Math

Valentine M&M Graphing

Here is another opportunity to build math skills while having a bit of yummy fun with the small package of Valentine themed M&M’s.

I use the package of candy with Andrew to make graphs.  As I’ve said before, I like to use things that are random because it helps to keep things from getting boring. These small packages are perfect because neither of us know how many of each color will be inside. (There are lots of ways to do this sort of thing without candy (for those of you who don’t want their children eating candy), it just takes a little bit of planning. I will do another post on some fun non-food ways to sort and graph.)

This is such an easy activity to set up (click here to see a detailed post from Winter Graphing which shows step by step how to set up the paper). I begin by taking a sheet of paper and write the title, Valentine M&M Graph in this case.  I underline it and then make my x-axis and y-axis along the bottom and side.  I write the numbers (about the same size as an M&M so they line up) and color words along the side and bottom. Now all we have to do is open the package and complete the graph!

I can use the same questions from the M&M sorting activity with this. I like to print them on index cards so I can reuse them or I type them on the computer, print them and cut them out into question cards. I place them question facing down to make it a bit more fun. I’ve found that he gets really excited about flipping them over to see what they are going to ask, like it’s a big mystery. He is definitely more focused on what the question is asking than if I just verbally asked him. It may seem like a minor thing or an unnecessary step but it has made a huge difference for us because he is actually showing me what he knows instead of squirming away to avoid answering questions “mom” is asking. The power of the written (or printed) word!

Once our graph is done, we take turns flipping over the question cards and answering them.

Questions:

• Which color has the most?
• Which color has the least?
• Do any colors have the same?
• How many ___? (specific color or item)
• Which color is your favorite?
• Do you like the way they taste?

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

The other day was the “Hundredth Day of School” for Andrew and for those of you who don’t know about this, it is a big deal for young children. At the beginning of the school year they begin keeping track of how many days they have been in school. This allows for a very natural introduction and instruction about numbers. They usually use straws and add one per day until they have 10 to bundle into one group of 10.  This continues each day allowing them to count by tens and adding on the ones. They celebrate when they’ve reached the 100th day of school because they get to bundle up 10 groups of 10 to make one group of 100. Very exciting for them!! Children are usually encouraged to find 100 things and bring them to share with their class. This is also a great opportunity to work on grouping 100 items by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s in particular.

Last year Andrew brought in 100 colored puffs (He loves colored puffs almost as much as I do!) and this year he decided to bring in a 100’s chart poster.  He found it in my supplies and squirreled it away to his room. I purchased this chart in order to work on numbers with him by playing a game that is so simple it’s almost funny. I did this game with my kindergarteners and it was a great way to work on number recognition, number order and adding on from a certain number. This could also be played in reverse to work on subtraction. I thought it would be a great extension activity to reinforce at home what he is doing at school.

My Obstacle Course Station Activity:  Race To 100

What you need:

• Hundreds Chart (poster or printout – I’ve attached a link for one at the bottom of this post)

• Dice (one or two depending on your child’s counting skills and/or how fast you want to get to 100)

• Game pieces (These could be game pieces from another game, different coins, anything that fits in the chart’s squares and are different so you can tell whose marker it is.  We’ve even used wine corks with faces drawn on them!)

How to play:

1.  Start both game pieces before the number 1.

2.  Take turns rolling the dice, counting and moving that many spaces.

Say the number you land on to reinforce number and number name.

First one to 100 wins or if you play with Andrew, there are no winners because he gets just as excited to see everyone reach 100 as he is when he gets there.

This is a fun way to work on turn taking while playing with numbers and learning if there are any numbers that stump your child. The more they are exposed to numbers through all modes of learning, visual (chart), auditory (hearing the numbers counted as they move through the chart) and kinesthetic (moving their place marker in order through the chart), the better their understanding will be of how numbers relate to one another. I have used this 100’s chart for other My Obstacle Course stations that I will share in future posts, but until then, Happy Belated 100th Day of School!

(Click here for a link to A to Z Teacher Stuff website which has several PDF hundreds charts, ranging from blank ones for the child to write the numbers in to a complete 100’s chart.)

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

I love months that make it easy for me to create fun, thematic activities and February is one of those months! For this math activity, you have to go no farther than the candy aisle in your grocery or department store. I found these small packages of Valentine M&M’s and had several ideas for how I was going to use them.

M&M Sorting

I love this little package because it has several colors which makes it really easy to sort while also helping with randomness because each package will have different amounts.  I took a sheet of paper, drew some hearts and wrote one color word inside each heart. When the package is opened, we pour the candy out and sort the M&M’s by color, placing them inside of the heart with the correct color word.  Once the candy is sorted, we count and write the amount on a Post-It Note.

I typed and printed some questions to work on math skills (counting and analyzing data), math vocabulary (least, most/greatest, same/equal) and also paying attention to what he’s done in order to answer questions.

Questions:

• Which color has the most? (greatest amount)
• Which color has the least? (least amount)
• Do any colors have the same? (equal amounts)
• Which color is your favorite? Why?
• Do you like the way they taste?

After the activity is done, they can eat their math manipulatives and my guess is that they will look forward to doing this activity again!!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

When I saw on Andrew’s weekly note from his teacher that he was going to be working on counting coins, I got excited, grabbed a cup full of mixed coins and was set.  That is until I remembered that the last time we had done skip counting by fives he struggled a bit.  (I will do a future post on ways to work on skip counting.)

Personal Note: Now, I could have disregarded this and gone ahead with my original plan but I did not want to set him up for failure. I truly believe that it is important to work on skills and concepts where he is and build from there.  When I began to focus on this is when I saw the most growth in him. This also reduces frustration on everyone’s part – his frustration is reduced because he is working on something he is ready for and has a chance to succeed at and my frustration is reduced because he is not resisting me due to his own frustration. I always remind myself that even though an activity we do may not seem to be the most challenging it could be, it can still be a challenge for him. Having gone the route of frustration many times resulting in miserable failure, I will choose building his knowledge, skills and confidence any day! Seems so basic and obvious yet the pressure to close the gap between a child with delays and their peers can often take over. If you can relate to this, take a deep breath and know that only by providing the foundation and starting where your child is in each developmental and academic area, can you help them progress and move forward.

I decided that I was going to use my cup of coins (pennies, nickels and dimes – not ready for quarters yet) but was going to break down the activity and be very direct with what he was doing, what it looked like and what it meant.  In my mind, this begins with the ability to sort the coins (which was yesterday’s post). They have to be able to recognize the difference between the coins first.

Easy Tool: Coin Counting Chart

I had some black construction paper out for another station activity but decided to use it for this instead. I used a gold marker I had gotten with my Christmas card pictures so he could see what I was writing.  (The paper and marker color does not matter.  I have done the same sort of thing with regular white printer paper and a black marker.) I labeled the pages, “Pennies – 1 cent/ $.01” and wrote out as many “penny” amounts as would fit in an organized way on my paper (see photo).

“Nickels – 5 cents/ $.05” and wrote out as many “nickel” amounts as would fit in an organized way on my paper (see photo).

and “Dimes – 10 cents/ $.10” and wrote out as many “dime” amounts as would fit in an organized way on my paper (see photo).

The key here is to remember that you are helping provide them with a foundation of coins and their value.  The coin charts help to give them structure (a place to put the coins) and information they may need when counting the coins.  It is a tool to help build understanding.

My Obstacle Course Station Activity:  Sorting and Counting Coins

My original intention for this station activity was for him to sort the coins and then place them on the sheets.  While we were doing this though, he began sorting them by placing them directly onto the sheets.  Much more efficient!

After the coins were sorted we counted all of the coins separately.  If he got stuck, all he had to do was shift the coin a bit to see the amount written below.

The next step will be to figure out the value of all of the coins but my intention for this particular station activity was to see where Andrew was with his skip counting, primarily 5’s and 10’s. When we begin to count the coins for their combined total value, I will use fewer coins to make sure he is understanding when and why we switch value amounts. I’ll show you some ways to go about this in the next coin counting post!

We will continue this practice and will add quarters and paper money but for now I feel that he is really getting an opportunity to understand coins. Hearing how children really struggle with this concept makes me want to build this skill slowly and steadily.  Turtle steps are worth it if it means gaining a real understanding of something, especially with a concept that tends to challenge children.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

**If you’d like to print them off of your computer, here are some charts I’ve made: Coin Counting Charts – clicking here will take you to another window, just click the words “Coin Counting Charts” and the PDF will open.