Math Bag
By: Lesley Smyth, Jamie Yorke, Iren Hjelkrem
Introduction to Math Bag
Welcome to our fishy math bag. The activities in the bag are not
intended to be extra homework for a child or work for parents. They
are simply fun things to do to at home when the time is available. These
activities are meant to give children additional math time outside the
classroom setting . They will enhance math skills and also
provide an opportunity for language arts, social studies and creative arts.
For those students who want the extra challenge , all or several of the
activities may be taken home at once or, the teacher can help a student
choose an appropriate activity for the learning and interest level of that
child.
All four activities can be modified to meet the specific needs of different
students and their learning abilities.
We felt that the theme of fish might be fun and generate interest for
additional learning, so all of our activities are somehow "fishy”.
Contents
Letter to family
Dear Parents/Guardian,
In our classroom this year, we will be enriching our math curriculum
in a very interesting way. We will be studying various math concepts
by working co-operatively in pairs and in groups. This will give
everyone a chance to take part in many enriching learning experiences.
In addition, I will be sending home a “math bag” with your child once
a week to enhance your child’s learning and understanding of the concepts.
The math bag will consist of a variety of interdisciplinary activities
related to math. The activities will coincide with the lesson that
is being taught that week. Some of the activities may require some
assistance from you or an older sibling. Along with the bag, there
will be a self-assessment form that the student is to fill out upon completion
of the activities. This will help me in the evaluation of how he/she
comprehends the math concepts.
I realize that many of you have extremely busy schedules, but I feel
it is very important to take part in your child’s learning experience.
If there is anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to call. Thanks
for your support.
Sincerely,
__________________
Title, Author, and Synopsis
of book(s)
One Less Fish by Kim Michelle Toft and Allan Sheather., This
book discusses the environmental concerns about the coral reef and how
many fish are becoming extint.
Sea Squares by Joy N. Hulme and illustrations by Carol Schwartz.,
This book uses adding and multipication to describe animals and their parts.
Instructions
and print materials for activity 1: Go Fish
With a partner, deal 7 cards to each person and spread out the remainder
of the deck in a pile face down. Each person lies down as many pairs
that they have in their hand. Then one partner asks the other if
they have a card that they need. If the partner has it, he/she must
give it to them so they can lay down their pair. If he/she does not
have it, they say, “Go Fish!” The partner then picks out a card from
the pile and adds it to their hand. This continues back and forth
until one person has got rid of all their cards. The players then
write down the pairs on a piece of paper and practice adding them together.
Instructions and print
materials for activity 2: Colour Counters
This activity is a very effective way to help your child learn how
to do addition at an introductory level. The counters are red on one side
and yellow on the other. This activity teaches children basic addition
in a way that is fun and challenging, the directions are as follows.
* Start with 5 counters
* Have the child shake the counters and then drop them to the
floor or onto a table
* Then have them record the outcome in their math scriblers.
The recording
involves printing the Date and the number Five at the
top of the page. Have them
colour in five circles. Colouring circles red and yellow as
they landed on the
surface, under the circles indicate the number of red circles
under the red circles
and the number of yellow circles under the yellow circles. There
is a sample of
children’s work included in this math bag.
* Have them repeat this process until they discovered all the ways
to come
up with the number 5
After completing the number five move on to the number six and record
findings in the same manner on the next page. Continue this process until
your child is comfortable working with ten counters.
The child may simply place the counters down on the surface instead
of shaking them. One goal behind this is to allow the child to explore
the process of discovering the different possible combinations of each
number
Something to look for is your child’s ability to recognise patterns.
One of the samples of a classmates work shows the process of starting with
all Yellow as the first way. Then turning one Red over at a time. Until
all counters are Red.
Instructions
and print materials for activity 3: Sea Squares
Inside the bag you will find a fun book called “Sea Squares”.
If you have time read this book to your child or have them read it to you,
whatever works best. This is not intended to be homework but
simply a fun way for your child to play with the concept of sequencing
in manner which is language arts based.
After reading the story, take out the enclosed cards and lay them face
up in front of your child. See if they can remember the sequence
of the story and have them use the cards or simply have them tell you which
came first, which came next ….which came last. It is like a memory game
but is also a good way to measure the level of attention to the story all
the while playing with numbers . The cards are simply there for additional
support if it is required. Have fun and while you’re at it, test
your own memory !
Special
instructions and/or materials for special needs
This bag will be individually modified for different students in our class
to meet their individual needs. No one student in the class will be given
all of the materials included in this bag. Some examples of how this
bag will be modified for some students in our class are;
? Mathew – Mathew is a low level reader, but enjoys math games. For
him we would not include the fish book activity, instead the bag would
include the math counters game as well as the go fish game.
? Janice -– Janice enjoys reading and sequencing stories for her we
would be sure to include the fish book, she would reading doing the accompanied
activities.
? Margaret – Margaret is very good at recognising patterns and enjoys
adding and subtraction. For her we would consider putting more counters
in her counters bag as it would challenge her using larger numbers.
? Trevor – Trevor is struggling in math but is making improvements
in reading. He really seems to enjoy reading and informed us that his mother
has played some fun card games with him, for him we would include the fish
book and the go fish game. Through the go fish game he would have fun and
learn number recognition at the same time. We would leave out the math
counters game in Trevor’s case.
Curriculum outcomes for each
activityOutcomes
Students will be able to:
- Sort sets based on numbers
- Match quantities with numerals
- Order numbers and use ordinal language
- Recognize that addition is used to represent the joining
of two groups
- Move freely among representing an addition or subtraction with
a picture, a model, or a number sentence
- Know simple addition facts from among those for which the total
is 10 or less
- Reproduce, extend, and create simple patterns based on number
- Sequence events
- Create patters with 3-D solids and 2-D shapes
- Use number patterns to help solve addition and subtraction
questions.
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Developed for Education 4173 Elementary Mathematics Methods
at the School of Education, Acadia University.
2000 Copyright remains with the authors.
Mathbag
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