Happy Holly!

This Wednesday, December 19, is Holly Day! It’s a day set aside to celebrate holly, an evergreen plant that is associated with Christmas. The Mailbox® is in North Carolina, and I see holly bushes all over the place, which seems odd to me in the middle of summer. Here are some interesting holly facts you can share with your students!

• Holly berries are poisonous to both people and pets. So even though they may look lovely, don’t eat them.
• There are over 400 different types of holly!
• Holly has been used as a decoration for winter holidays for at least 2000 years.

Use these holly patterns for decomposing numbers! Give each child a copy of the holly patterns as well as a supply of counters. She writes a number that is less than or equal to ten on a berry. Then she uses the counters to decompose that number into a pair of numbers. She writes the corresponding equation on the leaf. (For example, if she chose the number 7, she could write, “5+2.”) She continues to add equations to the leaf that equal the number. Then she repeats the process with a different number on the remaining holly berry and leaf. Afterward, she colors the leaves and berries.