Teachers are the best! Teacher ideas are the best! You are the best! I know I’m gushing, but I truly want to say thanks a zillion to those of you who responded to last week’s idea requests. And if you missed out on this amazing opportunity to earn The Mailbox gift certificates, there’s no need to worry. You can count on more blog contests and giveaways in the near future!
In fact, here’s a crazy idea! Let’s have a giveaway today! We’ll call it Monday Math Madness! Simply share a favorite October math activity before the end of Tuesday, October 5, and your name will be entered in a drawing for a surprise gift from me! Plus you’ll have a great variety of math ideas for the month of October!
Have a great Monday!
Happily,
Diane
PS: Thanks again for last week’s great ideas! If your ideas are selected for publication, you’ll hear from us in two to three weeks. Keep your fingers crossed!
Congratulations to our winner, Kimberly!
My favorite math lesson is with our addition and subtraction. I draw a circle on a regular sheet of paper and then copy it onto cardstock and laminate it. I make a class set. Then I give one to each of my kindergarteners. Next I give them 5 gold fish (or whatever number we are working on). They put one in at a time (for addition skills). We talk about how when you add one more it changes the number and increases the total. I write the addition problem on the board, just so they are exposed to how it should be written. They continue adding to their “pond” until all gold fish are in their pond. Next we go “fishing”. They pretend to have a fishing pole and we pretend to fish. They take one out (and eat it) and we talk about how many is left and how the total has decreased. Again, I write the subtraction problem on the board. We go all the way from 0 + 0 to 0-0. They love this math because it is fun, lets them move and they get a snack while they are learning! 🙂
I bring in a pumpkin and we do an estimating activity. Each child gets to lift the pumpkin and then write down on a slip of paper how much they think the pumpkin might weigh. Then we estimate the circumference of the pumpkin. I have a huge spool of string and they cut the strength to the length that they think will go perfectly around the middle of the pumpkin. We add their name to each string and tape them up on the board so we can see the varying lengths that were made. Finally we weigh the pumpkin and then orally share each individuals estimate to see who was the closest. Next we use each students string to see if theirs was too short, too long or just right! Kids love it!
I am a preservice teacher, but my mom brings in a pumpkin and lets the kids estimate how many seeds are in the pumpkin. They get to look inside and feel around before writing their answer. After everyone has guessed, they count the seeds together. The person who was closest wins a small prize, but everyone gets to help make toasted pumpkin seeds and eat them as a snack! 🙂
I am going to school for childcare so can only think of what I would do with my kids at home. A pumpkin has numerous activities.
1) weigh the kids and then weigh the pumpkin to figure out which weighs more.
2) guess how many pumkin seeds are in the pumpkin.
3) cook the pumkin seeds and have them count out equal number of seeds
4) use a ruler to measure out the eyes, nose and mouth to then cut out the features.
5) light the candle inside of carved pumpkin and guess how long it will stay lit. Then work with copies of a clock face and create one with current time and then each child’s guess.
6) eat the seeds counted out in #3.
One of my favorite October activities is graphing what they got while they were out trick-or-treating. At home, they write down the different type of treats the received and the amount of each kind. Then, they bring that information to school. At school, the students make graphs (picto and/or bar for younger students and pie charts for olders) to show their data. In addition, we calculate percentages and ratios (5th and 6th grade) for our results as well. As a class, we make one graph with the data from the whole class. Each student also makes up 5 questions that can be answered by looking at their graph and they switch graphs with five different people until all questions are answered. If we have time, we use the data in health class to figure out how many calories we would eat if we ate all the candy or a certain type of candy. Our health book has a chart of different types of exercises and how many calories they burn, so we look at that and figure out what they would need to do to burn off the calories they consume. I always make some extra bags of treats in case someone forgets their information or does not go trick-or-treating.
When we do our spider unit, we make spider bodies (circles) with the number 8 on the bodies. At my math center, I have lots of black “leg” pieces. At this center, they come up with 8 different ways to get to “8” and write each way on one “leg” piece and then connect them to the spider body. We hang these up all over our room and have some great math inspired Halloween decorations!
Ok, so you may be getting sick of seeing my posts, but I have one more. 🙂 I used this activity when I taught 5th and 6th grade. I put students in groups of 2-3 students and gave them each a card with different information on it. Each card had a budget, an amount of trick or treaters, and how many pieces of candy to hand out to each trick or treater. The groups had to use the ads from the Sunday paper to figure out what treats to hand out AND stay within their budget. Once this was completed successfully, the groups were handed another card. This time, they had to either decorate a haunted house or plan a Halloween party. (they were allowed to choose) Each card contained a budget, a supply list, and how many people would be attending. Students were allowed to use the internet OR the newspaper ads in this activity, but if they ordered something off of a website, they had to include shipping in their costs. These projects usually took a few days to complete, but it was always worth the time it took to practice real world math skills. 🙂
I have 10 pumpkin cups (pick up at walgreen single or any other store in a pack of 10 or 12) and each have number 1-10 on them . then i have a pile of pumpkins eraser (got at dollar section at target but most store will have some kind of pack 60 came in pack ) then they can put correct amount of pumpkin in correct pumpkin .
Kindergarten
Give each student a piece of paper that looks like a pumpkin patch. Have one student say any number 1-10. Then they have to put that many pumpkins in thier patch using orange paint and pointer finger. Have another child say a number 1-10, and put that many pumpkins in thier pumpkin patch. How many pumpkins do you have total. They can even decorate the pumpkins after they dry.
An activity that I enjoy doing in October with my preschoolers comparing and ordering the sizes of pumpkins. The students are shown pumpkins of various sizes. We examine the shapes, color and sizes of the pumpkins. I let the students pick up the pumpkins and compare the weight of the pumpkin (heavy/light). We will then sort the pumpkins into categories according to there size. Another activity that we do with the pumkins are to order them from smallest to largest. At the end of the lesson we ususally carve our pumpkin, allowing the students to remove the “guts” and seeds. The students then count the number of seeds that they removed from the pumpkin!! I am a Speech Pathologist who currently teaches a class of 3 and 4 year olds with language deficits and making things hands on is a strong part of my therapy! I LOVE MY JOB!!!
I make 5 felt apples with numbers and 5 worms ranging in size. We do the Mailbox rhyme 5 Shiny Apples
5 Shiny apples hanging in a tree. Teasing Mr Worm you can’t get me you can’t get me. Along comes MR. Worm as sneaky as can be, CRUNCH! He eats an apple MUNCH, MUNCh., MUNCH.
As we do this rhyme with the felt board the worms get larger. The children correct me as I make mistakes in if the worms should be small or bigger. Lots of size concepts and number recognition for my preschoolers.
I put candy corn in a jar and the students estimate how many pieces are in the jar. Before hand, I tell them to try to estimate how many are in a row at the bottom of the glass jar. Then they try to answer it by counting how many rows.
For a first grade math lesson, I get enough assorted fall candy (candy corn, marshmallow pumpkins, chocolate corn, etc.) for each student to have a handful. They then have to make a t-chart of how much of each kind of candy they have. We practice showing this number in tally marks as well. The students then have to create a bar graph to represent the kinds of candy they found and write a sentence about their graph. This is a fun way to practice counting, sorting, tally marks, and graphing skills. Plus, students get to have a candy treat in the end! I usually like to do this during the week of Halloween or on the day of the Halloween party when students need an extra motivating activity to stay engaged amongst all the excitement!
I use pumpkin shapes that are laminated and are numbered 1-10 (or whatever numbers you are working on)and on the opposite side I put dots that correspond with the number on front. The children use pumpkin seeds for one-to-0ne correspondence to the dots or if they are more advanced the count out the pumpkin seeds that go with the number on each pumpkin shape.
Last year my students were learning ordered pairs. I wanted to do a fun activity with them so we made an ordered pair game board. On the bottom were the letters A-F. On the left side of the board we put the numbers 1-6. I made one die with the letters and one die for the numbers. The students worked in pairs of two and they would put a piece of candy on each space (for Halloween we used candy corn and for our fall party we used pumpkins). The students worked in groups of 2. They would roll the dice and eat the candy on that space. The kids would keep a list of the ordered pairs they found. There are different ways you could let the children win. First, if they complete a whole row they could win. If you mix the candy corn and the pumpkins they could win after getting three pumpkins. You can just use your imagination. It helps the children reinforce the concept and they LOVE this game!
I work with 3 and 4 year olds at daycare and each month we have a pattern that they attempt to figure out during calendar time. For example in October our pattern is pumpkin leaf pumpkin leaf. So before I show them the new number I start 3 or 4 ahead of the new number and begin the pattern and then they fill in when I stop. They can do AB, ABB, and ABC patterns by the time they leave my room!
After my Kindergarten class visits the Pumpkin Patch, we do “Pumpkin Math”
We “estimate” how much each pumpkin weighs and which is the heaviest. Then I weigh them on a bathroom scale. We count the rings on each pumpkin, We measure around each and how tall each pumpkin is. THEN we estimate how many seeds they think are in my class pumpkin. I cut open my pumpkin and pull out all the slimy stuff (they love the yuck factor) . Then we put all the seeds on plates and they use little “communion “cups to count the seeds by 10 per cup to find out how many were inside.
They then take their pumpkins home and we carve mine to be used in a special ECE chapel later in the week.
Have Fun
Carol
I teach kindergarten. In the fall, I teach nonstandard measurement with many ideas. One of these ideas is to laminate leaves, either silk leaves or real ones. Then I have the students measure the leaves with snap cubes, teddy bear counters or links. Sometimes I have the students record their answers on paper, other times the students just tell me the answer orally. I also use a jointed scarecrow that you would hang on a door. I have the student measure the different parts of the scarecrow (i.e. the hat, the arm, the leg, the foot, etc.) with snap cubes. Then the students write how long each of the part is on a recording sheet.
I teach preschool 3-5 year olds and my kids love to play pass the pumpkin. We have a stuffed pumkin that we have the parts that need to be put together on and the pumkin has different parts to decorate with and we often make a pattern to decorate the outside of it with after we have built it. My students love to see what our pattern for the day is going to turn out to be and I love to see their faces after words.
Graduated size (Kindergarten) – I took a cute spider from Mailbox Companion and copy/pasted it 5 times in a Word document. Then I changed the sizes so that I can teach graduated size. The students cut out the spiders and glue them (in size order) on two 3 inch black strips of construction paper, stapled together to make a Spider Headband.
Similar to Nancy, we use Halloween candies in my fourth grade math class when we work on benchmark numbers. I fill one container with candy corn or another similar candy and let the students know how many pieces are in the first container. Then I fill an identical container with an unknown amount of the same candy. Students use the benchmark of the known first container to estimate the number in the full container.
I teach preschool 4-5 year olds and I love to buy different size pumpkins and teach the children them small, medium and large.
I like to do a graphing activity with apples with my first grade students. I will have a large selection of different colored apples (red, green, yellow, multicolored) at the front of the room. Each of the students will be given sheets of paper seperated into sections labelled as the different colored apples(listed above, this will be the students graphs. The students will also have the a variety of the different colored apples in cardstock form. First I have the students determine how many apples there are in each category and to use their cardstock apples on their graphs to indicate this. After all of the students have finished their graphs, we will go over as a class what the students came up with.
We do a lot of math activities in October. One the favorites is having the firefighters climb the ladder. I draw a ladder with 12 rungs on it, the children roll a die, count the number of dots and make the firefighter climb that many rungs. When they get to the top they put out the fire and climb back down.
I like to measure pumpkins that we pick on our field trip to the pumpkin patch. We measure how big around it is and how much it weighs. We also estimate how many seeds are inside. Then we cut it open and count them.
I also do a candy graph after Halloween!
Wowee! I hope everyone is enjoying this spectacular assortment of October ideas as much as I am. Thanks to all for sharing! We’ll announce the prize winner very soon. I think something “fallish” is in order, don’t you? 🙂 Also, because these ideas are so great, I’ve asked our editors to review them for possible publication, and you know what that means! We could also be mailing out some $20 gift certificates. I’m looking out for ya! Smiles! Diane
I teach kindergarten and I use Halloween shaped erasers to reinforce the skill of patterning. I put the erasers in a baby food jar along with a paper labeled for the kind of pattern I want the student to demonstrate. The kids love it and I can quickly see who has it and who needs more practice. We put the jars out in the morning and after the students finish breakfast they complete the math jar for morning work!
I’m a recent kindergarten retired teacher. I have tons of wonderful, fun activities for the children-I’d like to share a song I made up by myself for the children to learn the four seasons of the year.
WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, THESE ARE THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR
SNOW IN WINTER, FLOWERS BLOOM IN SPRING, HOT SUMMER DAYS AND FALLING LEAVES!(Of course I sing it to a special tune I made up)Would I be able to get any money for this or further activities I have to offer
I’m a recently retired kindergarten teacher.
I have tons of ideas-especially in the areas of art, music and math. Would I be able to share my ideas with others and receive money for them?
This is a song I made up which we sang every morning so the children could learn the four seasons of the year.
I displayed beautiful pictures of each season so the children were able to point to the individual seasons. Of course, you won’t be able to tell the tune I used, but here are the words.
WINTER, SPRING
SUMMER, FALL
THESE ARE THE SEASONS FOUR IN ALL
SNOW IN WINTER
FLOWERS BLOOM IN SPRING
HOT SUMMER DAYS
AND FALLING LEAVES
We sang this song every day during our opening exer cises-the children loved taking my wand, singing the song as they pointed to each season.