Tally Marks, Patterns, Counting by 2's and more....

In math, the children have been learning about tally marks.  They have learned how to set up their craft sticks in tally form, exploring different groups, and adding 1 at time until they have reached 10.  In addition, tally cards have been "flashed" (shown quickly) and the children are asked to build what they saw on the card.

We have also practiced and matched ten-frame cards, tally cards, and number cards along with playing a bingo game using the ten-frame cards and the tally cards.  This was a great way for the children to continue to practice recognizing a number of objects within 10.

We have also had opportunities for the children to explore shapes and patterns.  We created paper quilt squares to make a quilt in an ABAB pattern.  Listen to the Voicethread below to hear what some noticed about the quilt
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This week, the children were introduced to the concepts of doubles and even numbers through exploration of bicycle wheels.  The children created a double ten-frame with a partner, and then built different numbers of bicycle wheels, adding two at a time until we reached 20.  Then, we counted to 20 by 2's.  Ask your child to count by 2's.

With the the help of the children, we created a bike chart.  With this chart, the children shared what they noticed.  This is what they noticed: "Looks like stairs.", "It's a growing pattern.",  "It goes 1, then 2, then 3...", "You keep adding 1 more.", "There are 21 bikes."

We also discussed the pairs of wheels then we determined the number of wheels in each row.

Below are a few new math stations that the children have been exploring.

Which Bug Will Win?

In this game, the children spin a spinner and mark an X in the box in the column above the bug that's been spun.  They continue to spin the spinner and record the bug that was spun until one column is full.

Pattern Block Puzzles

In this activity, the children choose one of the Pattern Block Puzzle sheets.  Then, they use the pattern blocks to find ways to cover their design in three different ways.

Grab Bag Doubles

In this partner game, the children take turns grabbing a handful of Unifix cubes from a bag.  The children counts them out and arranges them in pairs, and determines if they have a double or not.  If the children get a double on their turn, they get a point.  The first person to 5 points (or 5 tally marks), wins the game.