Lots of Freebies!!! for Number Combinations

We are starting a new concept in math this week...number combinations!!! Honestly, I dread this concept every year because it can be so hard to grasp for some students.  We use Investigations at my school and the curriculum introduces this topic by using peas and carrots.  It tells the kids they have any given number of peas and carrots and how many of each do they have.  EVERY YEAR I have a student who says " I don't have any peas or carrots because I don't like to eat those things.". Every year.  So this year I made a determined effort to come up with a variety of ways to teach this concept.

I have pinterest to thank for all of these ideas!!!

1.  The Wanted poster

 Love this resouce! I found it courtesy of Pinterest at Krazy about Kiddos blog. I am going to use this to record, and to have the students record, their combinations to any given number.

 2. One Fish, Two Fish

Courtesy of Pinterest, again, from http://plantspress.blogspot.com/.  Can't wait to try this idea. She reads One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Suess and she has them color the fish either red or blue.  Then they discuss and record combinations to 10.

3. The Rainbow of Combinations to 10

I am sure everyone has seen this one. It is a huge hit with kids every year.  Who doesn't love to make a rainbow?! I got this resource from The Littlest Scholars.

4. Number Combination Bracelets

I went to a Dr. Jean workshop years ago and saw this idea. It works like a charm and it is fun. Now for the FREEBIE!!! I made a worksheet to go with this bracelet.  Put the desired number of beads on the pipe cleaner. Students move one bead at a time to count the number combinations. ENJOY!!! This is my first shot at using a google document so I hope this goes well... click here for the FREEBIE.

Thanks for visiting. I will post more later this week and hopefully number combinations will be a success!!!