The Connett Connection

If you are a primary or preschool teacher and you haven't heard of the mini eraser craze, then let me introduce it to you!  These small, thematic and fun shaped erasers have a variety of uses to any classroom and help keep things diverse and fun for students. Patterning One of the uses of erasers is for learning patterns.  Students can use the different shapes to make any kind of pattern you are teaching. Counters One of the most popular uses of erasers is as counters.  Students can use the different shapes to make count as high as you have erasers. They can use counting cards like pictured above to add the correct number of erasers to the tens frames. (These cards can be found here:  Counting Cards ) They can count the correct number of erasers and add them in a group or line to represent the numbers. (This picture is a freebie and can be found here: Number Train ) They can be used as counters to add and subtract. (The mats and cards can be found here: Add

Dice are an easy to find math manipulative that have so many uses!  Besides a basic board game set up, here are some other ways to use those dice in your classroom or home school! 1.  Dice War :  Each player has two dice.  They each roll their dice.  The player with the highest sum wins a point.  Player with the highest number of points wins.  You can also give each student a handful of dice.  Each player rolls one dice and the player with the highest number gets to keep both dice.  The player that ends up with all the dice first wins. 2.  Dice Addition :  A student rolls two dice and adds the numbers together! 3.  Dice Subtraction : A student rolls two dice and subtracts the smallest number from the largest number. 4.  Dice Multiplication :  A student rolls two dice and multiplies the two numbers together. 5.  Roll and Write :  Students have a recording sheet where they will roll a die and they will write the corresponding word or answer in the column. 6.  Roll and Cover :

While browsing through some of my preschool pages, I came across an idea that a parent came up with for her preschooler.  It was so fun and different and many other parents were very interested in making this activity for their own kids, and so was I.  I got on my computer and converted some of my clip art to create these color finding mats.  I then posted the item for free in the group where the idea originated, as well as in my TPT store (link at the bottom of the post).  Each themed packet includes the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple/violet, pink, black, white, grey/gray, and brown. I also created several themed versions of this idea. Heart Themed Color Find This heart themed color find would be perfect for Valentine's Day!  Each page features a heart that is to be cut out for the color find. Spring Flowers Themed Color Find This flower themed color find would be perfect for a spring themed activity!  Each page features a flower th