Holiday Counting Magic!

                                            Holiday Counting Magic in Our Early Math Class!

The holiday season brings so many fantastic opportunities for playful math learning! This week, The Bunnies dove into counting activities that brought festive cheer to our number practice. We can't resist cookies on a baking sheet. 

                                                  
                                                                 *Activity from KinderbyKim

One of our most magical moments was using candy canes to form numbers in "snow." Observing the children shape these sweet treats into digits while developing their number formation skills was delightful. The sensory experience of working with the pretend snow added an extra layer of engagement, making everyone eager to participate.

                                           

Our classroom transformed into a winter wonderland during our wreath hunt! Students excitedly searched for hidden wreaths around the room, practicing their counting skills and number writing as they discovered each one. The combination of movement and mathematics kept everyone active and learning.

The highlight of our week was our giant Santa game, in which students rolled dice and used colorful pom-poms as a group activity. The excitement was contagious as children took turns rolling, counting, and adding their pom-poms to Santa. This collaborative approach to counting practice created terrific opportunities for peer learning and celebration.

We've also been exploring counting through our new favorite book, "Chicka, Chicka, Ho, Ho, Ho!" The rhythmic text has become a classroom favorite, and we find ourselves counting along with the story each time we read it. We cut out shapes to decorate our trees. 

                                                                 

                                                                                *Activity by KinderbyKim

The holidays provide endless opportunities for counting practice - from tallying ornaments on our classroom tree to counting the candles in our decorations. These authentic counting experiences help make mathematics meaningful and memorable for our young learners.

Watching our students light up as they discover numbers through these festive activities reminds us that math learning can be joyful and effective when woven naturally into holiday celebrations.

                                                              Happy Holiday Counting!

 

Exploring Patterns: Building Mathematical Thinking with Manipulatives

Young children, like the TK Bunnies, are natural pattern seekers. From recognizing the alternating colors on their favorite stuffed animal to arranging blocks in repeating sequences, pattern recognition helps build the foundation for mathematical thinking. Today, let's explore how simple manipulatives like linking cubes and pattern blocks can spark pattern exploration in young learners.

Starting with Linking Cubes

Linking cubes are perfect for introducing basic patterns. Start creating simple AB patterns (red-blue-red-blue) and invite your child to continue the sequence. As they gain confidence, introduce more complex patterns:

• ABC patterns (red-blue-yellow)
• AABB patterns (red-red-blue-blue)
• Growing patterns (1 cube, 2 cubes, 3 cubes)

The physical connection between cubes helps children understand how patterns "link" together, making it easier to visualize and extend sequences. 

The TK Bunnies used their linking cubes to make patterned turkey feathers.

Pattern Blocks: Shapes and Colors

Pattern blocks add a geometric dimension to pattern exploration. Children can:

• Create color patterns with same-shaped blocks.
• Build shape patterns using different blocks.
• Design symmetrical patterns that mirror each other.
• Make growing patterns by adding one more shape each time.

The combination of shapes and colors helps children recognize multiple pattern attributes simultaneously.

Again, The TK Bunnies had fun showing off their growing skills. 

Recommended Books for Young Pattern Explorers

For ages 3-4:

• "Pattern Bugs" by Trudy Harris - Shows patterns in nature through playful rhymes.
• "Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom!" by Stuart J. Murphy - Explores patterns through toy cars and trucks.

For ages 5-6:

• "The Best Bug Parade" by Stuart J. Murphy - Introduces growing patterns through colorful insects.
• "Pattern Fish" by Trudy Harris - Uses sea creatures to demonstrate various pattern types.

Tips for Pattern Play

1. Start simple and gradually increase the complexity.
2. Encourage children to describe patterns in their own words.
3. Ask "What comes next?" to promote prediction skills.
4. Look for patterns in everyday life (fence posts, tile floors, clothing).
5. Let children create their own patterns and explain their thinking.

Remember that pattern exploration isn't just about repetition—it's about understanding relationships, making predictions, and developing mathematical reasoning skills to serve children throughout their academic journey.

What patterns will your young mathematicians discover today?

Spooky Fun with Math Mats!

                                                  Spooky Fun with Math Mats! 🎃

        October is the perfect time to bring spooky fun into your child's

early math learning. Using themed math mats like bats, spiders,

or even a haunted house can turn counting and simple math stories

into an exciting activity. Whether your child is counting bat wings or

sorting spiders into groups, these activities help them build number

sense by understanding how numbers work together in groups.

Counting with natural objects gives children a concrete way to see

and feel numbers, making math more meaningful and fun.

    The TK Bunnies used their spooky houses to explore their

Halloween counters. We also made bat and spider math mats for extra fun.

    

        A trip to a pumpkin patch lends itself to more counting fun. 

We took advantage of the groups of pumpkins we found to

practice our counting skills. We arranged pumpkins into groups, 

so we made a pumpkin counting book. 

        Are you looking for a fun story to pair with your counting activities?

"Five Little Pumpkins" is a classic rhyme that introduces counting

in a playful way, perfect for little learners. We enjoy this one.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late!"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
Then, whooo went the wind,
And out went the lights,
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight. (Author unknown)

                           Here is one of our favorite pumpkin books by Joan Holub.

 

                                                        Happy Halloween Counting!

Building Number Sense Through Play in TK and Kindergarten

 

                            Building Number Sense Through Play in TK and Kindergarten

The beginning of the year in TK and Kindergarten is exciting as we explore the world. One crucial skill we focus on is developing our number sense. To make learning fun and engaging, we use play-based activities to help us understand numbers and their relationships.

One of our favorite activities is sorting and counting different animal collections. We gather various animal toys or pictures and sort them into categories, such as farm animals, wild animals, or sea creatures. As we sort, we count the animals in each group, practicing our counting skills and learning to recognize patterns.

Here are a few pictures of our counting collections.

I recommend exploring counting and sorting books to continue building our number sense at home. These books can introduce different counting concepts, such as one-to-one correspondence, counting forwards and backward, and recognizing numbers. They can also include fun activities, like matching numbers to pictures or counting objects in a scene.

Bear Counts by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is one of our favorite books at the beginning of the year.

One of our new favorites is by author Temperace Meadow South.

By incorporating play into our learning, we can make math more enjoyable and accessible. Remember, the goal is to have fun and build a strong foundation for future learning.

                                                                    Happy counting!

"Shape Up!" It's All About 2D and 3D Shapes

 

                                              Shape Up! It's All About 2D and 3D Shapes!

       As a kindergarten teacher, I know teaching young children about shapes is essential to their early education. Understanding the properties of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) shapes lays the foundation for more advanced math concepts later on.

                                                                 Pattern Block Work

                                                                        

    First, let's talk about 2D shapes. These are flat shapes that have only two dimensions: length and width. Some examples of 2D shapes you can introduce to your kindergarten students include circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and rhombuses. You can ask your students to identify these shapes in their environment, such as in books, buildings, and objects around them. The Kinder Bunnies had fun finding these shapes around our classroom. 

            We discovered that our classroom has many cylinders compared to other shapes. 

                                       By: Charles Ghinga and Illustrated by AG Jatkowska

                                              What shapes can you find in your lunch today?

                                                  

                                                    One of our projects with a box!

    Moving on to 3D shapes, these have three dimensions: length, width, and depth. These shapes have volume and take up space. Some examples of 3D shapes you can teach your kindergarten students include spheres, cubes, pyramids, cones, and cylinders. You can use everyday objects like balls, blocks, and cans to help your students understand these shapes better. After reading Boxitects, we built 3D zoo homes for our tigers. 

                                                                      A box fire truck.

 

    The Kinder Bunnies loved using games, puzzles, and hands-on activities to make learning about shapes engaging. You can also encourage your students to create shapes using play dough or sticks. 

                                We ended our shape unit with a "shape dance." Give it a try. 
                                                                                                          

                                                                   

                                                                           Shape Up!

     

Marching into Math

 

                         Rainbows, Leprechauns, and Gold!

            March is off to a great start with rainbow and unicorn counting collections. We used

our tiny erasers from Target to get the month off to a fun start. Every Friday, we work with our different counting collections. A counting collection can be anything you want it to be. A collection of buttons, Legos, blocks, tiny erasers, socks, rocks, and the list goes on and on. Anything you find in a collection can be a collection to count and sort. We read Dr. Seuss's book 123 to kick off his birthday and our counting work. 

                                                                             

                                                                               

            We use five, ten, and twenty frames to help us build our number sense. I created patterns, compared groups, and solved addition and subtraction problems. What kind of collection would you make?       

                                     

        The Bunnies enjoyed playing a pot of gold dice game, counting and comparing coin groups, and more. 

                                                               

                                                                       
                                                                              Keep on counting!

                 

February is Filled with Counting

 

                        February is for Counting and Creating

                The Kinder Bunnies were very busy this month with the Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day, and Leap Year. These special days offered us time to read, count, and create. 

                We created dragons for the Lunar New Year. We continued our non-standard measurement practice by using coins to measure our creations; we learned that some of us were born in the year of the Rooster and others in the year of the Dog. Thanks to one of our parents, we learned how to write numbers from one to ten in Chinese and how to count out loud. Grab a copy of Happy Chinese New Year! By Jannie Ho and enjoy a new book in your library.

                         

                       

                The Bunnies celebrated Valentine's Day by reading The Day It Rained Hearts. We created our own umbrellas and used hearts to create different math stories. We also used hearts for matching numbers, counting and sorting, patterns, and more. 

                Even though money isn't a standard in kindergarten, we couldn't resist using pennies to count and learn about President Lincoln. We also read a sweet story called A Penny In My Pocket by CM Harris. We learned that a kind gift can go a long way. 

               

                                       Counting is all around you. What will you count today?