I know it’s not quite spring yet but I’m a little anxious for it to start.  It seems like it’s been a long winter.  So, to encourage spring to get a move-on, I did a little spring cleaning.  And that’s when I re-discovered my drawer full of rubber stamps and colorful stamp pads.

These stamps and stamp pads were a staple in my third, fourth, and fifth grade classroom.  And when I ran centers in K-2, I used them there, too.  I loved how I was able to touch on so many different math concepts in a way that was fun for kids.

So I’m going to share with you, in two parts, some of the simple, fun, and mathematically powerful activities I did using these fabulous materials.

Part 1:  Equations, Expressions, and Arrays

Every opportunity I get I try to put students in charge of creating their own math problems.  It’s more interesting for them that way.  Plus I learn a lot about their math personalities.  Do they know how to create a problem and then solve it?  Do they stick with simple and easy problems or do they push themselves a little?  Can they explain why they did what they did?

So one day in Kindergarten during centers I pulled out the rubber stamps and stamp pads and had students create their own equations and expressions.  They loved it!  It was a new material for them plus they got to complete the task the way they wanted. The best part for me was that I got to observe how they did it.  A win/win!

Below are examples of what some of their work looked like.  For the bottom activity sheets I asked them to come up with a story to describe one of their expressions to me.  Since my time was limited and my focus was on the math and not the writing, I did the writing.  The bottom left story reads, “1 ladybug went to the park.  Then 5 other bugs came to play.  How many bugs were at the park?”

In second and third grade, I had students create arrays. This fits so nicely into CCSSM 2.OA.C.4 and 3.OA.A.1.