Frogs on a Log

Students learn their first basic addition facts as they make the connection between counting and finding one more than a number. Students will manipulate frogs on a number line to represent adding 1 to a number.

How Many Letters Are in Your Name?

Students review numbers 1 to 10 by counting the number of letters in their names and their classmates' names. They also write and order numbers. The class compiles students' finished product in a class book.

Spiders Have 8 Legs

Students represent number eight in writing and with a variety of manipulatives. They will construct sets of 8 by cutting 8 strips of paper and counting 8 pretzel sticks that represent spider legs. They will also use 8 plastic spiders to show 8 with a ten frame and count on from a given number to make 8.

Squares are Special Rectangles

Students compare and sort rectangles and special rectangles called squares learning to distinguish between the two using their attributes. They will use manipulatives to form squares and rectangles. They will also identify and take pictures of squares and rectangles around school and make a class book.

We're Going on a Length Measurement Hunt

Go on an exciting measurement hunt around the classroom in search of items that are longer than, shorter than, and the same size as their piece of yarn. Pairs of students compare the length of their piece of yarn to objects around the classroom. They find and record at least one object that is longer than, one that is shorter than, and one that is the same size as their piece of yarn.

Primary Economics

In this lesson, students will play the role of a consumer as they learn how to use different combinations of coins to make money amounts up to 25 cents. Students will earn money and save it in their piggy banks until they have the exact amount to purchase an item of their choice.

Seeing Double

In this lesson, students encounter the magical effect of reflection as they use a mirror to visually experience the concept of doubling quantities. This experience focuses student’s attention to using doubles as a strategy to make number operations easier, specifically addition. Literature is used as an introduction to provide a connection and motivation, a game is used for discovery and practice, and writing is used as closure to this lesson.

Tallies, Ten Frames, and Baseball Games

Your home team can set the stage for students to make math connections. Students will record wins and losses in different formats to discover connections between many of the concepts taught earlier in the year. This lesson will provide daily and weekly practice with patterns, addition and subtraction equations, number models and math communication.

Rubber Ducky, Where Are You?

Students search for hidden ducks in the classroom without collecting them and design their own method for keeping track of what they find. Discussion follows to compare methods used (tallies, numbers, dots, etc.) It would be fun to use this in the spring as an alternative to an egg hunt.

Chip Trading: Practicing Single-Digit Addition with Colored Chips Representing Ones, Tens, and Hundreds

This kinesthetic lesson involves using models to practice regrouping and to reinforce place value understanding. Students work together to play games involving bases 10 and 5. Students will also interpret models as numbers.