Activities! Space, Shopping & Safari Park! Plus First Rate Pitching & a Data Gathering Competition for a FREE book!
Every other Wednesday, we post selections from our vast and wonderful archive of Early Math & Early Childhood Ed activities.
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Hello!
That’s Ajay from the I See I Learn stories playing baseball with Jack, the “star” of a MathStart book (and inspired by my grandson Jack). Ajay has been practicing how to throw a ball straight and far—and he’s gotten pretty good at it! But Jack looks like he’s ready to hit the ball into outer space! This could go into extra innings…
This week our three MathStart books are:
Jack the Builder (counting on)
Mall Mania (addition strategies)
Safari Park (solving for unknowns)
And our featured I See I Learn book is:
Good Job, Ajay! (building self-confidence)
¡Bien hecho, Ajay! (como ganar confianza en ti mismo)
Now, let’s have some fun!
—Stuart
Teachers! Scroll down to the end of this newsletter for information about an exciting data visualization challenge with a FREE book as a prize!
Mathstart is a series of 63 storybooks organized into three levels for Pre-K through Grade 4. Each story teaches a different mathematical skill.
Here is list of where to buy MathStart books!
• Level 1, Pre-K/ Kindergarten
Jack the Builder (counting on)
Jack has the best blocks ever. They come in all shapes (square, rectangle, cylinders, cones) and colors. In Jack’s imagination, an arrangement of just two blocks is a robot. Add one more block and presto! It’s a hot dog stand at the circus. Add two more blocks for a total of five for a ferry boat. And so it goes, counting on more and more blocks, all the way to the super-duper, ready-for-lift-off rocket ship. Blast off! All the blocks fall down and it’s time for Jack to start over again.
Counting on is a strategy to help young children understand how to solve addition problems.
• Level 2, Kindergarten / Grade 1:
Mall Mania (addition strategies)
It's "Mall Mania" Day at the Parkside Mall. To celebrate, the 100th shopper to enter the mall will win all kinds of cool gifts. Jonathon, Nicole, Gabby and Steven—members of the Wilson Elementary chess club—are adding up the number of shoppers to come through each of the mall's four doors, sharing the data via walkie-talkie. Club captain Heather and advisor Mr. Grant are coordinating efforts. "How many shoppers so far?" asks Heather. Nicole counts 7, Gabby 4, Steve 3, and Jonathon 2: That's 7 + 4 + 3 + 2. Nicole adds the numbers one by one: first, 7 + 4 = 11; next, 11 + 3 = 14; and then, 14 + 2 = 16. Who ends up the lucky 100th shopper? Let's just say it's someone who never expected to be counted at all!
Addition strategies are important skills for adding more than two numbers.
• Level 3, Grades 2 - 4:
Safari Park (solving for unknowns)
Grandpa's taking all the grandkids to the neatest amusement park ever: Safari Park. All the Jungle King rides cost 4 tickets. Rhino Rides are just two tickets. Monkey Games and Tiger Treats are a bargain at one ticket each. But a ride on the "spectacular, amazing, heart-pounding Terrible Tarantula" costs six tickets! Each of the kids has 20 tickets and has to figure out the best combination to have the most fun. Which would you choose?
An essential part of early algebraic thinking is understanding a "number sentence" with a missing element (8 + ? = 20), and the process for figuring out the unknown.
I See I Learn is a series of 16 stories that follow the adventures of the children in Miss Cathy’s class at Ready, Set Pre-K in See-and-Learn City. Each story focuses on a different social, emotional, health & safety and cognitive skill important for success in school and in life. For Pre-K / Kindergarten.
Here is list of where to buy I See I Learn books!
20% Discount for Sets of 16 books at the I See I Learn Store!
Good Job, Ajay! (building self-confidence)
Ajay wants to throw a ball straight and far. He tries, but he just can't do it. Then his friends remind Ajay how he learned to do other things. See what happens when they cheer him on.
Having confidence is critical as young children try new things, face new challenges, and attempt to reach higher goals.
Help your child take on something new!
FREE POSTER
¡Bien hecho, Ajay! (como ganar confianza en ti mismo)
Ajay quiere lanzar la pelota en línea recta y lejos. Él trata, pero no lo logra. Entonces sus amigos le recuerdan cómo aprendió a hacer otras cosas. Ve lo que pasa cuando sus amigos lo apoyan.
Tener confianza es importante para los niños mientras tratan de hacer cosas nuevas, encuentran desafíos nuevos, y tratan de lograr metas difíciles.
¡Ayude a su hijo/a a tratar de hacer algo nuevo!
FREE POSTER
DATA VISUALIZATION CHALLENGE & CHANCE TO WIN A FREE BOOK
Being able to gather, organize, visualize and interpret data are very important skills in the 21st century. Data are all around us! (By the way, did you know the singular of “data” is “datum”?)
Embedded below is the presentation I gave with Jon Dueck at the Summer Early Math Symposium. We showed several examples of how data can be turned into bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs and pictographs.
Jon, who works with teachers and students Pre-K through Grade 5, shares several ideas for classroom activities.
We invite you to create your own classroom data collection projects! Send us the results, with a chart or graph incorporated into an infographic. The first 50 respondents will receive a free copy of Show and Tell! Great Graphs and Smart Charts.*
We look forward to featuring some of your submissions in our newsletter!
Here is the Official Submission Link.
If you have any questions, please send Jon an email: jdueck@fcoe.org
Do you have a story or a question? Please send me an email!