Math Boxes-Number Cards

Who has been working in their math box?

Ready to learn some new games for your number cards? Ready to level up?

Check out this video I made showing a bunch of different games you can play with your cards! 

Math With Easter Eggs for Kids!

Combinations of numbers! 

We have a bunch of jelly beans left from our counting and estimating routine so I put together this quick and easy activity with my fourth grader.  He is going to play it a few times this week with his sister who is in Kindergarten.  You pick a number of jelly beans, starting between 5 and 10 is a good choice. You hide some of the jelly beans under a plastic Easter egg and they have to guess how many are hiding.  

When kids are ready you can make a record sheet like the one shown in the picture.  The number in the box is the missing number of jelly beans that are hidden under the egg. 

This would be a great game for siblings to play together! 

Tally Marks, Numerals and Dice dots

While I had the plastic eggs out I also wanted to share another low prep activity that kids could do several times this week.  You need a carton and 12 plastic eggs.  If you have multiple eggs the same color, you can match the eggs up, if all your eggs are different colors, you should mix them together so no top and bottom are the same color. 

I chose to use the numbers 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 which are great numbers for kids in Kindergarten to practice matching up.  

In the bottom of the carton, I used tally marks. I had to cut a scrap piece of paper up to place in the bottom because the bottom was bumpy and was not working out well for the tally marks

On each egg, I wrote the number on the top and represented the number using dots on the bottom.  I organized the dots like you would see on dice. 

To start the activity, take all the eggs apart.  The game is to match the number and the dot pattern together and then put it in the egg carton in the correct spot. 

Fill Them With Change

Many of you loved the coin counting game we shared last week, this would be a great way to involve all your kids in an activity.  Write different coin amounts on eggs and have them fill them with that much money.  Then they can hide the eggs for each other and see who can find the most.  

Equivalent Fraction Game

Kids or adults can think of equivalent fractions and write them on each side of the split in the egg.  Then take them apart and have them match them back up. 

You can do lots of things with plastic eggs!  Here are some more ideas! 

Lots of folks are decorating their mailbox or the windows in the front their houses with Easter eggs this year too!  You can read more about it and print some great Easter egg coloring pages at the Burlington VT City Mom's Blog.

Counting and Estimating

We do a lot of counting and estimating at school across the grades.  This is a fun thing to do at home and works great with kids of different ages.  My kids are in K, 2 and 4 and we did a little counting, estimating and dividing task yesterday that I thought would be fun to share.  We used a bag of jellybeans and started by estimating how many were in the bag without opening it.  

Then we dumped the bag on the table and I asked them how many we could each take.  My second grader thought there was enough for us each to take 20 so we did.  We organized them into groups of 10's.  My Kindergartner counted them by 10. We then adjusted our estimates based on what we knew so far.  (this number is SUPER hard for K/1 kids to estimate) 

Then it was decided that we could each take 20 more.  I asked them to figure out how many had been taken so far.  They all could do it but their strategies were very different depending on their age! 

Then my fourth grader suggested we each take 10 more and then we would each have 50 which we could arrange into groups of 100.  

We put 100 in each little cup

We made our final estimates based on the above picture. 

We thought there was enough for us each to take 25 so we did and it gave us a chance to practice counting by 25's (an important skill for grades 2 and up to count money with!) 

We now have 3 groups of 100 and a small pile left over. 

Our total was 333!  We dumped them back on the table and my fourth grader divided them up between the 4 of us.  

We call this type of division partial quotients.  It is a super helpful way for kids to make sense of division with a sharing model.  If you want to know more about this division strategy check out the Quotient Cafe game on the grade 4 page! 

We stashed out jelly beans in the small containers so we can use them for more little activities this week! 

If your family tries out a counting and estimating routine, take some pictures and email them to me so I can share them on our weekly Math at Home roundup!

Math at Home Challenges

More Pictures to share from our math at home challenges!

Number Building Challenge (salt or sugar on a tray, great idea!) 

Real Life Array Challenge
Can you figure out how many windows, books, dots, etc are in each picture?

Mrs. Cram's class was challenges to build a store at home!  Great math practice and super fun!

10 Equations to get 10 challenge! 

Playing our new money game (Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter) 

Have you tried any math at home challenges?  If you want to share a picture of your own math at home challenge, send me an email and let me know what you have been working on! 

Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter (Rock Paper Scissors Game)

Here is a great at home learning activity for a variety of grades!

Here is a little video I made to show you how to play this game.  You need some coins, a piece of paper and something to write with.

Below the video, I will share how to make the game easier and how to make it harder.  This is a great game for siblings to play together!

Make It Easier

-Don't use a record sheet!  For our youngest learners who are just starting to identify coins, you don't need to worry about counting up the total amount you have.

-Record on your record sheet using cent notation rather than the dollar sign and decimal point 

Make it Harder

-Use more coins!  Have each player start with 2 of each coin.  We have noticed that after we play this game a bit, we seem to get $0.41 a lot.  Changing how many coins are in play helps us level up and stops us from getting the same thing over and over

-Put 2 coins in your hand each time.  Start with 3 coins of each type and when it is your turn, put 2 coins in your hand.  The person with the most wins EXCEPT $0.02 beats $0.50.

Let us know if you try this game by sending a picture in email, posting in the comments below or sharing on the Parents and Friends of ACS Facebook group!

10 Equations to get 10

I am working on some videos to help you all learn from home but without my students who usually edit videos for me, I am having to learn that in addition to how to use Zoom and do all the other new things we are trying these days.

In the meantime, I found this great game using cards or dice that is great for kids in grades 2-6 and might even work well for a first grader looking for a challenge!  

If you try this, let me know how it goes in the comments below or by sending me an email!

April Daily Math Challenge!

I found this fun Daily Math Challenge for April and wanted to share it here!  We will be doing some of these in my house this month, maybe not every day but will definitely be picking and choosing our favorites! 

Today is April Fool's Day and the challenge for today is to include your favorite number in every sentence you say.  I think my family will catch on pretty quick!  

The blog has been updated with all new songs, stories and games so click on your grade level above and check it out!