Jan 27th- Telling time
Before I could teach this. I wanted to make sure the kids could count in 1’s to 60.
Introducing hour after that was a breeze
Jan 14- Oh Yea! We can count-
We can read numbers and write them too. Did we mention we can count too.
Nov 28th-
Subtract the frustration
Subtraction, thinking about what came before is always difficult. So we start slow. collect a group of objects. Take 1 away and recount.
Repeat.
The beauty of subtraction is that you see it in everything. Virtually any object can be used while counting.
Nov 14th- WoW!
It has been a while since I posted a math lesson. This isn’t really a lesson as it is a display of creativity. During a brain break session, I pulled a few kids on the carpet just to check their understanding of their shapes and then they were allowed to make something. I wanted to gauge how well they could take shapes and create something with it. How well could they manipulate shapes to create something close to real life? Well I was blown away. You see shapes but I see pure Math power!
a rocket 
a dancer
the beginnings of a robot( notice the symmetry of the shapes ( one side matches the other)
“people” Two different representations but unique in the kinds of shapes they use( I was blown away)
October 17th- Simple addition with a twist
This week, we kinders were busy counting in a different way. We have been working on building up mental images of numbers and how we can show these with objects.
So to help with the process of learning to add two numbers, meet spinner. The kids love this. It beeps and flashes and randomly selects numbers. I also used a regular dice for the second adding number. So for this example 5 and 3 is…
The kids collect the required amount of blocks and count. It was interesting to see the many ways the kids chose to show 8. Here are a few.
This can be done with a ton of ’round the house materials. I’m going to use egg cartons next.
October 4th 2013- Greedy Gurt – a case of more or less
Meet Greedy Gurt
While we count, its important to also a) know the location of a number in relation to all the other numbers and b) know its size in relation to all the other numbers. This week we compared numbers size with Greedy Gurt ( a crocodile who only eats bigger fish or the bigger number). You might recall the homework looking similar. Now, in class, we are equipping the kids with the actual mathematical language.
So we start off like this
Building the number with objects ( play dough or coins etc)
Then we test out a few things. Being able to “see” which number is bigger .
Step 3: Bring in Greedy Gurt
Step 4: My turn-Ready to try it for themselves… the kids make their own Greedy Gurt and have him eat things. See below.
Sorting
What else can we do with numbers or objects? sort them? By size, color, shape? Done
Each child got a chance to place their shape on the board and played “teacher ” to help classmates make the right choice. Here is what I mean:
Counting
Counting sets of numbers by connecting the links was no problem for these mighty mathematicians.