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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Math Update

Hello!

My 2016 resolution, starting today, will be to take more pictures than I did during the first semester. For some reason I feel like I have to have pictures to go with all of my blog posts, and since I don't have any recent photos, I feel like it's been hard to update.  I'm going to get over it!  :)

Here's what we've been up to in math, and I'm sharing what you and your child can do at home, if so inclined.

Counting
We love counting in kindergarten!  We count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s and we count backwards by 1s as well.  I'm so happy with our progress so far with counting, and I have to think that there are lots of families working on counting at home.  Thank you!  It's paying off!  Here are some videos we like to use in class to help get us moving and counting at the same time.  When my own boys were younger, I'd play these videos at home to get the wiggles out on these cold, winter days.






Number Sense
We've been doing lots of things to help us develop a strong number sense.  One of the games we have played this week is called Top-It.  It's like the card game War that you might have played when you were younger.  What I love about Top-It is that players practice both number identification and they decide which number is greater.  We're using the terms greater than and less than when playing Top-It.  It's easy to play at home, too!  You can use a deck of cards; just remove the face cards.  For students who could practice with larger numbers, write larger numbers on index cards and play the game.  Which is bigger:  36 or 63?  On days where it's harder to get outside, this game might be a fun way to pass the time and your child is practicing number sense at the same time.  

Another game we like to play is called Guess My Number.  Here's how you play:  Say "I'm thinking of a number that is a teen number with a 5 in it."  Your child should guess 15.  Another example:  "How many legs does an insect have?"  6!  "Now add ten to that number."  16!  "I'm thinking of a number with a 2 and a 7."  27!  "What other number has a 2 and a 7?"  72!

Measurement
We work with a calendar every day in math.  We've learned that calendars are a way to measure time. We work with knowing all of the days of the week and the months of the year, in order.  We practice knowing which day is yesterday and what day tomorrow will be.  In addition, we talk about what happens in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening.  When my children were younger we would talk in the car about what day is today, what was yesterday, etc.  We sequenced our events of the day, too.  The measurement of time can be tricky for kindergarten students, so any practice they can do helps solidify their understanding of time.  In upcoming weeks we'll be talking about how clocks measure time.  If you want to get a jump start on it, we'll be learning about telling time at the hour and half-hour.

There's more coming up with measurement, so stay tuned!

Money
Learning the different coins can be tricky for many kindergarteners.  We've been talking about the coins casually and observing their attributes.  We'll get into more specifics soon, but in the meantime, having your child sort coins at home will help him or her recognize the differences between the coins much more quickly.  Here are some videos we like to watch, too:





Look for more math updates to come soon!

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