Finding Maths Learning in the strangest places

I was at MacDonalds in the weekend with my children and as we sat and ate one of my children looked down at the tray sheet and saw a picture of a bend chip on it. He said, 'I wonder if my chip is as long as that one?' He then proceeded to lay his chip on top of the other chip to check the difference in size. What happened then was a competition between all of us to select chips that we thought would match the size of the chip picture. This involved us making estimates (or guesstimates! which are educated guesses) about the length of the chips.

Who knew Maccas could be so educational!

Cooking up a pictograph

We have had lots of children interested in cooking so over the past few weeks we have been making and trying different foods and flavours from cultures other than ours. We made korma curry which is a mild coconut flavoured curry. We cooked rice and each child had a sample before coming back for a larger helping if they enjoyed the taste. At mat time we had a discussion about who enjoyed the korma curry, who didn't and who didn't even try it. We decided to record our findings using a pictogram. After we made our graph we 'read' it using comparative mathematic language such as more, most, less, same. We counted and we asked questions such as how many?, how many more than, how many less than, did (child's name) like the korma? Our young friend wanted to know if he was as tall as the graph and this also initiated another mathematical investigation from the children.

Numbers are everywhere

Numbers are everywhere so let your child use their knowledge to recognize numbers in practical ways.

e.g. Can you find me a birthday card for Jo. She will be 6. (10/10 your child will find the right card)

e.g. What page is it that shows the wolf blowing down the straw house?

e.g. Which numbers on the phone are nanny's?

How many can you do?

Have fun with your child. Challenge them....

"How many jumps (or any other activity) can you do?"

Get your child to count each jump.

Why not challenge him or her to a jump off...who can jump the most?

Recognizing zero

To extend your child's thinking about numbers include zero (0) in your counting sequences when counting forward and backwards.

e.g. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4...

e.g. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0


Talk about zero meaning none or nothing

Counting on

As mentioned in previous postings number rhymes, songs, stories and games are a great way for children to become familiar with saying and using numbers in fun and meaningful ways. When children are quite competent counting to ten (and then later to twenty) try adding a bit more challenge by starting counting at a number other than 1.

e.g. 5, 6, 7, 8...

Colours

Encourage your child to learn their colours. You can support this by talking about the colour of things e.g. The grass is green....The black dog is eating....You are wearing your red t shirt.

Asking your child to get things for you using colour clues is a fun way to learn the colours e.g. Can you get Daddy the black hammer...Where is mummy's green sock?...Pass me the red sauce...

Have fun with colours by putting cellophane on windows at home or making cellophane mobiles that hang at the child's sight level. Make different cellophane coloured glasses or binoculars from old cardboard tubes from gladwrap/tinfoil. Crystals hanging in windows make wonderful colour patterns that can be discussed. After rain look for rainbows and identify the colours together.

Writing numbers

Give your child opportunities to write numbers. At kindergarten we have charts with the numbers to 20. The tamariki (children) enjoy writing these numbers. It is great practice for them in forming the numbers. Don't be alarmed if their formation is not accurate. Remember small children are still developing their coordination skills and fine motor skills require longer to develop with each child developing these at different rates.

Ideas:

• Old calendars are great for children to use.
  
• Letter box numbers are fun to trace around
• Try tracing number stencils.
• Make numbers in the sand at the beach (start with child's age, house number etc)
• Put large numbers on your child's bedroom wall (or get number frieze)
• Buy number magnets for your child to play with (name them for child then let them)
• Buy or borrow from library, number puzzles

Remember to count with your child regularly so they become familiar with the number names and the order of the numbers. Start counting forwards firstly 1-5, then when that's learned try counting 1-10, then 1-20. Once the forward counting is mastered count backwards following similar pattern with 5-1, 10-1, 20-1.

Don't forget to count in your native tongue too if English is not your first language.

Number rhymes and songs

Encourage your child to count through singing songs and chanting rhymes. Do the actions and count on those fingers and toes too to help reinforce the concepts.

Rhymes/songs:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a fish alive (counting to ten)

Ten little Indian boys (teaches counting to ten and back from ten too)

10 fat sausages sizzling in the pan (concept of subtraction)

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Five little ducks went out one day

Ten in the bed

Five little peas

Two little Dickie Birds sitting on the wall

Ten green bottles sitting on the wall and if one green bottle should accidently fall...

Maori numbers 1-10

1 tahi

2 rua

3 toru

4 wha

5 rima

6 ono

7 whitu

8 waru

9 iwa


10 tekau

Pick up sticks and dominoes

This evening I spent half and hour playing dominoes and pick up sticks with my 5 year old daughter, Bronya. What fun we had! And what a great opportunity for using some of Bronny's mathematical skills and knowledge. Playing dominoes she was able to recognize number patterns, count, compare numbers (using language like same, more, less....and realizing more means I WIN!) and make patterns (its amazing what you can make with dominoes while still sticking to the rules!). The pick up sticks involved making choices, having strategies to solve problems, counting and applying rules related to balance and points of contact (lines, intersections, weight, perspectives). Fascinating watching children apply what they know, listening to their self talk and making assumptions about what we think they are thinking when they are doing rather than saying!

Games offer a wonderful opportunity to teach mathematical skills as these old photos of my children show.

Jo

Past Numeracy and Literacy Newsletters for your reference

Snap!

Bronya, my nearly 5 year old (9 weeks to go!), pulled out her cards today and I was invited to play a game of SNAP!. Such a simple game but loads of fun and laughter always abounds with it I've found. Anyway I got to thinking about the mathematical value in playing this game for young children. I came up with the following list of ways children's mathematical skills are developed and have identified the mathematical ideas that emerge from these:

# distributing cards evenly between players when they deal (sharing evenly is the basis of division)

# turning over one card at a time and turn-taking in a specific order which is repetitive (counting, ordinal numbers (i.e 1st, 2nd, 3rd,...),patterns)

# doing lots of comparing of things and seeing if they match with the next card (same, different, 1 to 1 correspondence/matching). Our cards were picture cards but playing with numbered cards develops number recognition and children can check by counting hearts, clubs and so on.

# counting pairs of cards won at end of game and comparing all players totals to determine winners (order by ranking, counting, cardinal number (how many in set, developing and using comparative language (such as more, less, the same, big, bigger, biggest amount)).

# Of course we can't forget timing! That's a biggy in this game and I'm needing to speed up my reflexes now Bronny has got the hang of the game!


Cards are an excellent way to reinforce numbers and number operations (+, -, multiplication, division)(particularly for your school aged children). I frequently used cards in my junior and senior primary school classes as a fun way to support learning. The children love it and its even more fun when an adult looses to them for some unknown reason?!! Hee! Hee!

Mathematical Learning

Children are constantly learning about mathematical ideas as they handle everyday objects and take part in the daily activities of life.

At kindergarten children meet all sorts of maths as they play with certain equipment and in certain areas.Here are some of the maths ideas they are learning and being exposed to on a daily basis:

Puzzles: Matching, fitting things together, space, shape, size, patterns, parts and whole concept, developing strategies to problem solve

Family Corner: sharing(division and fractions), counting, one to one matching, colours, shape, sizes, fitting into spaces, volume, capacity, guesses (estimating quantities, numbers of things), odds of things happening,classifying, sorting, comparing,weight, height, length, time, money

Family Corner/mat-times/most activities: sharing out evenly amongst a group, counting, numeration, values of numbers, constancy of numbers (conservation), comparing amounts/numbers,one to one matching/correspondence

Outside environment (running, climbing, sliding activities): space, height, time, speed, counting, length

Blocks: measuring, size, shape, balance, spacing, counting, classifying/sorting into like groups

Carpentry: measuring, size, shape, fitting things together, comparison of size, one to one matching

Baking: measuring, temperature, following directions, shape, size, spacing, counting, sharing (division/fractions)