1.G Grandfather Tang's Story

Alignments to Content Standards: 1.G.A.2

Student View

Task

Materials

• A copy of Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert
• One set of tangrams for each student (see note in commentary)
• A set of tangrams for the teacher (magnetic for the whiteboard or colored to use on a document projector)
• Character worksheet
• Crayons

Actions

• The teacher reads Grandfather Tang's Story to the class. As the teacher comes to each character in the story, note the picture of the animal that is an outline of a shape that can be made with tangrams. Students may need to spend some time looking to see how these outlines represent the animals since they are somewhat abstract. Ask the students if they see familiar shapes as components of the animal outlines--for example, the tail of the fox is a trapezoid and the wings of the hawk are triangles.
• After the class has read the story, the students choose animals from the story to make with the tangrams. The worksheet shows the tangram animals, and when they have made an animal, they color the corresponding shape on the worksheet.
• The teacher can demonstrate for students how to turn and place the tangram shapes as needed to support the students.
• After the students have worked on making 2 or more animals from the book, they can make their own animals.

IM Commentary

The purpose of this task is for students to compose two-dimensional shapes to create a composite shape using the 7 tangram pieces. It is essential that the language the teacher uses during the task is precise to support students' academic vocabulary development. For example, "turn the square so one side is lined up with the shorter side of the rhombus to create the tail of the squirrel."

Trying to make the animals without the internal lines is very challenging, so the worksheet shows how the pieces are composed for each animal. This helps students see the shapes both as a single figure (consisting of the outline and a single region filled inside it) and as a composite shape that can be decomposed into smaller shapes. If the teacher wants to challenge the students, then they can try to make the animals just looking at the outline shown in the book.

As an extra challenge, see if the students can combine their tangrams into the original shape of a large square.

Note: The tangrams can be plastic machine-made sets or students can make them in a preceding lesson. There is a template for creating tangrams attached to this task. If the students create their own tangrams, they will see that the 7 pieces originate from a large square. Making the tangrams for themselves also helps students develop the ability to compose and decompose figures.

Not all of the characters are included on the character worksheet. The students can build these as time permits.

Attached Resources

Character worksheet

Tangram Template

Solution

• If the student completes the fox fairy, hawk, and squirrel, then they will color those three figures:

• There is no single solution for each of the students' own pictures

Click here for original source

Hula Hoop Times Tables

By Alicia Danyali

If you’re finding it painful to get your child to practice math lessons learned throughout the school year and her skills are slipping, try this mental and physical multitasking game to get your child back into the swing of things. This physical coordination reinforcement activity uses a hula hoop to get the mental juices flowing. It's especially fun with two or more players taking turns and keeping score, but it works just as well with one.

What You Need:

• Hula hoop
• Pad of paper
• Pencil
• Bowl or hat
• Timer

What You Do:

1. Make a list of the multiplication tables your child has learned during the school year. Your child will be reflecting on and reinforcing these lessons as she looks back on what she’s learned. Space these out on the page so that you will be able to cut each item into a separate strip of paper. Once the list seems substantial, cut up the paper, fold it in half, and place it in the bowl or hat.
2. Now let the hula thinking begin! Start by having one person pick a piece of paper from the bowl, read the category out loud and get ready with the hula hoop. The other player will be the note taker, and should write down the times table category and name of the Hula Hooper for score-keeping purposes. Put the paper back in the cup once read, so it can be picked it in the future.
3. The hula hoop player starts hooping, while reciting the times table category that she has chosen. For example, if she has chosen the 6 times table, she should recite "6, 12, 18, 24 ..." as she keeps the hula hoop up. Using a stopwatch or other kind of timer, the note taker keeps track of how long the hula hooper keeps the hoop going while still managing to recite the answers. The turn ends when the hula hoop falls to the ground and stops or the hooper can't come up with any more products.
4. Now the next player gets a turn, following steps 2 and 3, until everyone gets a chance to play and all of the multiplication tables are practiced by each player. If a player chooses a number they've already done, they should place the paper back in the cup and choose again.

Alicia Danyali, BS Elementary Education, taught primary-level students for four years at the International School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The last four years of her teaching career, she taught at the Washington International School in Washington, D.C. She recently completed writing a series of children's picture books and is a mother of one young son.

Map Multiplication Tables Game

By Ellen Dean

Practice math while learning the geography of the the U.S. in this fun, competitive game. Using a deck of cards, players multiply two cards they draw from a deck. If they get them correct, they can then say the name of the state they are going to color in. If they get the multiplication problem correct, their turn is over and it's the next player's turn. Whoever completely colors in their map of the U.S. first wins!

What You Need:

• Deck of playing cards with the face cards (jacks, queens and kings) removed
• Photocopied black outlined map of the US, one per player
• Colored pencils, or markers
• 2 or more players

What You Do:

1. Ask one of the players to shuffle the deck and place it face down in the center of the table. Have another player pass out maps and either colored pencils or markers to the players.
2. Have the kids label each of the states with their correct state names.
3. Then, in each of the states, have the kids write in different products they'll encounter while multiplying the different cards in the deck together.
4. Have the players determine the value of the face cards. Tell them that for the purpose of the game aces = 1.
5. Choose one player to start. Ask her to draw two cards and place them face up so the other players can see. She must correctly state the product that results when the two cards are multiplied together.
6. If she answers correctly, she should find the state containing that product.
7. Before she can color it in, she must correctly identify the respective state's name.
8. If she doesn't come up with the right product, and follow up with a correct state name, play moves on to the next player.
9. The player who's first to successfully color his map in completely is the winner.

Helpful Tip: Make this game even more challenging by asking players to name the capital city of each state before coloring they're allowed to color it in.

Divide by Two Activity

By ChristianMiller

Learning to divide is a math skill that will not only come in handy during math class, it'll be useful later on in life when baking or dividing up the bill. Help her get a jump on division early with this engaging math game!

What You Need:

• Scissors
• Construction paper
• Black marker

What You Do:

1. Encourage your child to fold the sheet of construction paper in half.
2. Then, using the black marker, have her draw nine lines on the front of the folded over paper, separating it into 10 different sections.
3. Have your child use the scissors to carefully cut along the lines she made in the previous step. These will be the game cards.
4. Then, using the black marker, have her write the numbers 10-100, by tens, on the front of every card (one number per card). For example, on the first card you write 10, on the next card, write 20, and write 30 on the one after that. Keep making cards until you reach 100.
5. Then, take over duties by opening each card. On the inside, write the answer by dividing the number on the outside by two. For instance, on the inside of the 10 card, write five. On the inside of the 30 card, write 15.
6. Next, have your child shuffle the cards together.
7. To start playing, she should flip over the top card of the deck.
8. Then, she has 5 seconds to divide the number on the front of the card by two.
9. Once she guesses, she should open the card and see if she got the answer right.
10. If she's correct, let her set the card to the side.
11. To win, she must successfully make her way through each and every card.

Tic-Tac-Toe Multiplication

By ChristianMiller

There are plenty of fun ways to practice multiplication facts, and this game is definitely one of them! Every third grader needs to work towards memorizing his times tables. Try reviewing those facts tic-tac-toe style! Set up your board and start solving those multiplication problems. Three in a row wins!

What You Need:

• 9 sheets of white paper
• Black marker
• Two players

What You Do:

1. Let your child draw a standard, nine square tic-tac-toe grid on each of the nine sheets of white paper with the black marker.
2. Then, help your child place each of the nine sheets of paper in a 3 x 3 square, with the tic tac toe grids facing up.
3. Next, take over duties and write a random multiplication equation in each of the 81 spaces.
4. Explain to the players that the rules are exactly like those of standard tic-tac-toe.
5. Players take turns trying to solve the various problems in the grids.
6. When players successfully solve a problem, they put either an X or an O in the square.
7. Whoever gets tic-tac-toe on a given grid can turn the sheet over and mark it with a giant X or O.
8. To win, a player must get three sheets in a row.

Schoolyard Multiplication

By Ellen Dean

Your child's multiplication skills will help him move around the schoolyard in this fun game. Once you've drawn a school map, outlining favorite locations such as the main building, swing sets, lunch room and basketball court, it's time to race around the yard while mastering the all-important times tables.

What You Need:

• Pair of dice
• White paper for game board
• Black marker
• 1 marker per player (beans, coins, foam shape, etc.)

What You Do:

1. Encourage players to come up with a list of their favorite locations at school.
2. Have each player draw the locations in a large oval shape on their respective piece of paper, then tell them to connect the locations with lines to create the game board (see picture). Make sure the main school building is one of the drawings, as this will be the starting point.
3. Ask each player to come up with different numbers that are products of potential dice rolls. This means, of course, that prime numbers shouldn't be included. Also, keep the numbers under 36.
4. Encourage them to assign each location a different number they happened to come up with.
5. Have all of the players place their game pieces on their main school buildings.
6. Decide which player will go first (we played roshambo) and have this player roll the dice.
7. Have the player find the product of the two numbers he rolled and say it out loud. If the product is the same as the number of the next location on the game board, he can move his game piece to the next location on his game board. If he doesn't end up rolling the product he assigned to the next location, must stay where he is.
8. Whoever goes all the way around the schoolyard first wins!

Variation: For younger players, use addition. The highest number on the game board should be 12.

This activity is a great opportunity to introduce the concept of probability. Before the kids create their game boards, explain to them that there are certain product that will occur more frequently than others and hint that it may be in their best interest to pick the "popular products for their game boards so as to increase their chances of winning.

Target Multiplication

Who said practicing times tables can't be fun? Create some target cards, a factor board, grab some counters and get ready to practice multiplication. This game will help get your kid one step closer to memorizing her times tables!

What You Need:

• 4 sheets of white paper
• Marker
• 2 counters (little piece of green paper)
• Scissors

What You Do:

1. Using the marker, have your child write the numbers one through ten on one of the sheets of white paper. This is the factor board that you'll place counters on to reach the target numbers on your cards.
2. Have her set the sheet to the side.
3. Next, help her create an even stack with the remaining three sheets of white paper.
4. Using the scissors, have her carefully cut the stack of white papers into multiple square cards.
5. Next, use the marker to write a random non-prime (divisible by more than just the number and one) number 1-100 on each of the cards.
6. On the other side write "target" as these cards feature your target numbers. You'll need to figure out which numbers on the factor board to mark with your counters in order to arrive at the products on the cards.
7. Help her mix the the cards up.
8. Create a stack of the target cards, the sides with the word "target" facing up.
9. Draw a card read the number aloud.
10. Encourage her to find two numbers on the factor board that can be multiplied together to arrive at her target number and place the counters on them.
11. She should continue this process until the target number deck is depleted.
12. If your child is still having fun, shuffle the deck and keep the game going!

Target Multiplication is even more fun to play with a whole group of kids. You also might want to throw in some additional counters and challenge your kid to find all the factors she can for a given target number.

Click here for original source!

Pyramid Math Card Game

 

By ChristianMiller 

Updated on Mar 14, 2014

Collect This Activity

Want to ditch those tiresome flash cards? Check out this game that has kids create a pyramid with playing cards! It's a fun and easy way to help your child learn addition and subtraction. This math activity also transitions well into a history lesson; After game play, you can introduce your kid to these magnificent feats of architecture that for thousands of years were the largest structures on Earth.

What You Need:

• Deck of cards
• 
  
• What You Do:

1. Help your child shuffle the deck of cards.
2. To get the game started, have your kid flip the top three cards of the deck over and arrange them in a triangle, with one card on top and two beneath it.
3. Have you child draw three more cards from the deck. Challenge him to figure out if he can find a way to integrate the cards he's drawn. For instance, if the top number is a six, and the row beneath it consists of a two and an eight, he could make a third row of the numbers 4 (6-2), 8 (6+2) and 2 (8-6).
4. If he can't use certain cards, have him put them in a discard pile.
5. He should continue building the pyramid until the deck is depleted.
6. When he runs out of cards, have him shuffle the cards that have been discarded and try to integrate those cards into the pyramid the second time around.

Once he's used all of the cards to the best of his abilities, encourage him to take a step back and admire his math pyramid.

Subtraction Action

By Alicia Danyali

Most parents probably wouldn't mind subtracting 8-9 years off their age. Here's a fun subtraction activity for your child that will do just that—in theory, anyway. It's also a good way to boost third grade subtraction skills and make them real and relevant.

What You Need:

• Pencil
• Paper

What You Do:

1. Explain to your child that his mission is to find out how old everyone was when he was born. Encourage your child to go around and record each family member's current age--don't forget grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts! Use the adult's age as the top number, and your child's age as the bottom number. Have your child set up the equation and subtract.
2. Now that your child knows how old everyone was when you were born, try it this way: Add his age to every family member’s age today. When you get the result, have your child make a line graph with numbers 0-100 on the y-axis (vertical) and names of family members on the x-axis (horizontal). Ask your child to plot the ages and connect the dots to see how large of an age difference there is between family members.
3. Write a word problem with your child using the ages collected above. For example, when I was born, mom was thirty years old. Now I am 9-years-old. How old is mom? Word problems in abundance!

What's going on? You're tying abstract math skills--the stuff on flashcards and worksheets--to real life. These kinds of activities help your child build lifetime skills, and they help make related topics--like the timelines of history--make perfect sense. Don't be surprised, of course, if you also end up with some cherished family stories while you're at it.

Alicia Danyali has taught elementary school children for eight years. Most recently, she taught first and third grade at the Washington International School in Washington, D.C. She is also the mother of one young son.

Addition Treasure Hunt

By Julie Williams

It’s a rare kid who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt, and a rare teacher who doesn’t want kids to be able to learn the fundamentals of money math. Here’s an activity that puts them all together for learning and fun.

What You Need:

• Coin jar of loose change
• Couple of curious kids

What You Do:

1. Figure out a treasure hunt route around your home or yard with four or five destinations. Then, use the Secret Code Key (below) to spell out a clue card for each location. Let’s say, for example, you place a clue under your bed. Spell out “under the bed” in code, and send your child there to find the card. Then, under the bed, place another card listing the next destination, and so forth.
2. As you can see from our example, the treasure hunt clues have two “levels.” First, the child matches a number to a letter. Then, the child will count up all the “cents” to make a total.
3. At the end of the treasure hunt, have your child bring all five cards to a table, and finish all card totals. Now, to bring it all home, have him count out the totals in real money! Using pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, can he make $1.06? $1.25?
4. Then, with all five piles of coins together, what is the grand total?
5. If this is allowance day, or if your child has just completed some special chore you’re paying for, you might even allow him to keep some or all of the total. Just beware: you’ll most likely be asked to repeat this treasure hunt many, many times.

Here's the Code Breaker with an example of a coded message:

____   ____  ____       ____  ____  ____        ____  ____         ____  ____!  

.25      .15    .21           .03     .01   .14           .04    .15        .09    .20  

 Secret Code Key:

A = .01

B = .02

C = .03

D = .04

E = .05

F = .06

G = .07

H = .08

I = .09

J = .10

K = .11

L = .12

M =.13

N =.14

O = .15

P = .16

Q = .17

R = .18

S = .19

T = .20

U = .21

V = .22

W = .23

X = .24

Y = .25

Z = .26

Julie Williams, M.A. Education, taught middle and high school History and English for seventeen years. Since then, she has volunteered in elementary classrooms while raising her two sons and earning a master's in school administration. She has also been a leader in her local PTA.

Do We Wear the Same Colors?

By AydeeSalas

Data analyzation may seem like an intimidating subject at first, but it's all in the approach; choosing the topic to analyze can make all the difference. What's more, getting family and friends involved in an activity is a surefire way to ramp up the fun, as the data gathering will seem like less like work and more like a game. Have your kid create a chart to keep track of the different colors that everyone wears. This activity is a fun way to hone your kid's observational skills and introduce the basics of data interpretation.

What You Need:

• Poster board
• Markers
• Ruler

What You Do:

1. Have your child draw a graph using the markers and rulers. The chart should be for two weeks and have friends or family members names on it.  
2. Explain to him that for two weeks he will be keeping track of the colors everyone wears. Each day he must write down on the chart what color everyone is wearing. To make it easier, have him focus on the color of peoples' tops. It doesn’t matter if they're wearing shirts, sweaters or tanks. Make sure he's recording the color of their tops.
3. At the end of the two weeks he should examine the chart and analyze the data he has gathered. He can look for information such as who wore a specific color more often or who wore the same color. 
4. Gather up his subjects so he can share his findings with everyone.

Aydee Salas has a MA in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College. She has many years of teaching experience and is passionate about early childhood education.

Study of Names

By Ellen Dean

Graphs are a way of communicating the relation between two variable quantities measured along a pair of axes at right angles. There are several different types of graphs and they typically are used to visually explain information that may be difficult to understand through words alone. In this activity, your child will get to practice creating a bar graph and pictorial graph after gathering data about the names of her friends. It's a fun way to begin learning the many uses of graphs for presentations and mathematics.

What You Need:

• White paper
• Markers

What You Do:

1. Have your child divide her piece of paper in half using the marker. In one section write the heading "Bar Graph." In the other section write "Pictorial Graph."
2. Under each heading ask her to write the question: How long is your first name?
3. Ask her to draw a pair of axes at right angles in each square. They will look like the bottom line and left line of a square, meeting in the corner.
4. The first section should contain the bar graph, have her write numbers 1–10 along the bottom and the side. The side will have the 10 at the top and the 1 where the axis meets at the bottom. Then, on the left side have her write, "Number of Friends" and on the bottom have her write, "Number of Letters."
5. On a separate sheet of paper, encourage her to write out up to 20 names of her friends and count how many letters there are in each of their names.
6. To begin the bar graph, ask her how many friends have names that only contain 1 letter?  If the answer is "0", she should leave that column alone. If she has 3 friends with 4-letter names, then she will create a bar to represent that fact and color it in. Have her repeat this process until she's created bars for each letter amount.
7. The pictorial graph uses individual symbols instead of bars to represent amounts. Have your child write numbers to represent the amount of letters in each of her friend's names along the y-axis, starting with 1 on the top and create long horizontal lines in between each number that extend out from the y-axis side. Then make one vertical line just after the numbers along the y-axis. (Our chart had 8 letters as being the longest first name.) At the top of the graph have her write, "Number of Students."
8. Have her choose a symbol or picture to represent each friend. (We used stars.) To conserve space, she can create a key at the bottom of the graph to indicate how many people each symbol represents. For example, one star can equal 2 people. Therefore, if there are only 3 people with 4 letters in their name, one full star and one half star would be the correct representation of how many of her friends have 4-letter names.
9. Ask her to complete her pictorial graph by drawing the right number of symbols in each row.

Understanding Volume

By Ellen Dean

Teach your child about volume and mass with this hands-on activity. Ask her who she thinks has the "biggest" fist in the family. Looks can be deceiving! She'll be learning about these important scientific concepts and what it means to measure for volume, rather than size.

What You Need:

• Bowl large enough for fists
• Paper tape
• Erasable marker

What You Do:

1. Have your child fill the bowl halfway with water and mark the water level with the marker.
2. Ask her to make a fist and put it in the bowl of water. Mark the new water level to indicate how much the water has risen. The space between the first and second mark represents the volume of your child's hand.
3. Have all the members of the family put their fists in the bowl of water, marking the water each time. Whoever displaces the most water has the biggest fist!

Did You Know? When Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, hopped in the bathtub, he noticed that the water rose a little bit and realized that he had just discovered how to measure volume. The story goes that he was so excited, he ran down the street naked shouting, “Eureka!” (that means "I've found it!" in Greek) Though your child may not have quite same reaction to the wonders of volume, this simple experiment is nonetheless a great introduction to an important mathematical concept.

How Old is that Tree?

By Jessica McBrayer

Every year on our birthday we have a reminder of how old we are. And if we ever forget, we can always ask our parents! How do you think you find out how old a tree is? When a tree has been cut down, you can count its "rings" in order to tell how old it is, but what about when it is alive? We can't ask a tree how old it is. But there is a way! This activity will teach you and your child a way to estimate the age of a tree without cutting it down. It doesn't work with every tree but it will with a lot of them.

What You Need:

• Tree
• Measuring tape
• Marker
• Pen
• Paper
• Helper

What You Do:

1. Help your child find a tree that is at least as tall as a grown up and have your child wrap the measuring tape around the widest part of the trunk. (A grown up might need to help with this part!) The distance around the trunk of a tree is called the circumference. Write this measurement down on a piece of paper.
2. The measurement of the circumference in inches is also the approximate age of the tree in years!

Did You Know?

Every year a new layer of growth occurs just under the bark. Some trees like firs and redwoods may grow more than this in a year, while others like cedars may grow less. This method is a good rule of thumb to estimate the age of a tree.

Gallon Man

Use the Gallon Man to teach students how many cups, pints, and quarts are in a gallon.

Length, Mass, Liquid Volume Flip Book

Teach your students length, mass, volume and the different conversions within each.

Fraction Bookmarks

Create fraction bookmarks for your students.  This is a great way for students to get familiar with fractions even when they aren't doing math.  It also can provide them with the ability to recall this bookmark when taking tests or quizzes, as well as, supporting them on their math classwork or homework.

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Multiplication Lesson

Post Written and Created by The Teaching Thief

  

We started our unit with a quick brainstorm of multiplication and I was very impressed with my results. Here is the list my students came up with:

12 x 12 = 144 - Those are called facts.
Anything times 0 equals 0.
Anything times 1 equals itself.
3x4=12 is just like 4x3=12. We call that a fact family.
You can draw a picture of multiplication by using circles and sticks.
It is repeated addition.
You can draw it by putting 4 dots down one said, and three dots across and then fill it in. (She knew about an array, but didn't know what it was called.)
It is like skip counting.

I must say...well done 3rd grade teachers...WELL DONE!

That is a pretty good list for the first weeks of 4th grade. We spent the next two days talking more and more about arrays. You know...building up our math vocabulary, learning the difference between rows and columns, and finding arrays all over the classroom.

Then, we made our Multiplication Posters to show off what we know. First, I showed them my example. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture, but it was really nice. I promise.

I wrote in my best handwriting, used different colored headings for each quadrant, organized my array by color (i.e. red row, blue row, etc.), and made my equal groups using all the same kind of stickers.

Then, I let them go. Not one turned out just like mine.

Naturally, many of the arrays were a hodge-podge of colors.


They also used as many different kinds of stickers as possible.
Please ignore the incorrect multiplication fact in the upper right corner. *shakes head*


All and all though, the posters turned out pretty great. It was a great review for kids on multiplication.

I would love to say that these were 100% my idea, but y'all know...I'm the Teaching Thief. I combined two terrific ideas I found through blogging and Pinterest.

First, I pinned this over the summer. (Mine looked a lot more like this. I'm a rule follower. My students are clearly more creative. *wink, wink*)




I used this same concept in the past, but only with drawings. I loved the addition of stickers and food. It made it is WAY more entertaining. Unfortunately, I don't know who to credit with this marvelous idea, so if it was you, please let me know.

I also found another great idea from Mr. B's Beach Brains. Um... edible arrays?! Yes, please.




And so...our edible multiplication posters were born. My kiddos had a blast putting together the posters and they make a really nice display in the classroom. Very colorful and fun!

Pumpkin Math

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

Post Written and Created by Math Maniac

This story is about a group of kids who are asked by their teacher to figure out how many seeds are in 3 different pumpkins. They talk about the size of the pumpkins, estimating and counting ideas. Some kids count by 2's some by 5's and some group the seeds into piles of 10. There is also some great information in this story about how to estimate how many seeds a pumpkin has just by looking at the outside.

I love this lesson because it combines my love of math literature with counting and estimating routines. I began this lesson by presenting my students with 2 pumpkins. I did this lesson with second graders but it would work with other kids K-3 with some small adaptations. One was a very small Jack be Little pumpkin and the other was a larger pie pumpkin. I asked them to estimate which one had more seeds. Everyone was convinced that the larger pumpkin would have a lot more seeds. We made some estimates but they were really all over the place ranging from 17-1000.




Next we cut the pumpkins in half and adjusted our estimates based on what we saw. The estimates for the smaller pumpkin ranged from 80-200 and the estimates for the larger pumpkin ranged from 101-320.


The inside of the larger pumpkin



Inside of the smaller pumpkin

Kids worked in small groups and got all the seeds separated from the other guts. When I do this lesson again, I will be sure to have more pumpkins because despite this being a smaller group of students, there were to many kids working on each pumpkin. I would recommend no more than 4-5 kids per pumpkin for optimum working conditions. Kids continued to adjust and refine their estimates as they put the seeds all in one place. It was obvious to all students that there were more seeds in the large pumpkin than the smaller one.


After a quick rinse of the seeds, the groups counted them mostly grouping into 10's. We came to the conclusion that the small pumpkin had 134 seeds and the large one had 285. We spent some time comparing these numbers and wiring them in different ways. We finished up the lesson by reading the book. It was interesting for kids to compare their own experience with counting the seeds to the experience of the kids in the book.

This was a fun fall lesson and definitely one I will be doing in the future! There are a lot of grade levels that I could apply this lesson with.

                                                       

Ideas for Manipulatives

Created and Written by Jacquie Fisher

 

Teaching kids to count to 100 is a big milestone and one that parents and teachers work on for a few years. 

It's a long journey fraught with numbers like "fifteen-ten" and other assorted creative ways to count. 

And along the way, kids are also learning to count by 2's, 5's, 10's and categorize numeric values.

For a number of years, I remember my kids coming home with a note asking that each child in the class bring in "100 of their favorite item" to celebrate the 100th day of school.

100 of their favorite item -- whew!  Now those were some long discussions --

Kid:  "How about 100 stuffed animals Mom?"

Me:  How about we think of something a little smaller?

Kid:  "I want to bring in something that the other kids won't bring."

Me:  Ok, how about crayons?

Kid:  No

Me:  Tattoos?

Kid:  No

And so it went for about 50 more suggestions until we finally came up with a winner! 

And in the process, we also came up with quite a list of possibilities in case you're having trouble thinking of small items for your 100th Day of School.

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100 Items to Use to Count to 100

There are some super fun ways to help kids practice all this counting.  One popular idea is to introduce a 100's Jar.  Similar to an estimation jar in many classrooms, a 100's Jar holds one-hundred pieces of the same item. 

If you use plastic bottles or jars, you can introduce a number of math concepts such as volume, size and weight.  So the first part of our list includes lots of items that can be counted, sorted, categorized and compared.

I had some extra canning jars that we used to do some counting and comparison.  Just make sure that the jar or bottle you use it transparent so the kids can see & explore the items inside it.  I've also tried to make life easier for you by including affiliate links to items that may not be well-known or might be hard to find.

Items to Count

Since items in this group are so similar, they are great to use for counting by 2's, 5's and 10's when they are sorted.

1.  Paperclips

2.  Pencils

3.  Ping pong balls

4.  Cap Erasers (great to revive old pencils)

5.  Pennies (use with other coins to learn how to count money)

6.  Nickels

7.  Dimes

8.  Quarters

9.  Plastic spoons

10.  Binder Clips (good for finger dexterity)

11.  Puzzle pieces (then put together the puzzle)

12.  Game tokens

13.  Rubber bands

Items to Categorize by Color

14.  Guitar picks

15.  Golf balls (they come in white, pink, yellow and orange)

16.  Crayons

17.  Playing cards (sort by color or suit)

18.  Marbles (sort by shade/color)

19.  Plastic eggs (sort by color or size)

20.  Wooden Beads  (can also be used for threading)

21.  Assorted Pom Poms

22.  Match box cars

23.  Spools of Thread

24.  Barbie shoes

25.  Glow Sticks (these are great to wear as bracelets too)

26.  Mini erasers

27.  Socks (just have each child bring in 4 mismatched socks)

28.  Rubber bracelets or rings

Items to Sort & Measure for Height/Length

Grab a ruler and have the kids take measurements while they sort these items.  You can also have them arrange each item from shortest to longest once they are measured.

29.  Barettes (sort by color or length)

30.  Bookmarks

31.  Old keys

32.  Golf tees

Sort by Type

There will be a variety of ways to sort the following items.  Sort animals by habitat, continent, etc.  Batteries can be sorted by type of size, stickers can be sorted by person/place/thing or have the kids come up with their own groupings.

33.  Backpack clip toys or animals

34.  Happy Meal toys

35.  Tattoos

36.  Small Maze Puzzles (by shape or color)

37.  Plastic animal figurines (by animal)

38.  Stickers

39.  Postage stamps (by picture, face value, etc)

40.  Cookie cutters

41.  Trading cards

42.  Shrinky dinks or charms

43.  Batteries

44.  Pieces from board games

Some of our nature items would also fit in this category such as rocks, seashells, pinecones and flowers.  They are all listed below under natural materials.

Such a fun idea - compare popcorn both unpopped & popped!

Learn more about Popcorn Math & Science with this fun activity

Items that Teach Volume/Area

I love this type of item -- things that change the space they take up depending on how they are presented to the kids.  These are pefect for a math/science discussion!

45.  Paper or Plastic Cups (stacked one inside the other and stacked as a pyramid)

46.  100 millileters of a liquid (look at it in a cup and then pour it out on a cookie sheet or pie plate to discuss area)

47.  Balloons (both blown up and flat)

48.  Popcorn kernels (unpopped and popped)

Items to Craft with after you Count

So many fun craft projects can be done with these materials so have the kids count and then craft!

49.  Buttons

50.  Mini play dough containers

51.  Pipe cleaners

52.  Paint Brushes

53.  Popsicle Sticks

54.  Mini Duct Tape

55.  Q-tips (then use them to paint)

56.  Markers

57.  Self-ink Stamps

58.  Plastic beads (make a necklace)

59.  Rainbow loom bands (make a bracelet)

60.  Little Notebooks (use for drawing, tracing or even graphing the 100 items)

61.  Glue sticks 

62.  Cotton balls

If you use mini-marshmallows and toothpicks for your 100's jar, you can then pair them to create constellations for science exploration!

Items that Combine with Science & Engineering for Kids

Super items to use for counting and then experimenting!

63.  Mentos (count and then use them to make volcanoes)

64.  Toothpicks (combine with mini-marshmallows to make constellations)

65.  Sugar Cubes  (yep, the still sell these at grocery stores and you can use them to build too!)

66.  Legos (then race to see who can stack them the quickest)

67.  Blocks (then see who can construct a bridge or the tallest building)

Have a stacking challenge with any of the next three iems --

68.  Checkers

69.  Poker chips

70.  Dice

Food Items to use for 100 Days Snack

A very popular activity is creating a snack mix on the 100th Day so here's a few things the kids might want to eat together --

71.  Pretzels

72.  Marshmallows or mini-marshmallows

73.  Fruit snack packets

74.  Cereal

75.  Dried pasta

76.  Grains of rice (dry and cooked for science)

77.  Jelly beans

78.  Clementine oranges

79.  Mini boxes of raisins

80.  Hershey Kisses

81.  Candy hearts

82.  Grapes

83.  Tea bags

84.  Baby carrots

85.  Cheese sticks

86.  Goldfish crackers

87.  Oyster crackers

88.  Chocolate chips

89.  Cookies

90.  Tic tacs

91.  Gumballs

92.  Sticks of gum

93.  Baby pickles

And don't forget the popcorn from above too!

Natural items to count, sort and explore

I would suggest having a Magnifying Glass handy with these items so the kids can explore them further.

94.  Acorns

95.  Pinecones

96.  Leaves

97.  Plant seeds

98.  Rocks (use with shells to compare area)

99.  Sea shells

100.  Flowers (real or plastic)

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