These four simple and easy activities will have your students practicing and reviewing skills all with a fun cactus twist! Students will practice math facts with the help of some super cute cactus shaped helpers! Sight word practice becomes more fun when students read the words off adorable cactus themed cut-outs and then spell them with magnetic letters before writing them on a downloadable worksheet. Your students won't know these fun activities are actually disguised as math and literacy practice which is helping them learn! Here are 4 activities with you that will engage your "sharp" students that all come with FREE downloadable worksheets that come in black and white as well as colored options!
This activity makes practicing sight words or spelling words fun and engaging! First, download the Sharp Words worksheet here then label these cute cactus cutouts with the sight words or spelling words you would like your students to practice. There are three different designs included, so you can use them to differentiate your sight words or spelling words if needed. When your students are ready to use this activity, add in some lowercase magnetic letters and have your students pick one of the cactus cutouts. They will make the word with the magnetic letters and then record the word on the Sharp Words worksheet.
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My students always seem to need extra practice writing numbers, so this is an activity that will help them do just that! Download the two different Sharp Numbers worksheets here. One contains the numbers 1-6 and the other 2-12. You will also need one or two green dice (to stick with the cactus theme!) from the Dotted Dice in a Jar. Students will roll one die for the sheet with 1-6 and write down the number that they roll. Students using the sheet with 2-12, will need to roll two dice and add the dots on each die together to find the number to record. You can give your students some Unifix Cubes to help with the addition if needed.
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This activity is hands-down one of our classroom favorites for practicing subtraction! You'll need a set of Cactus Plastic Cups with Lids, a ball (we used a lime green tennis ball), and a copy of the Sharp Subtraction worksheet. To play, students set up 10 of the Cactus Plastic Cups in a triangle, with 4 cups in the back, 3 in front of that, then 2 in the next row, and then 1 cup in front. Set them up to resemble bowling pins. Students gently roll the ball at the pins and see how many are knocked down out of the ten they started with. They will record that number on the Shape Subtraction worksheet. There is also a second worksheet included without the number ten listed if you would like your students to use a different amount of pins. Students will reset the pins and then "bowl" again.
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How much fun would it be to practice math facts with a cactus? You'll need some Cactus Cutouts, a marker, and some Fiesta Cactus Characters. Label the Cactus Cutouts with the math facts you would like your students to practice. Don't forget to download the Sharp Math Facts worksheet so that your students can record what they learn. Students will take a Cactus Cutout, use the Fiesta Cactus Characters (or a similar manipulative such as Unifix Cubes) to help them solve the problem and then record their answers on the Sharp Math Facts Worksheet.
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