ADDITION POKEY

Addition Pokey
Put 1 finger in. (Hold up finger on right hand.)
Put 1 finger more. (Hold up 1 finger on left hand.)
Shake them altogether (Roll around.)
And then lay them on the floor. (Place on floor or table.)
Add them both together, (Bring hands together.)
And you don’t want to stall.
Now you have 2 in all.

2 fingers…3 fingers…4 fingers…5 fingers

*Do “Addition Pokey” with other facts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry-VVkLKKIE&index=1&list=PL7bsHC8DZJxh3UuXWDyOXZ1c_dGBUdxOA


Hands Up Math
Trace around the children's fingers and cut out. Glue the palms to a sheet of paper. Do not glue the fingers because you want to be able to move them up and down to demonstrate addition and subtraction.

Hint! You might want to make this with one hand for the younger children.

Math Mat
You will need heavy paper cut in a 10" square. (I used a file folder.) Draw a line horizontally down the middle and then divide the top section in half as shown. Children make sets in the upper sections and then bring them together in the bottom. I tell the children the horizontal line in the middle is like the "=" sign. What's on top has to equal what's on the bottom.

MATH SIGNS

A math specialist one told me how important it was to have the children look at the signs when they are doing math. Most children know how to work the problems, but they often forget to look at the sign first. Here’s a little rap to make it more fun.

Stop, look, and think,
Before you add or subtract.
Pay attention to the signs
When you do your math!

Plus sign, plus sign,
What do you say?
Put them together.
Join sets, I say!

Minus sign, minus sign,
What do you say?
Subtract a set.
Take it away!

Equal sign, equal sign,
What is your game?
The amount on either side
Is always the same.

Look at the signs before you begin,
And your answer will always win!

Hint! Here is a tool that can help children solve word problems. Fold a sheet of paper into fourths. Open and fold in half. Cut half way up one creased line as shown. Make a “+” on the right and a “-“ on the left. Lift flaps and write key words for adding and subtracting. For example:

Addition: plus, in all, altogether, how many, sum

Subtraction: less, minus, left, take away, fewer, difference

MATH FACTS Musical Chairs
Place chairs in a circle and PUT A MATH FLASHCARD ON EACH CHAIR.  Play some music for the children to march around. When the music stops they have to identify the ANSWER TO THE EQUATION where they are standing.

*Make the game more difficult by putting several coins for the children to count.


MATH MATS
Math mats are a “hands on” way to give children concrete experiences with addition and subtraction. Trim a file folder to make a 12” square. Draw a line down the middle of the square as shown. Draw a line down the middle of the top section. Explain that the line in the middle is like the equal sign in an equation. What is on the top has to equal (be the same as) what is on the bottom.

Note! Poker chips, small toys, natural items, small erasers, and other objects can be used with the math mat. You can also make smaller math mats from an 8" square.

Addition
Demonstrate how to use counters to make a set in the top left section and a set in the top right section. Count. Pull down the objects into the bottom section and count how many altogether.

Subtraction
Use counters to demonstrate subtraction.

MARVELOUS MAGNETIC LETTERS

Magnetic letters are kind of like comfort food in early childhood. They have been around forever and they can be used in a multitude of ways from preschool to primary grades. They are inexpensive, plentiful, and they are REAL – as opposed to the screen.

Letter Monster

Make a letter monster out of a milk or orange juice jug. Cut an opening in the side of the jug and then make a monster face similar to the one shown with felt and art scraps.

*Feed the monster all the letters you know.
*Feed the monster the letters in your name.
*Feed letter monster all the red letters. Can you name them?
*Feed the monster the letters of your favorite color.
*Choose a letter. Can you write it? Can you draw a picture that starts with that sound?
*Grab a handful of letters. How many words can you make?
*Make sight words with the letters and feed them to the monster.

Can You Find Bottle? 

Fill a large plastic bottle with salt or sand. Insert magnetic letters and shake. Children shake the bottle and try to identify letters.
*Give them a grid with the alphabet letters. They can color in the letters as they find them in the bottle.

Letter Pops 

Glue magnetic letters to jumbo craft sticks. Children can use these to match letters on classroom print. They can also find objects in the room beginning with
that sound.
*Can they find some friends and make a word with their letters?
*Have children hold up letters as you sing alphabet songs.
Hint! E6000 is the BEST glue for these projects. You can find it at any of the big box stores. Make sure you use it at home because it is toxic and should not be around children.

Play Dough 

Put magnetic letters in a center with play dough. Children can make “pancakes” and then press the letters on them.
*Make sight words and press them in the play dough.

Sand Box Treasure - Hide magnetic letters in your sand table. Children can take a magnet and try to identify letters they “attract.”
*Can they make the sound? Can they think of a word that starts with that sound? Can they write a word that starts with that sound?

Letter Password - Place several letters you are working on around your door frame. As children leave the room, ask them to touch a particular letter. (You could also ask them to touch the letter they hear at the beginning of particular word.)

Letter Match Up - Create a class alphabet book by having children draw pictures for each letter. Children find magnetic letters and match them up in the alphabet book.

Shadow Letters - Place letters on a copy machine. Have children match up real letters with their shadows.

Letter Hunt- Hide letters in the classroom. Children will love to go on a “letter hunt.” Can they identify the letters they find?
Can they make a word with the letters they find?

Touch and Tell - Place a magnetic letter in a sock. Can children reach in the sock and identify the letter by feeling it?

Building Words - Demonstrate how to build words with magnetic letters using a document camera.

Alphabet Soup - Place magnetic letters in a mixing bowl. Children take a big spoon and scoop out some letters. How many words can they make with their letters? Ask the children to write the words they can make.

Letter Tin – Place magnetic letters inside a cookie tin. Make three lines with a permanent marker on the inside of the lid. As you call out sounds children place the letters on the lines to make CVC words.
Hint! Place in a center for children to make and write word families.

Letter Play - Let children play with magnetic letters on a cookie sheet or file cabinet.

STEM WITH BLOCK PLAY

Blocks provide hands-on experiences where children can develop math concepts as they play. Take a look at all these standards you can reinforce with blocks.

Sorting
Can they sort like blocks together? Can they regroup the blocks by another attribute?

Numerical Order
Write numerals 0-10 on 2 ½” x 5” pieces of paper and attach to blocks. Can they put the blocks in order?

Sets and Numerals
Write numerals, number words, and sets on blocks for children to match.




Roll and Stack
Children take one or two dice and roll. They select that number of blocks and stack them as tall as they can.

Counting
How many blocks can you stack? Can you count that high?

Math Signs
Write inequality signs, =, +, and – on pieces of paper and attach to blocks. Children can build equations and practice addition and subtraction with the numeral blocks and signs.




Liquid Measurement
Write “cup” on two square blocks. Write “pint” on a rectangular block. How many cups in a pint?

Fractions
What would happen if you cut the square block in half? What would happen if you cut the rectangular block in half? How many ways can you make the square block? Rectangular block?

Measure Up
Children lay on the floor as friends take unit blocks and measure how many blocks long they are. Use different size blocks and compare.

Graphing – Have children draw their faces on 2 ½”” squares. Tape to blocks. Use for comparing and graphing.

For example: You could have a picture of a bus, feet, and a car. Children place their block under the way they travel to school. Which one is more? Less? How can we tell for sure?


Block Book
Cut small shapes out of construction paper to represent the different unit blocks. Glue these to a file folder to make structures similar to the ones shown. Hole punch to create a book. Children look at the drawings and then try to duplicate them with blocks.

TOY CAR MATH

Talk about playful and challenging! Take a look at all these things you can do with toy cars. You can pick them up at garage sales or buy them for $1 or less at a dollar store. Use these cars for centers, games, and other activities in your classroom.

What? toy cars, sticky dots, marker

How? Put sticky dots on the cars and number them 1-10. Fasten your seatbelt and here we go!

Numerical Order
Write numerals on sticky dots and place them on the cars. Can children arrange them in order?



Place Value
Use cars for tens and ones.

Sets and Numbers
Make a parking lot with different sets of dots in each space. Children match up numbers on the cars with the correct space.




Roll and Add
Write numerals 1-12 on a long strip of paper. Children roll two dice, add up the numbers, and then move their car to the correct space.

Sorting
Ask children to sort the cars. What was their sorting rule? Can they sort them another way?

Letters
Write lower letters on sticky dots and put them on the cars. Make paper houses with uppercase letters. Can they match the cars with the houses?




Phonological Awareness
Make a parking lot with three spaces. As you say a word children park the car according to where they hear the sound (beginning, middle, end) of the word.

MAGNETIC NUMBERS

What classroom doesn't have magnetic numbers? 

They are a plentiful, multi-sensory tool to develop number concepts!

You can hide them, sort them, touch them, and take a look...

Numerical Order
Put numbers in order 0, 1, 2, 3…


Tens and Ones
How many tens? How many ones?
Can you make 56?




Fact Families
Give children two addends and the sum and have them make and write the
facts.

More? Less? Equal?
Place numbers in a bag. Children pull out two numbers. Which is more?
Which is less? Or, are they equal?


Pick a Number
Children choose a number from a bag and then make a set to equal that amount.

*Let children choose a number and then lead the class in doing that number of jumping jacks, toe touches, or other exercises.


What’s the Answer? 

Write addition and subtraction facts on a file folder. Children answer with a
magnetic number.




Daily Number
Put magnetic numbers in a bag. Each day select two from the bag and put
them together on the board. What’s the number? Count forwards. Count
backwards. How many tens? How many ones?


Number Sticks
Glue shapes and numerals to jumbo craft sticks. Children can match these up to shapes and numerals in the classroom. They can also use these as you count, tell number stories, or sing songs.

MATH OFFICE AND MATH BOX

OWNERSHIP of materials is important to elementary children, and this math office is the perfect tool to give them their own space. Tape two file folders together for each child. Glue copies of math concepts you are working on to the folders. For example, a hundreds chart, days of the week, months of the year, shapes, and so forth. Use a pipe cleaner and pony beads to make an abacus you can attach at the top.

Children can set these up on their table or desk when it's time for math to help them focus.





Math Box
Create a special math box for each child that they can use if they finish their work early. Encourage them to make up their own games as they explore with the materials.
*Thanks to Sue Dier for sharing this idea with me.

Each child will need their own container (pencil box, bag, diaper wipe box, etc.) to make their math box.
Put math manipulatives similar to the ones below in the boxes:

Dice

Math Cards (1-10 or 10-20)

Math fans 
Deck of cards
Rekenrek
Counting items with a small cup
Set of tangrams
Dot cards
Small Calendars
Number Path (Use an index card and cut a strip out so the kids can just see one number at a time. What’s one more, one less, etc.?)

Hint! Some of these materials can be download free off the internet. The parents will need to send in other items. Most can be found at a dollar store.

PLAY DOUGH DAY

PLAYING MAKES YOU SMARTER! 

So I guess that means playing with play dough makes kids smarter!

September 16th is National Play Dough Day, but I think every day should be a play dough day in early childhood. Play dough is multi-sensory, engaging, creative, and open-ended. Play dough can be a tool just like a worksheet, video game, or PPT. Play dough also develops small motor skills which help children write. Here are just a few ways to integrate play dough into centers and independent learning in your classroom.
Comprehension
Let children make their favorite character and use it to retell a story.

Draw a scene from a story and add details with play dough.

Make something that you learned from the book.

Phonics
Rhymes – Make two objects that rhyme.



Sounds – Make objects that start with a consonant, blend, or diagraph you are working on.
Vowels- Make an object for a long vowel sound and short vowel sound.


Writing
Make something you like (or don’t like) and write about it.

Make something from a book you have read and write about it.

Make letter plates by writing letters with a permanent marker on plastic plates. Children roll play dough and make the letters on top.

Make letters (or words) using a bubble font. Children roll dough and fill in.


Make something that is a noun. How can you make it plural?

Math
Make objects that match numbers.

Make a set and then decompose it.

Demonstrate more, less, and equal.


Make lines, curves, and shapes.

Science and Social Studies
Reinforce information from a science or social studies unit with play dough. Children could make animals from a habitat, parts of a flower, tools of community helpers, healthy foods…endless possibilities!

Silly Putty
Here’s another idea a second grade teacher shared for keeping those fingers busy! She asks each parent to provide a container of silly putty that the children keep in their pencil box. If they finish their work early, they use the silly putty to create something that relates to a reading skill, math concept, science unit, etc.

SHIP SHAPE

How about some ideas for geometry? You can use these activities with young children or school age by adapting the shapes. You might even “spy” some of your state standards here!!!

The Shape Song (Tune: "I'm a Little Teapot")

Click to view Shape Song video

I am momma circle round like a pie. (Hands over head in a circle.)
I’m baby triangle three sides have I. (Use 3 fingers to make a triangle.)
I am papa square my sides are four. (Draw a square in the air.)
I’m cousin rectangle shaped like a door. (Draw a rectangle in the air and then knock.)

I am brother oval shaped like a zero. (Make oval with arms over head.)
I’m sister diamond with a sparkle and a glow. (Touch thumbs and index fingers and extend.)
We are the shapes that you all know. (Make circles with index fingers and thumbs and
Look for us wherever you go. place around your eyes like glasses.)

Note! Explain that “rhombus” is the correct term for the diamond shape. Sing the song calling sister a “rhombus” instead of a “diamond.”

*Have children draw shapes in the air with elbows, feet, noses, and other body parts.

*Place foam shapes or 3-dimensional shapes in a bottle filled with sand or salt. Children spin it around and try to identify the shapes. Can they draw the different shapes that they spy?

Body Shapes
Divide children into small groups and challenge them to lay on the floor and make various shapes with their bodies. How many friends will it take to make a triangle? A square? A pentagon? Take pictures and make a book.

*Make spyglasses for “spying” shapes by wrapping construction paper around paper towel rolls.

*Cut geometric shapes out of construction paper and let children use them to make a collage. Can they combine simple shapes to make larger shapes?

*Cut sponges into geometric shapes and have children dip them in paint and stamp on paper.

*Download highway shapes (free on the internet).  Children can drive around these with toy cars or they can roll play dough and place it on the shapes.

*Go on a walk and look for shapes in your school and on the playground.

Shape Book
Fold two sheets of paper in half and staple. Children decorate the front of their book with shapes. Next, they walk around the room and draw shapes that they see. Can they label the shapes?
*This would be a good homework activity to help children be more aware of the shapes around their home.

Play Dough Book
Draw lines, curves, and geometric shapes with a marker on file folders. Laminate. Bind file folders with rings to make a book. Children roll play dough and place it on top of the shapes.

Bendables
Offer children pipe cleaners, Wikki stix, etc. and challenge them to make various shapes with the items.

Pretzel Shapes
Give children pretzel sticks and pretzel twists and challenge them to make geometric shapes. How many pretzel sticks will you need to make a hexagon? How many pretzel sticks will you need to make a triangle?

*Challenge them to make letters with the pretzels. This is fun to do with a partner as they take turns making letters and identifying them.