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January 2005
Shape Hunt
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Today's activity comes from an excellent resource called Standards Start at Home: A Parent's Guide to Early Learning published by the Academic Development Institute. For more information about this publication, see www.adi.org.
To help children learn to recognize geometric shapes and structures in the environment, make "binoculars" out of empty toilet paper rolls and go on a Shape Hunt!
1. For each child, tape two toilet paper rolls together to make "binoculars".
2. Using the binoculars, go on a shape hunt, looking for different shapes. For example, a clock is a circle.
3. Count how many different shapes you can find. Discuss how many circles you found, how many squares, etc.
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Students will recognize two-dimensional spacial relationships. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Identify, describe, classify and compare relationships using points, lines, planes, and solids. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Matches and identifies basic shapes. |
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March 2005
Count the Windows
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| First, ask the children to guess how many windows are in the house/school. Write down their guesses.
Then ask the children, “How can we be sure? How can we find out exactly how many windows there are?” Listen to their ideas.
When it’s time to start counting, you may be surprised by how many windows there are in an average home or school. It may be hard to count them all. Demonstrate for the children some simple ways to keep track of the numbers as you are counting: Perhaps you could write tally marks on a piece of paper. Perhaps the children could draw squares on a piece of paper, one square for each window.
When you are finished, compare the children’s guesses to the final answer. Ask the children questions about what they learned. Are there more windows than you expected or less than you expected? What was hard about counting windows? What was easy?
Encourage children to report their results to their parents/guardians. Suggest that they count windows in their own homes too.
(This math activity was inspired by teachers at School for Little Children in Evanston.)
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Students will organize and categorize data using tables, graphs, and visual representations when appropriate. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Formulate questions, design data collection methods, gather and analyze data and communicate findings. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Measurement and problem solving – Participates in classroom activities which involve collecting data using concrete objects, pictures and graphs. |
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April 2005
The "Take Away" Game
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| Place three familiar items on a tray. Perhaps you might use a crayon, a block, and a toy car. Show the children the items on the tray. Then take the tray away, so the children can not see it, and remove one item. Bring the tray back. Then ask the children to be "detectives" and figure out what item has been taken away. Have the children take turns guessing.
Once the children have learned the basic rules of the game, add more items to the tray. This will make the game more difficult. See if the children can figure out what has been taken away when there are four items, five items, or more.
You can make the game even more difficult by taking away two items at once. Ask the children, "How many things did I take away?" and "How did you know?" Their answers will show that they are beginning to understand some basic math and problem-solving concepts.
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Students will learn that mathematics is a personal creative act that grows from natural curiosity, as opposed to being a set of imposed rules. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Solve problems using systems of numbers and their properties. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Measurement and Problem Solving: Participates in activities involving subtraction using manipulatives. |
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April 2005
Birthday Timeline
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A timeline is a line that is labeled to show the passage of time. A timeline is a good way to show children that time progresses in a predictable pattern.
You can make a "birthday timeline" for your birthday board. Each space on the timeline will show one year.
For example:
0_______1_______2_______3_______4_______5_______6_______7____
Take a picture of each child and place it on the timeline at the child's current age. For example, if the child is three years old, place the photo below the 3. When the child has a birthday, take another picture and place the new photo under the child's new age.
Ask parents to bring in baby pictures of each child. Display the baby pictures at the beginning of the timeline. Talk with the children about how far they have come and how much they have grown! Ask children to think about what they will be like when they grow older.
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Content standards: Use tools that include paper and pencil, measuring and drawing devices, calculators, computers, models, and manipulative devices. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Select and use appropriate technology, instruments and formulas to solve problems, interpret results and communicate findings. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Measurement and problem-solving: Develops a sense of past and future time through participation in activities such as photo albums, timelines, and calendars. |
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April 2005
From the classroom of Bettye Cohns, at the Child Care Center of Evanston.
3-D Collage
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| In Bettye Cohns' classroom at the Child Care Center of Evanston, the children construct 3-D collages.
The children are given pre-cut strips of paper in bright colors, such as yellow, orange, and bright red. The strips of paper are about an inch wide.
The children tape the strips onto a background of black paper. The contrast between the bright colors and the black paper is striking.
The children are encouraged to fold, loop, and gather the strips of paper in any way they please. Some of the strips end up flat on the paper, but most curve up and down, making a 3-D effect. The result looks a bit like a roller coaster for very tiny people!
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Students will recognize two-dimensional and three-dimensional spacial relationships, including area, perimeter, and volume. Students will make measurements and construct geometric figures and models. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Demonstrate and apply geometric concepts involving points, lines, planes, and space. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Attribute Development - Matches and identifies basic shapes. |
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May 2005
When Does Kindergarten Start?
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| This is a good time of year to pull out some calendars and start counting the months and days until Kindergarten will begin.
Children who are anxious about going to Kindergarten need reassurance that there's still time left to get ready. Children who are eager to begin Kindergarten need a realistic timeframe. It's too soon to start packing their lunchboxes!
Use a simple set of monthly calendars to explain that one box equals one day. Have the children help count the days and you'll discover that there are still "about a hundred" days until Kindergarten will begin.
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Content Standard: Mathematical Tools and Technology. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Select and use appropriate technology, instruments and formulas to solve problems, interpret results and communicate findings. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Develops a sense of past and future time through participation in activities such as photo albums, timelines, and calendars. |
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May 2005
Prove It!
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| The next time a child notices the "attributes of an object", grab the opportunity to build some math concepts. Different "attributes" might mean different sizes, shapes, textures, or colors.
For example, if a child says, "My stick is bigger than your stick," you might ask, "How do you know?"
Encourage the child to demonstrate for you how she figured out that one stick is bigger than the other. Perhaps the child could compare the two sticks, side by side. Perhaps the child might want to measure the sticks with a ruler.
Any time we can lead children to explain their ideas and make their learning visible, we are helping them become lifelong learners.
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
Students will explain not only what is true, but why those things are true as well. |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Construct convincing arguments and proofs to solve problems. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Differentiates between mathematical attributes (e.g. more, less, big, little, long, and short. |
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June 2005
Number Sort
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| Do you have any magnetic numbers and letters handy? If not, they are easy to find at a dollar store or a grocery store.
Take a bunch of magnetic numbers and mix them with magnetic letters. Then have the children sort them into two piles, one pile of numbers and one pile of letters.
For preschool children, this can be more difficult than it looks. It will be hard to tell the difference between a zero and an "O", a one and a capital "i". It may also be hard to tell an "s" from a 5. When children struggle with these answers, allow them to help each other and work in teams. A lively discussion between two children can produce some of the best problem-solving strategies.
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This activity supports the following goals and standards:
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Category: |
Math |
Illinois State Goal: |
"Numeracy" |
Illinois Learning Standard: |
Demonstrates knowledge and use of numbers and their representations in a broad range of their theoretical and practical settings. |
Early Learning Checklist/Benchmark: |
Discriminates between letters and numbers. |
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