Kindergarten, Math, Week 21

Monday we worked on Estimating Length

• Game: Is It? from Games for Math -- this game will help your child learn to use a ruler and develop firm notion about centimeters and/or inches.
• You'll Need: a simple ruler, paper, pencil
• Make a simple ruler using a piece of card stock. Mark only the centimeters (or inches). It does not need to be long, 10 centimeters or 6 inches is good to start with. You can number the centimeters/inches, or leave the numbers off and let your child count the distances they are measuring.
• Rules: Take turns asking "Is It?" questions
• Ideas:
• Your child uses the ruler to draw a line, then puts the ruler in her lap and asks you, "How long is it?" You estimate then she measures it for you to see if you were right.
• "Without looking at the ruler, draw a line that is 6 cm long." "Is it 6cm?"
• "Find something in the room that is 15 cm long." "Is it 15 cm?"
• Being right in this game is almost impossible. Your child is doing terrific when they are almost right.

Tuesday we played with Number Patterns

• Game: Spin a Number from Games for Math -- in this game your child learns that a five in the ones place means 5 and a five in the tens place means 50.
• You'll Need: a spinner with spaces numbered 1 through 6, scorecards, pencil
• Make paper scorecards (scrap paper is fine) for you and your child with two dashes side by side. The dash on the left represents the tens place. The dash on the right is the ones place.
• Rules: The first player flicks the spinner and jots down the number (but not on one of the dashes) so it isn't forgotten. Then they flick the spinner again. Then the player decides which number to put in the tens place and which in the ones place to make the biggest number. Then the second player takes their turn. The person with the largest number wins.
• Variations:
• Players have to decide whether to put their first number in the ones or tens place before spinning the second number.
• Add a hundreds dash.
• The player with the smallest number wins.

Wednesday we worked on Place Value

• Game: Bag of Marbles from Games for Math -- this is another game that will teach your child that five in the ones place means 5 and five in the tens place means 50.
• You'll Need: paper lunch bag, 9 blue marbles, 9 red marbles, scorecards, pencil, bowl
• Make paper scorecards (scrap paper is fine) for you and your child with two dashes side by side. The dash on the left represents the tens place. The dash on the right is the ones place.
• You can use other colors of marbles, or you can use bingo markers, squares of construction paper, etc.
• Rules: Put the marbles in the paper bag. The blue marbles represent the tens, the red marbles represent the ones. Player #1, without looking, takes 10 marbles out of the bag and puts them in the bowl (to keep them from rolling around the table). Player #1 counts the blue marbles and writes that number in the tens place on his scorecard; then counts the red marbles and writes that number in the ones place on his scorecard. Return all the marbles to the bag. Then Player #2 takes his turn. The winner is the player with the largest number.
• Variation: Add another color and a hundreds dash.

Thursday we made a Pictograph

• I took a Nature Friend magazine that featured birds and butterflies.
• K. decided on a symbol for butterflies and another for birds.
• I wrote the key (1 butterfly = ) at the bottom of the sheet.
• We began looking through the magazine, page by page. Each time she saw a bird or butterfly she drew another symbol in the appropriate row.
• About the 4th page of the magazine, K. decided she wanted to count the caterpillars and bees, also. So we added those symbols to our key.
• When we finished looking through the magazine, I asked questions about the graph.
• Remember, your child will be working with graphs for many more years, and doesn't need to understand everything about them in kindergarten.

Friday we reviewed Counting

• Game: Fill the Spoon from Games for Math
• You'll Need: a spoon (we used a soup spoon -- the larger the spoon the higher you'll count), beans
• Rules: Take a spoon and fill it with beans. Don't scoop the beans, but carefully put them one at a time on the spoon. As soon as one falls off, you must stop and count the beans. Record the number. The player with the highest number wins.