Obstacle Course Mom

Egg Tray For Adding/Subtracting/Multiplying/Dividing

Ok, so Easter is done but I have one more idea for how to use something you may have…an egg tray (you could also use an egg carton or ice-cube tray).

I got this bunny shaped Egg Tray at Target last year and thought it would be perfect not only for drying the eggs after they have been colored but they would be a great math organizer for adding and subtracting up to 12. For these, I would use dice, playing cards or flash cards to come up with the numbers to add or subtract. (Previous Post on Easy Math Organizers)

Recently though, my mind has been thinking about introducing multiplication and division to Andrew. He found a “Brain Age” game on his DS and was asking what some of the multiplication and division equations meant. It’s time for me to introduce these concepts to him and as with any new concept, I want to begin by making it very concrete, using items that he can manipulate to help connect the abstract numbers and symbols with what they actually mean.

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Making Groups Of Marshmallows (Introducing Multiplication)

I introduced this to him using dice that went up to 8 and while he did okay with it, the next time I will tweak it and make some flash cards to build understanding of one common factor instead of having it be so random. The flash cards I will make will start with common factor of 1 – 1×1, 2×1, 3×1, 4×1, etc., so that he begins understanding the “groups of” concept. We will build from there perhaps throwing in some previously mastered facts to reinforce his knowledge.

Building Understanding For Multiplication And Division

“Mom, we’re finally learning multiplication so I have to memorize all of these facts by tomorrow!” Ahhh…at first they are so excited, as though they’ve reached an important rite of passage. True, there are some children who are able to do this right away and “get” what the numbers represent without needing it broken down. Others are able to memorize the equations but lack the understanding of what they actually represent. This becomes obvious when story problems become difficult because they don’t quite understand what the question is needing them to do – add, subtract, multiply or divide. Then there are those who cannot seem to memorize them and have no tools to help them figure out what they are supposed to be doing.

I prefer to approach abstract concepts by encouraging everyone to begin with a firm understanding of what the concept means, what it looks like and how to “act it out” with manipulatives. This includes those who get it right away because it’s interesting to see how they approach it through actions. Many times they will bristle at this notion – Why do I have to do this? I already know it!”  This is good practice for working on explaining their methods and showing others about how they see things.

My last few years of teaching, we really emphasized to our students the importance of being able to show what they are doing through numbers, words and pictures (those of you who are familiar with the “Investigations” math series will recognize this.). Using a math organizer along with manipulatives replaces the “picture” making because your child is actually representing the equation with items. Their work IS the picture. This will give you immediate information on where your child is with regards to understanding what the symbols mean.

Building Multiplication Skills:

A multiplication sentence may read 4 x 3 = 12 to you, but when teaching my students, I emphasized that it really means 4 “groups of” 3 equals 12. It also represents 3+3+3+3=12 since multiplication is repeated addition.

Building Division Skills:

The same is true for division. 12/4=3 means 12 divided into 4 groups which gives you 3 in each group. When working on division, an organizer can really help your child grasp this concept. Being able to actually divide a given number into groups that must have the same amount.

Make It Relevant

To do this, I always found it helpful to connect it with food or money. Ex. For 12 divided by 4, I would tell them that they have 12 jelly beans that they have to pass out evenly to their 4 friends. How many jelly beans does each person get? They can do the “one for me, one for you, one for you” method until they have all been passed out, giving each person 3 jelly beans.

Using manipulatives, or items to count, when children are first learning math concepts can help them fully understand what they are doing, allows them to see what it looks like and connect that with the numeral representation of it.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Jelly Bean Sorting

This is the jelly bean variation of a My Obstacle Course Sorting Station Activity that I have posted on before. Here is the link for the one using Colored Marshmallows.

Set Up:

The set up is super simple, requiring only white printer paper, a marker, some jelly beans and a container. (See below about the container I am using.) This is a great way to link color words with colored items and basic skills of sorting according to a certain characteristic, counting and analyzing data.

Questions:

You can use the same question cards used with Jelly Bean Graphing. Click on this link for a PDF file: Jelly Bean Questions.

Add On:

You can also add some cards with the color words on them (or even use something like Candy Land cards or make your own color cards using sticker dots – Just thought of this idea as I was writing so look for a post on this soon!) and they could flip them over two at a time and add those colors together (ex. pink + orange= __. The equation for this based on the completed sort below would be 2+3=5.).

Fun Container:

The seasonal aisle of the grocery store is a great place to find fun, thematic items that can also help build basic academic skills such as this cute M&M container. It is a tin that pulls apart and holds two small packages of M&M candy. Once opened, the candy can be sorted by color, used to make a graph, used to make basic addition equations based on color (ex. green + red = ___ ), or paired with some dice for addition or subtraction practice.

Don’t throw away these little containers just yet! They are perfect for use in future My Obstacle Courses to hold small items for counting, sorting or graphing like coins, jelly beans (like I did in the photo above), buttons, beans, etc.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

I may as well call this “Jelly Bean Math Week” because there are so many ways to use this seasonal item to build a wide variety of math skills. (I’m sure they are around all year, I just associate them with this time of year.) Grab some jelly beans (and a toothbrush) because here I go!

Jelly Bean Graphing

A simple sheet of white printer paper, a marker, a package of jelly beans and a plastic egg are all you need to make a jelly bean graphing station for your child’s My Obstacle Course.

For this station activity, make your graph sheet and place some jelly beans inside the plastic egg. You can choose specific amounts or just pour some in to see what you get. I frequently choose some colors to have the same amounts to work on the concept of “equal” as well as having certain colors be empty for the concept of “Zero.” It is up to you but after doing this sort of thing for a while, you may find yourself becoming more strategic with things like this to use as teaching opportunities.

At the station, your child will open the plastic egg, pour out the jelly beans and sort them into the correct columns by color. When all of the jelly beans have been sorted, talk about what they notice. Click here for a PDF file containing question cards for the jelly beans. As in the other graphing posts I’ve done, I like to cut apart the questions so he can select the question. (Here is a link to print out questions: jellybeanquestions) That said, he is working on writing answers to questions in school so I may modify them a bit so there is room for him to write his answer.

This simple activity paired with some question cards allows you to work on analyzing data. The bag of jelly beans provides enough jelly beans for more of the same or can be used with other activities. Stay tuned because there are more to come!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!