Fun with Addition!

While I'm working on my April Math & Literacy Centers (should be finished this weekend), I decided I should post something in the meantime! We just started learning addition this week. Here are some fun activities we've done so far. All of them include a literature tie-in.

Acting Out Addition
Read-Aloud: Monster Math Picnic. As I read, we counted the monsters on each page. After reading, I had the children act out addition problems. For example, there were 3 red monsters and 1 green monster at the park. The children acted it out and the class determined how many "monsters" there were in all. I wrote the equations on the board and we briefly discussed what plus and equals mean. Sorry I don't have any pictures of this :(

Modeling Addition
Read-Aloud: The Mission of Addition. We discussed new vocabulary and used our bodies to act it out (use arms to make plus and equals signs, swing arms around in a big circle to show "how many in all," hold up two fingers on each hand and slide them together for "add"). I showed the children how to model addition stories using bears and how to write an equation. Then I gave each child bear counters and a work mat. I told addition stories for them to solve. For example, 2 bears were at the park, then 3 more bears came. How many bears were there in all? The children used bears and story mats to solve the problems, then wrote the addition sentences on their white boards. I got the story mats from Kindergarten Crayons. I printed it double-sided so there's a bedroom on one side and a playground on the other. I'm also going to make some task cards so the kids can do this independently at a math center.

Addition Stories
Read-Aloud: Animals on Board. As we read, we added up the animals on each page. After reading, we created addition stories of our own. First, I drew a few examples on chart paper and had students help me to tell the stories. Children then volunteered to write out the addition sentences. Then, they created their own addition stories and we compiled them into a class book.

Domino Addition
Read-Aloud: Domino Addition. I first modeled how to do the activity by choosing a domino, drawing the dots, and then adding them and writing the equation. Finally, each child got a recording sheet and some dominoes to work with. Here is my Domino Addition Sheet. I'm going to be adding this to my math centers as well.

Next week, I'm planning to have the kids model addition using colored goldfish crackers and then drawing pictures to match. We're also going to do piggy bank addition using pennies. Pictures coming soon!

Click the images to see the books we used for these lessons:

     

    

March Math & Literacy Centers

I've finally finished my March Math & Literacy Centers. And the best part...they're all available for free! Yay! I might be adding a couple more, so check back soon!!

Click the pictures to download! Enjoy :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had such a Seuss-tacular week! The kids fell totally in love with Dr. Seuss...they were just mesmerized by his stories! Here are some of the fun activities we did for Dr. Seuss week :)

Mulberry Monday
We read "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street." Then we used our imaginations to create our own version of the book, entitled "And to Think That I Saw It on Hina Avenue" (the name of our school's street).

Top Hat Tuesday
We read "Cat in the Hat" and created these cute paper plate Cat in the Hats for a bulletin board display. Then we made our very own hats to wear! Both crafts used this Hat Template.

Would You, Could You Wednesday
We read "Green Eggs and Ham" and tasted some green scrambled eggs. Then we made a graph of whether we liked the green eggs (I know there are 15 eggs in the yes column...one of our eggs went missing before I took this).

Bartholomew Thursday
We read "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" and made green oobleck! Then we played with and explored the oobleck (I did this in a small group to minimize the mess). We drew a picture of the oobleck and wrote describing words. Click to download my Observation Sheet.

Fox in Socks Friday
Today, the children wore silly socks (striped, polka dots, mismatched, etc). We read "Fox in Socks" and then created a graph of our socks to answer the question, "Are you wearing silly socks today?" Since we're on Maui, most of the kids wear "slippers" (flip flops) to school, so not very many ended up wearing silly socks...but we still got some graphing in!

Next week, we will graph our favorite Dr. Seuss books in a picture graph. All this graphing came just in time...our math curriculum just happens to cover graphing this week! What did you do for Dr. Seuss week? I'd love to hear your ideas!