Spring is in the air and it's time to add some new and engaging activities to your March math and literacy centers! One of my favorite ways to change things up in a kindergarten or first grade classroom is with a few new games and some goodies from our local dollar store.
Take a look at some of the Dollar Tree hacks I used with my March center activities!
March Math Center
If there's one thing that has multiple uses in your classroom, it's mini erasers! You can use them for math activities in so many ways – game pieces, counters, making patterns and so much more! They're super inexpensive so I'd always pick up a couple of bags when I saw them at the store.
One of my favorite things to use at my math center was no prep games like these! It's so easy to just slip the printable worksheet into a plastic sleeve protector, add some mini erasers and dice and your students are ready to play!
Another great way to use these cute shamrock mini erasers is with these ten frame addition cards. Kids will actually enjoy solving addition problems when they can use fun mini erasers to help!
While you're wandering around your local Dollar Tree looking for goodies, grab a few bags of these plastic gold coins. They're great to use for non-standard units of measure as we did with Rainbow Measurement! Any time you add a fun little trinket to your games, students are always more engaged.
Here's another way we used mini erasers at our March math center. The students read these St. Patrick's Day-themed addition and subtraction story problems and use these cool rainbow and shamrock mini erasers to help solve the problems.
Have you tried boom cards in your classroom? They're like digital task cards that make learning math and literacy so much fun! There are so many different boom card games that you can choose from and students love them! Add a tablet to your math center with games like this Lucky Subtraction Train and kids will beg to practice subtraction!
March Art Center
The art center is always a favorite in every classroom. Kids love to cut, paste, draw and paint. One tip is to put a simple seasonal craft like this Shamrock Man for students to make. Cut colored paper to the correct size and put it on a tray. Then make templates on cardstock for students to trace. Always hang a completed craft at the center for students to look at. Makes it super simple for kids to do on their own.
Another fun craft that kids love to make around St. Patricks Day is a leprechaun! If you plan on making leprechaun traps, kids can make this cute craft and write how to catch a leprechaun in writing! It's a great way to combine your art center activities with your writing lesson plans.
Finally, this Irish potato craft is always a favorite and so easy for kindergarten or 1st grade kids to complete on their own during center time.
March Writing Center
About this time of the year, your students may be getting bored with the same old writing center activities. Grab a few novelty pens and pencils at the Dollar Tree to add to your centers this month. Believe it or not, your students will be much more motivated to write when they can use a cool rainbow fluff pen or shamrock pencil!
Do you find it hard to fit writing into your lesson plans each day? Why not put these writing journals for March at your center so kids can work on them independently? By this point in the year, students are able to complete so many more writing tasks on their own. They can flip through their journal and choose whichever topic is the most interesting to them!
March Word Work Center
The word work center is one of the most important areas of your classroom. This is where students can practice all the phonics skills you've been learning all year. One important thing to remember is that everything at your math and literacy centers should always be practice. Never put a brand new literacy skill that has never been taught at your center.
Games are always fun for your word work center. Most of your students have probably graduated from simple CVC words and are ready for phonics skills like vowel teams. Students can play games like this vowel teams game with a partner. It's a great way to practice a skill you've already taught in class.
Another fun game for your March word work center are these vowel teams puzzles. They're super easy for teachers to prep and a great way for kids to practice this phonics skill. Add a fun shamrock-shaped tray to make it even more festive at your center.
Who knew that you could use shot glasses in your classroom? I found these little plastic cups at the Dollar Tree and they're the perfect size for dice shakers! I used these with some no-prep printable games for a simple addition to our March math and literacy centers.
Another great find at the Dollar Tree are these mini black pots and plastic gold coins! I wrote the letters to some of our sight words on white stickers and attached them to the coins. Each black pot had a different word in it. Students could dump out the coins and rearrange the letters to spell the sight word. This activity is perfect for kindergarten centers, 1st or 2nd grade!
Simple task cards are always great for literacy centers. In this activity, students are practicing bossy r-controlled vowels. They look at the picture and clip a clothespin to the matching r-controlled vowel. I hot glued some foam shamrocks to the clothespins for a little added fun.
March Spelling Center
Let's face it, practicing your spelling words is never a student's favorite activity. Make it more fun with activities like this free Mystery Shamrock worksheet. Students write their words with a white crayon and paint with watercolors to reveal the mystery word. Kids love this! You can grab this freebie here.
Another way to make spelling practice more fun is with Rainbow Spin A Word. This game is editable so you can write your own words on the rainbow cards. Kids spin the spinner and write their spelling word whatever color the spinner lands on. Save time and paper by putting the game in a plastic sleeve protector. Kids can use expo markers and then wipe the game clean for the next student to use!
March Library Center
Now is the time to get out all your St. Patrick's Day books! Students love reading about leprechauns. Grab some shamrock-shaped spectacles at your local Dollar Tree and tell the students they have magical powers. Anyone who puts them on will be a super reader!
Looks like the luck of the Irish is with you my friend! If you're ready to add some new games to your March math and literacy centers, I have you covered. Head over here to take a look at everything included in this bundle!
Want to know more about how to use math and literacy centers in your classroom? Check out these posts.
