Elementary Test Prep (Grades PreK-K) Cardinal Numbers

Ten Little Gumdrops- Program a half-sheet of paper with a simple gumball-machine outline. Duplicate the page 10 times, then program each page with a different phrase from "Ten Little Indians," replacing Indians with gumballs. Program the last page with "Ten little gumballs-YUM!" Copy a set of pages for each child. To create a book, have a child use a hole puncher to make a supply of construction paper gumballs. Then have the child glue the appropriate number of gumballs onto each page. Staple the pages into a book titled "Ten Little Gumballs." Invite each child to share his book with a partner. (Helen Andringa-Az.)

Spots On Spot- Here's a doggone fun math center to practice number recognition and counting. For each number that you would like to include in this center, create a dog with a dog tag on construction paper. Program each dog's tag with a numeral. Then laminate them. Stock the center with a supply of black or brown buttons. To use this center, a child chooses a dog, reads the numeral. and then places the corresponding number of buttons on the dog cutout. (Laurie Mills-AL.)

Loading Zone- To make this center, design and cut out six simple school -bus patterns. Be sure that each bus has a large window space. Label each cut out with a different numeral from one to six. Attach the buses to poster board or a bulletin board, leaving the bottom edges of the windows open to create pockets. Provide enough smiley face cutouts to "load" each bus with the indicated amount. Store the smiley faces in a resealable plastic bag. To complete this activity, a child slides the correct number of smiley faces into each bus window.

Bustin' Bubbles- Got some bubble wrap? Then you've got two great math activities! Give each child a square of bubbles. Call out a number from one to ten and have children count aloud as they pop that many bubbles. Or, for each child, program the flat side of a piece of bubble wrap (large bubbles) with several numerals. Then call out a number and direct child to find the number on her sheet and pop the corresponding bubble. Collect as much bubble wrap as possible because this is sure to be a "pop-ular" activity! (Brenda Beard-TN)