Counting 1–20 Turkeys in the Oven | Numbers and Counting Activities for ELLs

  This resource is part of the House Furniture for Elementary ESL to prepare for your lesson plan , at my store:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/House-Furniture-unit-for-Elementary-ESL-3420723

ELLs benefit from concrete, colorful visuals. Seeing the turkey food piece in an oven next to a number gives them a clear representation of the math concepts. This resource connects math (counting and numbers), and language (speaking, listening, and writing numbers), making it a well-rounded tool for elementary classrooms.

Place the turkey in the oven flashcards (quantity cards) on the table. Provide students with fun foam numbers and letters. Students will count the chickens and say the number out loud. Then, using fun foam numbers to build the numeral and spell out the number word.

Extend the flashcards into sentence practice, which really helps elementary English language learners connect numbers → vocabulary → full language structures.

Promote Number Recognition using the bingo grid. Students identify numbers from the flashcards displayed on the board and transfer them to their bingo grid, reinforcing numeral recognition. Learners choose 8 numbers from 1 to 20. When numbers are called out during the game, students must listen carefully, understand, and check their grids. Bingo allows multiple exposures to numbers without feeling repetitive or boring.

As students count the turkeys, they can also practice sentence structures like “There are eighteen turkeys in the oven,” promoting speaking and writing skills in context.  

Set up a pretend “kitchen” where students take turns being the cook and customer. The customer says, “I want sixteen turkeys,” and the cook finds the matching flashcard.

Having both quantity cards and numeral small cards helps students make the connection between the symbol (number) and the quantity.

Matching Game.  Students match the numeral card to the turkeys quantity card.

  Memory Game. Lay cards face down and play “Concentration” to find pairs (number + quantity).

Number Sequencing: Strengthens understanding of forward and backward number order.

Counting Worksheets.  Listen and color the turkeys in the oven to reinforce vocabulary recognition. Then, they will complete the color of each turkey on the other worksheet.

Read & Color the instructions on the worksheets.

Completing Number Sequences Worksheets that reinforces the idea of counting forward. Another worksheet is to unscramble the number words where students must use reasoning to put letters in order, building both cognitive flexibility and persistence.

Matching numerals to number words worksheets.

Write the number word by counting the turkeys in the oven.

 

Board game. Players must match their space to the correct small card or cards from the mat (numeral or oven quantity) before they can stay on it.

The matching mats supports number-word association and visual counting.

Play the Missing Piece Challenge. Students can place any piece on the mat wither the numeral or the word.

Students can play the classic match of numeral, words and quantity cards.

They can also order all the cards in a number sequence on the pocket chart if you have one.

There is a coloring the turkeys in the oven according to what the spinner lands on. Assemble the spinner using a butterfly fastener and a clip.

This is a make words game. There is a letter to place on each card to spell the number word and the word to add to simple number such as six to make sixteen.

Find more engaging ways to teach numbers to your English Language Learners.
Check out my Pinterest board for printable materials and creative activities!
 From flashcards to worksheets, you'll find tons of useful resources to make your lessons fun and interactive.
Visit the board here: https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl/esl-numbers-and-math/numbers-1-to-20/

Used creative fabrica for the numbers! Here is my affliate link:   https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/orange-doodle-letters-and-numbers/ref/2670802/?sharedfrom=pdp

Transportation Games for Elementary ELL

 This resource for any Literacy Teacher, is included in the Transportation unit for Elementary ESL at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transportation-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-4049752

The Transportation games turn learning into an enjoyable experience, keeping students interested and eager to participate. Bring in games that are not done on a flat screen!

Board games support visual learners who benefits from a road colorful path, tokens, and cards. The kinesthetic learners will love to move car pieces along the road.

Domino style game aims to match transportation adjective phrases with the images. It can be played alone or with a partner. Adjectives of size used: big, small, long, short.

The pocket chart cards are great to review key grammar points, such as the adjectives. It can be as easy as matching the picture to the word as in my example below. Move on to adding an adjective card to describe a vehicle.

Place a vehicle card in the pocket chart. Challenge the students to add as many adjectives as possible to describe that transportation object.

Students remember grammar structures through engaging gameplay. Have the students use the cards to mark the adjectives in their comparative and superlative form. They can also write sentences on their notebooks.

Key matching game. This kind of game will encourage students to communicate naturally in English.
Print and have ready a set of cards for every 2 or 4 students. They will shuffle the cards and hand out 6 or 8 cards depending on the size of the group. Let them know that the card with the keys is a card to match any other card.
They will hold the cards without letting their partners see them. They can make pairs (pictures and words) if they are lucky to have them and display on the table.
The game starts as a student 1ask another: Do you have a plane?
Student 2: Yes, I do! (hands in the card)
Student 1 displays the card match.
Students can play without direct teacher involvement. One student writes several transportation words backwards using the cards and another will write them correctly.
The set of cards can also be used as a Memory matching games to spark excitement as students try to find pairs with a word and a picture.

Give students just a few minutes to make as many words related to the transportation unit using the letters provided. The student with the most words wins!

Have one student write the transportation words backwards using the cards and the other will write them on paper in the correct way.

Write sentences. Hand in a template of the worksheets for the students to make complete sentences. They will cut up the words and put the words into the boxes to form the sentences. If you just want to cut printing cost, have the students write the words on the spaces on the worksheet, using the words cutout as a guide.

In pairs, students can check each other work and see if they have similar sentences and if they are correct.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/12/transportation-flashcards-for.html 

This resource comes in a bundle, here: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transportation-Unit-BUNDLE-for-ESL-Kindergarten-and-Elementary-7677380

Find practical strategies to make teaching easier and more effective. You’ll love visiting my other blog for younger learners.

https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Calendar: days, Months, ordinal numbers Games

  This resource is included in -Calendar Unit Elementary ESL- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Calendar-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-1722495

The Calendar Games make learning fun and interactive, keeping students motivated. The repetition and practice in an enjoyable format promoting teamwork and communication skills.

Calendar Bingo. Students will write the numbers 1 to 31 on the calendar and the month that you assign. Then, call out dates, and students mark them on their calendar template.

Teacher: Tuesday, 12^th.

Print the cards of the Calendar pocket chart. These can be used on the board as well. Have the students use the cards to listen to a Date and Match it to build correct dates.

Make two or more teams race to arrange the days of the week or months in the correct order using the cards.

Place the abbreviation card for Days and Months.

Print the calendar games cards and use the ones from above to complete the questions on each card.

Teacher: How many days are there in a month?
Students: 28 in Februrary and 30 or 31 in the others.

Teachers can use the resource for collaborative activities where students work together to arrange the letters to make a months or days crosswords.

Adding the days of the week crowns for your lower elementary students.They an order themselves in a line to stand for the days.

The durable and reusable nature of the cards makes them a valuable addition to any classroom for years to come.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/12/calendar-days-months-ordinal-numbers_21.html 

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Toys Unit Games for the Elementary English Language Learners-Starters

 This resource is included in the Toys Unit for Elementary school English Language Learners. Find more optional teachinmg material here: 

LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Toys-unit-for-Elementary-English-Language-Learners-Starters-1865563

Printable Toys unit games are a fun addition to your resource library. They are engaging and motivating for your students. Students are usually interested to actively participate in the different games available.

The board games are just print and assemble the markers. This kind of games involve strategic thinking. Students will have to describe where they land in order to move on the board.

 Print a worksheet for each student and a set of cards for each group for the descriptive sentence game. Students will have to create as many sentences as they can and draw a representation on the space provided. Award points to longer sentences. This activity contributes to language fluency as they practice constructing sentences. This is an opportunity for the students to gain confidence in using the new language.

The letter tiles are an interactive learning activity. Students can actively form words or crosswords. Print one or two templates for each group. They will learn to cooperate while putting the letters in words in order.

This toys unit quilt con contextual understanding for the students to match the pictures to the corresponding words. It is a good practice for the retention of the new vocabulary.

 

Just like this!

Sentence and picture association game is fun to use as a grammar reinforcement practice. It is a cognitive skill builder when children match descriptions with visual representation. 

There are grammar sentences available, but students can write their own. A

Many ways to play this toys unit word association game. It can be simple matching the word to the picture, memory and any other to practice turn-taking.

What about having the players construct sentences using the word or picture that are in a pile as they come up.

Pocket charts can be used for almost anything that your students need. Have the practice sentence construction and reading as the match the sentence to the picture.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/05/toys-unit-robots-numbers-1-to-20.html 

This resource is included in a Bundle:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Elementary-English-Language-learners-teaching-Units-Starters-BUNDLE-11215540

More resources for the toy’s unit

https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl/esl-toys-unit/teaching-esl-toys-unit-materials/