I am in the middle of testing my kids in Math. And I have tried hard to prepare them for this. They have to be expert counters. They have to be able to imagine that everyone in their class (including the teacher) is having hot chocolate and each person needs 3 marshmallows in their cup. The marshmallows come in bags of 90 and they cost $2.00. So, of course, I did a money unit prior to dealing out this mega problem test cause they need to determine how many bags they’re gonna need after all that counting and how much it will cost. And I gave them as many related problems as I could to get them calculating. The day of the test, I finally decided that we would all just write on the floor. I knew it would help. I had done it a few years back with a kid who had trouble counting. So, in our class there are 22 kids plus the teacher -23, they drew 23 circles right on the floor and put the cubes in them.
A bit unorthodox I realize, but sometimes the learning just has to be hands on, nitty gritty, down on the floor. Plus I know from experience the marker will eventually fade. But, it’s amazing how much easier it is to count this way, as opposed to drawing marshmallows on a paper. Plus it’s fun, plus we actually ate marshmallows after. I always like my kids to have cubes at hand, ready if they need them for counting, patterning, etc…and I finally found a practical way to store their cubes. These are old Excel gum containers. The cubes fit in perfectly and they are so easy for little hands to carry around.
It’s the 100th day of school for us on Tuesday, so we’ll be doing a lot of counting then. Here’s a quick word search if you can use it. Just click right on it to download.
Since Valentine’s Day follows so quickly after the 100th Day, I wanted to be ready, so I have a cute Freebie for ya. Hope you can use it, it’s got a little Math practice with addends and tens, some letter writing and sound sorting too. Just click and GO!
February 9, 2014 @ 2:40 am
You have great ideas! I love the gum containers to be used to hold small things. Genius!
Thanks for a fun read tonight.
Patty
Second In Line