Letter Z (Zebra Math)

Wow!  Hard to believe that we are at the end of "the alphabet". We didn't use alphabetical order this year but the last three letters did end up being X, Y and Z.  And since next week is Spring Break...it worked out perfectly!  One of today's activities and a free printable for you...

Zebra Math: Make Ten

Though we could use this little kit in many different ways, my goal for the kiddos was to work with addition and subtraction signs and continue to familiarize themselves with a ten frame.  We've done plenty of hands on math story problems but now we are moving on to seeing the symbols and the more formal way of working with addition and subtraction problems. 

First, we talked about the addition and subtraction signs.  My preference is to use the terms "add and subtract" but they will also hear other ways of talking about addition and subtraction so I use those terms as well.  For the purpose of this activity I used "add more" and "take away". 

 

 Next, we worked with our ten frame a bit.  Counting the spaces on our zebra ten frame mat, putting a bean in each space (from left to right) and coming up with 10.  :-)  When all the spaces are filled, the number is ten.  Then we "took away" the bottom row of beans and counted five.  When only the top row is filled it equals five.  Then we "added" the bottom row of beans again (5 more) and reinforced that 5+5=10 and when all the spaces have a bean, the number is 10.

Then, I brought out our zebra number circles.  We went through them, naming the number and putting them in order from 1 to 20.  We found number ten and noticed the numbers that were more than ten...going forward on the number line (adding more).  Then we found ten again and noticed the numbers that were less than ten...going backwards on the number line (taking away).

Finally, we put it all together.  They chose a number circle and stated the number and put the correct number of beans on their ten frame (from left to right and top to bottom).  Then, at the beginning, they added more or took away the beans to make ten.  After they figured it out, they placed their number circle in the correct column, either with the plus sign or the minus sign.  You know what was exciting for me?  By the time we were finishing up...they didn't have to actually add or take away the beans to know which sign they number circle went with!  It showed to me that they were internalizing what 10 on the ten frame looked like and what the terms add and subtract/take away looked like.  Success!

Zebra Math: Make Ten

Like I said, there are many ways to use this mini math kit.  I'd love to hear how you would use it/or have used it with your students!

Some pics of other things we did today.  Fine motor, scissors, sensory, art...

 

 

Heart Math

So since it's Valentine's Day...we're a digressing and doing a bit more with hearts.  :-)  We are also doing most of our activities "together" to encourage sharing and conversation about friendship.

A few of our math activities we did today...

Number Line Addition/Subtraction

I believe I've already posted a similar activity we did recently.  There was some changes I wanted to do with it to make it more helpful to the children so we did it again and yes, it was more helpful.  One of the changes was to put them on the same side of a number line (instead of having them face each other).  Today we shared a number line because we did quite a few "sharing" activities today as it was Valentine's Day.

The sharing led to "closer quarters" and I love this picture!  We had done a few addition and subtraction facts together and I had stepped back out of the conversation to see if they really understood what we were doing.  Here they were discussing what number they needed to start with.  :-)

Odd/Even Number Exploration

I like to provide various ways of looking at concepts.  Truthfully, my students have already picked up odd and even number concept by our daily calendar activity using craft sticks. 

One child passes out the craft sticks (ie: today is the 14th so they are passing sticks to the rest of us and then add as many as they need to get to 14), we set them out in front of us in a row and then buddy them up.  They know that if all their sticks have a buddy than it's even, but if one is left without a buddy it's an odd number.   We also take the time to talk about who has more/less or equal number of sticks and K. has been in the habit of counting her sticks by two's when she has quite a few at the end of the month.

Today, we just simply used heart beads and pipe cleaners to show that connection. 

A closer up of one of the children's numerals.

The extra fine motor component of putting small beads on small pipe cleaners is a plus also!

Pattern Crowns

:-) I love K.'s expression...she had just dropped her purple play doh on the floor. 

Hard to see their actual patterns so...

H. is a young 4 yet and so he was encouraged to an ABAB pattern.  I wouldn't say it's mastered completely yet but he did do this ABAB mostly on his own once he got started.  I say that it's not mastered yet because he can copy and extend but he doesn't truly recognize a pattern on it's own and usually he needs help in getting a pattern started.  K. is 5 yrs. now and I told her she could create any pattern but it could NOT be an ABAB pattern.  It's hard to see her's but she did an ABBC pattern! 

Our pattern pieces are simply cut from  Valentine gift wrap from the dollar store!  I love these cheap veggie/dip containers.  I have a bunch but use the black one the most because it's more appealing visually.  Allows for the children to see all their materials in a somewhat organized fashion.  Actually, I find that they use more of a variety when offered like this vs. all sorts of materials mixed together (which, yes, I've seen some teachers do-goes along with my toy box philosophy!  :-D). 

Hope you all are having a great week.  This week looks like it's going to be a short week again.  Was hoping to get I and J together in one week but since we had Valentine's day, Friday is a day off of school, and both preschool children have appointments this week.  So we'll change up our plans.  :-D

K is for Kisses. (Hershey Kisses that is!)

Personalized Hershey Kiss

Awhile back I remembered seeing something similar to this in a search I made in Google Images.  If this was your idea...feel free to let me know so I can give you credit!  :-)

This was a "cute" project.  I turned it in into our scissors skill activity using cardstock.  Really I should have used cardboard so they could wrap the kiss in aluminum foil more independently but then they wouldn't have been able to cut out the kiss on their own.  Hmm...will have to ponder over this one and see what else we could do!

Hershey Kiss Letter Formation Reinforcement

Reinforcing H and K (Hershey Kiss).  Yes, I encourage them to form the letter as we would write it.  Last week we had a really short week for H and so I'm slipping in some letter formation activities this week for H as well as this week's focus letter of K.

K. completes her activities before H. most times and so this tray and Hershey Kisses were perfect for her.  She went on to create...

patterns                 and                 shapes.

She was actually in the the process of making a circle in the above picture but I snapped this picture because it shows that she is creating a circle using the "magic C" formation.  This is something I definitely reinforce over and over and over.

Hershey Kiss Number Line

First the children practiced writing their numerals on their "kisses"...with some children you may wish to do hand over hand while singing the numeral formation verse that corresponds.  They then glued in order onto their paper strip.  Then...

I had created small "flash cards" with simple addition and subtraction signs.  This is not "new" material...we've used number lines with addition and subtraction before.  Good foundation building for Kindergarten.  So they chose one of their "flash cards" and told me what number was first.  They put their kiss on that number.  Then they looked at their math symbol and then looked at me as I crossed my fingers and said "plus" and took one finger away and said "minus".  They then told me what their sign was...we reinforced that plus goes forward and minus goes backward each time.  Then they moved their kiss accordingly, said the answer and then wrote it on the back of their flash card.  FYI: Somethings I would do differently- for more than one child ... arrange them so they are all sitting with their number line in the same direction.  My younger student got confused with the forwards/backwards mainly because he was watching K. and it looks the opposite in that regard.  They learn a lot by observation so going back and forth between these two instead of working independently was very benefitial.  I'm also considering creating a visual to go along with plus goes forward on the number line and minus goes backwards.  Should be relatively easy to do.  Typically I use only addition or only subtraction with preschoolers but decided to challenge the children today and help them notice detail by mixing the two together.

A little closer up image...we went up to numeral 10 on the number line.

C is for ...

C is for cat!

www.amazon.com

This was a nice rhyming book.  Not a book I'd go out and purchase but one I'd get from the library again.  There is a mouse on every spread of pages which was fun!

KWL Chart

We used the computer today as a "research" tool.  I find that what happened here is very typical for this age group.  My students are very use to giving "dictation" so 'what I know' is really easy.  The hardest part is the 'what I want to know'.  Usually you have to help them out in this regard until they are use to thinking like this.  And then 'what I learned'...with a group of children is pretty easy again.  They like to tell about new information.  And one child's comment will spark another child's thought and so on. However, with K.  She was ready to do something else by this point.  KWL charts are a great tool to extend thinking.  Perfect for a beginning of a theme, learn about the topic and end with the KWL chart by reviewing what was learned.

Scissors: Calico Cat

I like how this cat template looks similar to the letter C.

www.familyfun.go.com for the template

Crayon-paint resist.  Part of our "research" was to find out about colors of the cat.  So the main colors of a calico cat were black, white, and orange.  She did have some white crayon markings on there but I can't see them in this picture.  We, of course, to time to trace the c.  Magic C is the term used in Handwriting Without Tears and I often state as a reminder to make a circle, magic c and close it up. 

-at Family Review

Typically I use lowercase letters for 'reading' activities like this...obviously, since when I pulled my paper letter squares down (OTC, by the way) I had very few lower case letters...so we used upper case instead.  The paper letter squares are nice but you can do the same thing with letters cut out of magazines and newspapers. 

Fine Motor: Lacing Cat

Addition/Subtraction Cat

I've been wanting to get more addition and subtraction activities in for K.  This is a very simple paper plate cat which can be used multiple times.  We talked about the number 5, how it was formed, what the word looked like, how it looks with dots (like dice).  You can't really see it in the picture but the light pink nose is just a piece of paper with the number 5 on it.  Then we used cubes to think of three addition facts and three subtraction facts that would equal five and wrote them on the whiskers.  I used sticky tack to hold the nose and the whiskers so we can do this again with other numbers.

Color Cats

If this looks familiar-I used these color cats during our summer program.

I made it more challenging for my preK student by having the color word card in lower case but the magnets in upper case.  Just a little way to reinforce that upper/lowercase matching.  I made this activity flow a little more smoothly/timely by having the letters for each color together with the color cards.  It's important not to spend too much time on one thing because they may lose interest.  So think about what specific goals you want to have and focus on those.  Works so much better to do small tasks with a specific concept multiple times over the course of time vs. trying to teach a specific concept all in one large session. 

Math: Patterns

Well, one thing I love to do is create activities.  The other side of it is that I've had K. since a baby so I like to do "new" things. Well, anyway...I keep forgetting that stuff done awhile ago she would have been too young to really remember/grasp the concept so I've been really trying to go out to my tubs and glance through the before I start planning and making something new.  Help save on cost and time.  So this was one of the activities I pulled out of one of the bazillion tubs.  LOL  Mailbox publication activity I'm sure.  Looks like their type of pictures.  You could easy "stretch" any animal like this either drawing freehand or using a coloring sheet.  I laminated the cardstock cat (and dog) and placed a piece of velcro across the body.  Then the pieces were laminated and velcroed also and voila!  :-)

Art: Table Top Easel

We had lots of fun today...hope you all did too!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

These next two weeks will be with that thought in mind..."April showers bring may flowers".  We've already done "weather" but we'll focus more on rain and finish up our rainbow projects we didn't get done previously.  And then next week we'll start into flowers.  I love "flowers" theme.  There is SO much that can be done! 

Going through the tubs and here's a few past projects/activities we've done.

Five Umbrellas.  I went ahead and popped them on the fridge since the children love magnets at the fridge.  In the picture, Trent is pointing to the words in the song (posted for my benefit) and saying "e, e, e!"  :-P  Reminder that little fingerplays and songs like these are great for beginning subtraction, counting and, in this case, color recognition and naming.

Five Umbrellas

Five umbrellas stood by the door,

The red one went outside, then there were four.

Four umbrellas, pretty as could be,

The blue one went outside, then there were three.

Three umbrellas with nothing to do,

The green one went outside, then there were two.

Two umbrellas, not having much fun,

The yellow one went outside, then there was one.

Just one umbrella alone in the hall.

The purple one went outside and that was all!

Side note:  It really doesn't matter what order the colors are said in.  And we don't really want to teach it in a specific order, so mix it up when you are saying it with them.  That way they will be much more comfortable "retelling" the story on their own and that is the goal, at least for my older ones! When I see them working with this type of display on their own, I can see exactly what they have learned.  These umbrellas were made out of craft foam and pipe cleaners with self-adhesive magnet strip on the back.

If All The Raindrops...

Remember that song?  If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops...oh what a rain it would be.  I'd stand outside with my mouth opened wide, singing "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah".  The year we did this the kids were so into that 'ah-ah-ah' so I decided to incorporate a little literacy lesson. I only suggest this if you are doing it for your own children or for a small group.  It was simple but a little time consuming on my part.  The children did color mixing in an ice cube tray and the dropped the colored water onto a coffee filter semicircle.  Then they chose their pipe cleaner color for the handle.  The bottom part was a little book and I used each letter of their name with corresponding beginning sound food items.  So Aaron's first page stated,

"If all the raindrops were apples and apricots, oh what a rain it would be..." and instead of "ah-ah-ah..." we changed it to the upper and lower case letter (Aa) we focused on that page and said the sound of that letter.  Caleb's first page was

"If all the raindrops were candy and cantaloupe, oh what a rain it would be..." and then "Cc, Cc, Cc, Cc..."  Then I went through each letter in their name.

Tall Tulips

This was probably a Mailbox idea.  Simple activity, great for fine motor.  The children chose their colors of precut triangles, as many as they wanted, to fold into tulips and glue at the top of the paper.  Then they drew tall stems and wrote Ws at the bottom for leaves. 

Violets in a Vase

Again, most likely an idea from The Mailbox.  The one on the left is obviously an adult made one.  Do I show examples to children? Not usually-especially not with art projects, but in this regard, they needed an idea of what I meant.  So I did and then I put it away.  This is a fine motor/scissors activity.  First they ripped lavender and violet paper, done in a previous session.  Then they cut out the vase and decorated it with Vs.  They showed me where they wanted their violets and how many and I traced a circle for them to help them to keep the paper in one area (in order to actually make a violet).  Then they glued their vase and ripped paper on.  Finally, to complete the project, they took a green crayon and made a stem from the flower to the vase, hard to see that in the right picture.

Here the child sorted the foam circles onto their flower pots.  For a younger child, have only one pot and provide only the colors they need.  For an older child, sort with more colors and then we compare the two pots. 

We talked about

*  similarities/differences

*  how many of each color. 

*  If the colors are in two sections (like the 2 pink centers and 4 pink circles on the flower pot) then we added them together. 

*  They also use prediction.  For example, if the blue flower pot had 5 blue foamies across the top.  How many orange foamies do you think there are on the orange flower pot?  Then, of course, we use the term "equal". 

*  We also talked about odd and even and set the foamies out in a line and counted by twos to see if there was an "odd one out".  There's a lot to do with something that looks so simple! 

Note: I'm not sure where I printed these from.  It's unusual for the website not to be on the pages somewhere!  If anyone knows what site these came from, please let me know so I can provide the link and give it proper ownership.  Thanks!

Mathematics and Preschoolers VII

The terms "more", "less", and "equal" are important mathematical vocabulary. Did you know that you are actually teaching children to analyze when you are comparing sets? Everything we teach our preschoolers is setting the stage for more complex skills. We want children to be able to look at objects/sets and see differences and similarities. We also want them to understand what the terms "more", "less" and "equal" mean.

For the most part, I slip in the question about more/less informally with any type of set comparison activities. It works well for them to predict what set has more or less or if they have the same. Then use 1:1 to compare the two sets. Putting them next to each other in a row.

         Double Sided Counters             Magnetic Two Sided Counters

 

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/        http://www.amazon.com/

These double sided counters are something on my wish list so that I can do more formal more/less activities. I've always had good intentions when I said I'd just spray paint a set of dried beans to make my own 2 sided counters but it always gets pushed down on the priority list. Lakeshore's product is a bit more expensive but I believe the counters are larger, more durable and probably more of them in a set. However, I do like the ones from amazon.com also. They are magnetic so they are less likely to move when we are comparing. However, they seem smaller, thinner and perhaps a little less durable. But might work fine for supervised play.

I do introduce the signs that go along with more and less. The equal (=) sign is usually already introduced as we use it with our addition and subtraction activities. In the next picture you can see the sign I made for introducing the sign. It's a green alligator mouth. They turn it so the alligator eats the largest set. We also used our Penny Toss Mats here to help us create sets of apples (apple theme).



At http://www.squidoo.com/Hands-onLearning they have something very similar but use a deck of cards and a whole alligator. Either way works.


I also use our teddy bear counters and scale to explore with more or less. They predict which set of bears is more/less and then they get an instant visual. We do less with counting because this set is the weighted set. I have used it with other manipulatives that are of the same weight and then we compare and count the sets.


The red and blue covers are removable so that is nice also. It was purchased through http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/, called the Classic Balance Scale with Bears.

Other ideas for More/Less:
* Two Styrofoam bases and fake flowers. Or 2 vases and fake flowers. Children love arranging flowers. In the past we did something to incorporate mathematics into dramatic play (flower shop).
* Save and wash/dry apple seeds or pumpkin seeds and then provide a simple mat with two blackline apples or pumpkins. They can grab a handful of seeds and place one set in one apple/pumpkin and another handful in the other. Then count and add the appropriate sign (<,>,=).
* Any type of manipulatives, as mentioned in past blogs, or snack items can be used for more/less activities. Sometimes it's nice to give them a set, such as a strip of linking cubes, and ask them to make one that is more or less instead of always comparing them.
* Magnetic trains- "I have a train that 3 cars long, can you make one that has more cars?" "Choo-Choo"-drive around the track.
* In water play have two similar containers and use colored water so they can easily see the water line. When they have both containers filled at different levels, slip in the question "which one has more water?"
* The Elefun game is kind of neat for an activity like this. Catch the butterflies in the net and then make two lines to compare who got more and less that round.

http://www.amazon.com/
* Provide a bowlful of pom poms, dice, pair of tweezers or small tongs and an icecube tray. Roll the dice and use the tweezers to put the pom poms in the top row of the icecube tray. Roll the dice again and put another set underneath. Using only two colors (may with to have two bowls) helps to keep it from getting confusing. Compare by sight and also by counting.

Happy learning!