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: