fall math.

Our math curriculum {Investigations} spends a lot of time on measurement and comparison in the first quarter.  While it offers a lot of games and activities, sometimes a kid just needs a change...er, a teacher just needs a creative outlet?!

{measurement}

I took a measurement sheet from a teammate and then {my favorite} extended it to build a great discussion.  The worksheet had the students measure various objects in the room {a piece of string, the stapler, a pencil, their hands, etc} and record how many caterpillars long it was.

But then the discussion started...  Why was your pencil only 5 caterpillars if his was 6?  Did someone do it wrong?  What does it mean?  Why would it be shorter?  Well why was your hand 4 cubes if hers is only 2?  How did you measure?  What does that mean?  Why are the answers different?

Their discussion was so good that I couldn't help but record it and hang their statements up with their work samples.  Way to think Kinders!

And of course we couldn't let measurement go by without measuring something fall-ish!  After they were proud of themselves for being smarter than me ;) in the previous discussion, I tried 'em again to see if they could explain their strategies {and different answers} by making the tool the variable.  They all measured the same pumpkin lengths but got to choose one of three tools and were only given at a time instead of lining them up to count!

{comparison}

We made towers of 10 and hunted around the room for things that were longer or shorter than our tower.  The second time we played we recorded in 3 columns and included things that were equal.  They drew a picture of the item and labeled it {for a challenge}.

Another favorite game is a spin off of an old Math Their Way game.  We call it Stack Tell Roll & Win. Sounds complicated.  But it's not.  And the kids love it!

Stack a tower of 10.  Put it behind your back and break it into 2.  Choose a piece to bring forward and show your partner.

Tell whose has more/less.  "I have more."  "I have less."  Roll the dice.  If it lands on L, the person with less takes all the cubes to add to their tower.  {If it lands on M the person with more takes all the cubes.}  Keep playing until one person has all 20 cubes.

 After reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, we decided to see how long our names were!

Count the letters in a friend's name.  Take one cube for each letter.  Make a tower to count and double check.  Repeat with a second name.  Tell whose is longer and shorter!

Again with fall, we made spider webs crawling with spiders.  The amount was up to the kids {BUT!} one had to have more and one had to have less.  I extended it to have the students write a sentence or two.