Teaching my first grader is tough. He is definitely one of those students I had in class who I had to provide a choice board or options to get them to complete something. It had to be their idea.

We just wrapped up the first instructional block of learning how to add with regrouping. He caught on quickly but having him show me what he knows was like pulling teeth! Then I remembered, this kid needs choices! What better way to do that with task cards/scavenger hunt. I used Adding with Regrouping Task Cards and provided him with the recourses we used when learning this skill. He got to choose what manipulatives he used and what problems he completed.

What are Task Cards? Simply put, task cards are a worksheet cut into smaller pieces. 🙂 Task cards typically have one task or problem per card. For math, this can be one math problem to solve or skill to practice. Students typically respond better to task cards rather than a worksheet or page from a workbook. Even as an adult, I like to tackle one thing off of my to-do list at a time and get overwhelmed when I think of everything I need to complete. The same goes for our kiddos. Breaking down a lesson or activity into smaller pieces(this is called chunking in the educational world) will help out the child. More information on task cards found HERE!

Here is a breakdown of this activity:

1. Print and cut out the Adding with Regrouping Task Cards. (I laminated mine because you can take the teacher out of the classroom but you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher 😉 Laminating also allowed my kiddo to write directly on the card and gave us an easy clean-up to use another day or share with a fellow homeschool momma.)
2. Post the cards around your house. I used sticky tack to make a mess-free clean up. Posting them around the house allowed my son to walk all round. For some he got on the ground and others he was on the back of the couch. I did not put the numbers in order. It made it more fun for him to walk around the house and see what numbers he could find. I made all of them within easy eye sight for him.
3. Let them get to work! From here I let him have at it. We reviewed how to add with regrouping and how to use the manipulatives. He chose to complete the problem on the actual task card so I could see his work on each one and he didn’t have to rewrite the problem on his paper.
4. I had ‘Headquarters’ set up by our table. This was the answer sheet. When he completed a problem, he came back to HQ to check his answer. If it was incorrect, he circled it. If he got it right, he went back to solve another.

There are many variations you can do for this activity. Just find what works best for your family!

• You could place all of the cards facedown and select one at a time to complete. This is a great option for multiple children completing the same activity.
• The child could carry around a clipboard and complete the problems.
• You could use one card a day as a spiral review to keep the skill fresh in their minds.

Have you tried this activity? Let me know how it went!