still enjoy the hundreds charts and drawing with base ten blocks as well.

Adding 3 Numbers within 20

In first grade we have been practicing adding 3 numbers within 20.  They have been using the break apart method. Many of these equations make 10 and they can add from there. My class looks forward to when I put these in our rotation and love to challenge one another to see who can finish first. I do have a super competitive group this year. They are completely healthy competitive this year though.

Counting Money

Counting Money. One of my dreaded standards. I am not going to lie this standard can often bring me to tears. The mixing of quarters and nickels, to not knowing the values of coins. All of these task cards have face pictures not tails. We are still practicing identifying coins with confidence in our classroom. We are getting quicker, but we are not completely ready for tails yet. More centers are coming this summer with a mix of heads and tails.

More and Less

As an introduction to the number line we practice adding 10 more and 1 more to move on the number lines. We are working on moving away from the hundreds chart, though some still rely on it. We use this to practice our mental math skills. 

Fix the Sentences

We are still struggling on writing sentences with capital letters on our own without reminds. Hence the eye roll. It does not matter how many times I saw it every single day. They say you have to repeat something so many times and they will retain it. I swear this skill I have repeated no less than a million times and still I say it. This center has capitalization, punctuation errors, and series of items to place commas. I assess handwriting and if they can write letters correctly using capitalization and punctuation. 

Reading & Writing Numbers

Since most of my class enjoys using the expanded form adding numbers I decided to place this review skill in my rotations. This skill is reviewed and expanded on in 2nd grade. I did not want them to loose this skill moving onto their next classroom. Those who did not master this skill get additional practice prior to moving to 2nd grade. 

Number Order

The numbers are not in order such as 1, 2, 3, 4 rather they are in order from the least to greatest. There are 10 numbers. Half of the numbers are in order, half the number are not in order. The class has to rewrite the numbers back in the correct order on the recording sheets. I had a few students use their hundreds charts to help place the numbers back in order. Much of my class did it off of memory. This was the first week introducing this center. They enjoyed the challenge. 

ABC Order

We enjoy putting things in order. I believe strongly that learning to organize helps build confidence and skills that they will later use in life. They use these skills in finding words in word books, indexes, glossaries, and any other nonfiction text. 

I really hope you enjoy these centers for your class. I always try to keep the same format for predictability and to say you time explaining every week how to complete centers. This summer I will be adding centers for the beginning of the year review. More ELA centers to come.