Kickstart August: Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers

For us, August means it’s time to go BACK TO SCHOOL! We start the school year during the first week or two of the month. It might still be hot out, but we’ve had a few months off to do all of the summertime things, so when August rolls around we’re ready to jump back into the classroom! Well…maybe not “ready”, but it is what it is, so we make the best of it! These August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers are the perfect way to end summer and start the new school year.

I love the excitement of setting up my classroom and meeting my new students. Before my students arrive for their first day, I pass out, or send, this back-to-school confetti to ease those first day jitters. Once they come to the classroom, I do fun activities with them like this back-to-school bingo. We read The Kissing Hand and make these adorable Chester the Raccoon envelope puppets. To ensure we start the year off on the right foot, we play this fun school supplies sort game. And I throw some math with our back-to-school First to 20 activity and review numbers with these School Supply Clip Cards. Our students are having so much fun, they’re learning without realizing they’re learning!

I always start the most important routines right away so that the kids have plenty of time to get used to them. I introduce daily journal practice with these August math and August literacy journals. I also make sure to do one science experiment a week using these August Science Experiments. And one of the most important routines that I incorporate right away is our center routines. These August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers are the best way to kickstart the school year and to introduce centers to your new class! 

August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers

With 40 centers to use in August, you’ll have so many beginning of the school year activities to choose from, you won’t know what to do! Using end-of-summer themes and adorable clipart, while also covering beginning of the year kindergarten skills, these activities will help get your students primed and ready for the rest of the school year. 

I use centers to keep my students busy and learning while allowing them a bit of independence. Using centers gives me the chance to pull students into small groups and it makes me feel good to know that the rest of my students are learning and having fun with these back-to-school activities. These August centers are my favorite since they are the first ones I introduce to my new class of students. You’ll definitely want to use these centers right off the bat this school year to create a functional centers routine with your class. 

Included in August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers

20 Kindergarten August Math Activities:

• Dice Games
• Math Match-Ups
• Math Puzzles
• Partner Games
• Write & Wipe Activities
• Write the Room Activities

20 Kindergarten August Literacy Activities:

• Literacy Match-Ups and Pocket Chart Activities
• Write the Room Activities
• Writing Center
• Poetry Center 
• Write & Wipe Activities
• Literacy Puzzles

Giving you a grand total of FORTY August kindergarten activities to use with your students!

Skills covered in the Kindergarten August Math Centers

• Graphing, Number Order, Decomposing, Patterns, Ten Frames, 2D Shapes, Measuring Length, Number ID, Comparing Numbers, Number Writing…and more!

Skills covered in the Kindergarten August Literacy Centers

• Writing, Poetry, Sequencing, Sight Words, Letter ID, Beginning Sounds, Letter Sounds, Rhyming, Handwriting, Alliteration, Syllables…and more!

Using the August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers

With 40 math and literacy centers to use in August with your kindergarteners, it is totally understandable to feel overwhelmed. We have some suggestions to make things easier for you! The first year of prep takes the longest, but prep smart, and next August you’ll have almost everything already ready to go! 

• Prep the centers ahead of the first day of school! After purchasing and downloading the centers, decide which ones you’re going to use as centers, which ones you might save for whole group instruction, etc. 
• Once you check out the available centers, plan out your prep work. Make a list of what needs to be printed, copied, laminated, cut, etc. We always suggest printing things like the write and wipe activities, the puzzles and match-ups, the writing cards, and the write the room cards onto cardstock and/or laminating so that you can reuse them each August. 
• Remember that there is no right way to use these! Teachers use these August kindergarten activities in several different ways. Some teachers use the puzzles and match-ups for morning work, some use the poetry materials as whole group lessons, and some only use the black & white copies to make them consumables. Make the centers work for you! 
• Most importantly, make sure to model the centers explicitly and set clear expectations for all of the different types of centers you will use.This is so important, especially in August, since you’ll be setting the expectation for the entire school year! 

Materials Needed for the August Kindergarten Centers:

• Copy Paper
• Laminating Sheets
• Dice
• Dry Erase Markers
• Erasers
• Write the Room Clips

Kindergarten August Math Activities

Dice Games

Dice games are an easy and fun way to help your students practice important math skills! Sometimes I even hand these out to the entire class as a review after our math lesson. The August dice games include a roll and cover activity that reviews 2D shapes, a build a pencil person activity, a color by code activity to help students with recognizing numbers 5-10, and a school supplies roll and graph activity. 

Partner Games

Your new class full of students will be psyched to have fun with their new friends while playing these math partner games! The August partner games include a 2D shapes board game, a spinner game to practice comparing numbers, a number ID “Go Fish” game, and a race to the top game to practice identifying numbers to 10. 

Math Puzzles and Match-Ups

We enjoy puzzles and match-up activities, especially at the beginning of the year, because the kids don’t need much direction to understand the concept of the activity. The August puzzles practice patterns and subitizing while the August match-ups for kindergarten review comparing lengths of objects and matching numbers to pictures. 

Write & Wipe Activities

You’ll love how easy these write and wipe activities are to use and how perfect they are for getting your students working on their math skills. These start-of-the school-year kindergarten math activities review math skills including 2D shapes, ten frames, patterns, and writing numbers 0-10. 

Write the Room Centers

Your kindergarten students won’t be used to sitting at a desk or a table all day, so having activities that get them up and moving is so important! These kindergarten August math activities will have them out of their seats and practicing skills such as number order, patterns, and ten frames.

August-themed Literacy Activities for Kindergarten

Pocket Charts and Match-Ups

Pocket chart and match-up activities are great August early literacy activities. Designed to be used in a pocket chart or anywhere that the pieces can be spread out, the activities include an August-themed kindergarten story sequencing literacy center, a sentence scramble, a sight word hide and seek activity, and a match up to practice identifying the letters in their name. Your students will have so much fun with these activities that they won’t even realize how much they’re learning! 

Write & Wipe Centers and Puzzles

With two write and wipe activities and two puzzles, your new class of kindergarteners can practice rhyming, beginning sounds, and tracing letters. These centers are great to use for early finishers too!

Write the Room Activities

I love write the room activities because they get the kiddos out of their seats and moving while they’re learning! The August literacy write the room activities review skills like beginning sounds, upper and lowercase letters, rhyming, and syllables. 

Writing Centers

Our writing centers come with four sets of word cards with different topics, differentiated writing papers, and supplemental writing resources like alphabet cards. The four writing card topics for August are class schedule words, five senses words, yummy food words, and school supply words. Your students can get used to being at school while practicing writing and drawing using these fun back-to-school words. 

Poetry Centers 

You will love using these poetry center materials with your students this back-to-school season! With three original poems and one well-known nursery rhyme, you can expose your students to poetry in a developmentally appropriate way. 

Download the August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers now!

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Embrace the new school year with our August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers, where end-of-summer themes meet educational fun!

Want math and literacy centers to use with your kindergarteners for the ENTIRE year?

Discover these fun and engaging August Kindergarten Math & Literacy Centers. End your summer with an educational bang and start school off right!