Differentiated QR Code Winter Math Centers & Around the Room / Count the Room Activities

I was looking for an easy way to differentiate my math instruction. My students love scanning QR codes – they just love hearing that bleep and seeing what it will show them. They also get excited about anything seasonal and the chance to get up out of their seats and move around, sooooo…….I combined all of these in my math centers to get students excited about practicing number sense and enable me to easily differentiate their instruction.

I found cute hot chocolate and marshmallow clip art and just had to use it for this center. There is just something so comforting and inviting about a cup of hot chocolate during the cold winter months here in PA.

There are 3 different sets of task cards – groups for subitizing practice, tally marks, and ten frames. Each set has blue, red and purple task cards with and without QR codes.

I did this so that I could have a wide variety of options for each differentiated group. For example, I could have the blue group practicing tally marks, the red group practicing subitizing and ten frames, and the purple group practicing with all 3. Then the next time we use the center I can switch them around again. This gives me enough mix and match options to keep the students from getting bored, allowing me to use the cards all winter long.

QR code and plain differentiated number sense winter math cards

I made 2 sets of cards, one with QR codes and one without so that I could use them for a wide variety of small and whole group activities and games. Even though QR codes are popular with the students, there are some instances where I don’t need them to self-check their answers.

I also color coded them to match the differentiated pages so I can easily divide them up for centers or assign students a certain color mug to find when doing around the room/count the room activities.

color coded differentiated number sense math cards

The coordinating printable pages needed to be differentiated to address the various developmental levels of my students. The first set requires students to count the marshmallows or tally marks or marshmallows in ten frames and trace the number.

They can then check their answer by scanning the QR code. I made customized answers that are large and easily visible. The one thing I don’t like about the free QR creators is they make the text too small, so I created my own.

differentiated QR code task cards and pages

The second set of pages requires students to count the marshmallows or tally marks or marshmallows in ten frames and write the number next to the matching letter from the task card.

differentiated self-checking QR code task cards and pages

They can then self check their answer by scanning the QR code (no more hearing “Is this right?” lol). The QR code can be scanned with an iPhone or iPad or any device with a QR code scanner. When self-checking, if the student has an incorrect answer they circle it. I have found that the students are very honest!

The third set of pages requires the students to count the marshmallows or tally marks or marshmallows in ten frames and write the number plus the next two numbers. They then scan the QR code from the task card to see if they are correct.

(The ten frames resemble chocolate bars)

Each set of practice pages has a page for numbers 1-20, a page for numbers 1-10, and a page for numbers 11-20. Sometimes we don’t have time to complete all 20 numbers so we just do pages with 10 numbers and there are some students who do better focusing on 10 numbers at a time.

Differentiated Around the Room / Count the Room or SCOOT

I feel the best part about these cards is that they can easily be used for differentiated around the room or SCOOT activities. I use them a lot during those first few weeks back from Christmas break since my young ones are quite “antsy” and out of routine. It gets them up and moving and I simply tell them what color mugs to find (it is also written on their sheets) and send them on their way with their clipboards!

around the room, count the room winter number sense (differentiated)

Sometimes I give them each an iphone (I asked parents to donate old iphones and got a tremendous response!) and the students scan the QR codes and self-check their answers as they go.

Other times I hang the plain cards around the room and have the students complete their entire pages first and then sit down and use the QR code cards to check each answer.