The NC Office of Early Learning strongly encourages incorporating play into the daily routine of each classroom.
Children grow and learn in all developmental domains through their engagement in centers; cognitive, physical, social, and emotional. Authentic learning and meaningful connections are made when a teacher intentionally weaves standards and supports development throughout children’s play. PlaytoLearn Planning Guides provide information on why each center is important to children's development, tips for setting up centers, sugessted materials, actions of an intentional teacher, and common connections children make to content. Prompts connected to kindergarten standards and NC ELI dimensions can be found on PlaytoLearn Center Posters which are also shared on #GoOpenNC. Although these resources are specifically written for kindergarten, teaching and learning strategies can be applied to many grade levels.

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for Kindergarten Math.

Students on a hunt for shapes. Students help the mermaid find her jewels shaped like a sphere, cube, and cylinder. Students will enjoy this fun activity.

In this scavenger hunt games students are given the task of finding and identifying real-world shapes in their environment.

This interactive game reinforces students' knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes by having them match objects to shapes or objects to words. Students can play by memory or while seeing the objects. All cards are supported by audio instruction.

In this "word search" style puzzle students practice identifying sequences of shapes.

Students will learn about 2D and 3D shapes.  They will use various materials to build shapes, find shapes in stories and at school, and build pictures with shapes.

After 2D and 3D shapes have been introduced, children will go outside with a parent or teacher. They will each be given a picture of a 2D shape. They will find a 3D shape outside to match their shape. They will record their shape in their math journal. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

This lesson is for grades PreK-K on math. At Home Learning Lessons are a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. Each lesson contains a video instructional lesson, a PDF lesson plan with a transcript, and a PDF file of extension activities.

Students can sketch a shape or challenge termites in building a tower. This interactive reinforces students' ability to identify shapes.

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

This file contains directions and materials for ALL Tools4NCTeachers Math Games.

Math games are fun, motivating, and provide opportunities for students to build number concepts, reasoning, and fluency. These games may be used as math stations or as whole group learning opportunities.

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

This list contains links to parent videos, student videos, games, books, and activities aligned to Kindergarten, Cluster 2.

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

This packet contains exit tickets for Kindergarten Cluster 2, numbers 0-10.

Exit tickets are written responses to questions posed at the end of a lesson. They are brief assessments which allow the teacher to determine student understanding of the concepts and skills taught that day.

At the Kindergarten level, a blank copy of the exit ticket should be displayed on the board and read aloud to students. As teacher reads, students work independently on their own copy of the exit ticket.

This packet contains exit tickets for Kindergarten Cluster 2, numbers 0-5.

Exit tickets are written responses to questions posed at the end of a lesson. They are brief assessments which allow the teacher to determine student understanding of the concepts and skills taught that day.

At the Kindergarten level, a blank copy of the exit ticket should be displayed on the board and read aloud to students. As teacher reads, students work independently on their own copy of the exit ticket.

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

The Family Letters explain big ideas of the cluster using family-friendly language. Families can also find tips for working with their children at home, digital games, videos, and books.

This file contains a Part 1 Family Letter and Part 2 Family Letter. Both letters are available in English and Spanish.

Part 1 focuses on:
- Rote counting
- Writing numerals
- Understanding number relationships

Part 2 focuses on:
- Answering the question "How many?"
- Sorting and counting shapes

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

The intended purpose of this document is to provide teachers with a tool to determine student understanding and suggest instructional moves that may help guide a student forward in their learning. It is not an exhaustive list of strategies.

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

This list contains links to parent videos, student videos, games, books, and activities aligned to Kindergarten, Cluster 3.

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

This file contains easy to implement math center ideas for Kindergarten, Cluster 4.

Have other ideas for Cluster 4 math centers? Remix this lesson, and share your thoughts!

This resource is part of Tools4NCTeachers.

This packet contains exit tickets for the Kindergarten, Cluster 4 geometry standards. Exit tickets are written responses to questions posed at the end of a lesson. They are brief assessments which allow the teacher to determine student understanding of the concepts and skills taught that day. At the Kindergarten level, a blank copy of the exit ticket should be displayed on the board and read aloud to students. As teacher reads, students work independently on their own copy of the exit ticket.