Activities! Tasty Soup! Predictions! Carnival Rides! And Making New Friends!
Every other Wednesday, we post selections from our vast and wonderful archive of Early Math & Early Childhood Ed activities.
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Hello!
This week we have some of my favorite stories about friendship.
In Seaweed Soup, a MathStart story that about matching sets, is also about generosity, supporting a friend, and the joy of trying something new. Watch the video of me reading the story!
Emma’s Friendwich, an I See I Learn book, is about how to make a new friend. (Hint: sharing helps!) This story is available in English and Spanish. Scroll down for FREE pdf posters!
Divide and Ride (dividing) tells the story of 11 best friends at a carnival who figure how to split up their tickets so that everybody gets to go on a ride and have fun.
In Same Old Horse (making predictions), the friends are horses! Hankie (short for Hankerchief—he sneezes a lot), Jazz, Majesty and Spark Plug.
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While Mathstart books focus on teaching mathematical skills and I See I Learn books focus on social, emotional, health & safety and cognitive skills, a story can teach many skills. There is math in everything we do: How many new friends does Emma have? Social and emotional skills are important life skills: Turtle’s friends are able to navigate a tricky situation (Oh no! Smelly, slimy soup!). They are loyal, true friends. And the soup is delish!
I am so glad you my friends!
Your friend,
Stuart
* And for my friends in the Boston, mark your calendars! I will be at Beacon Hill Books in January for a presentation on my latest book, Show and Tell! Great Graphs and Smart Charts. More details coming soon!
Mathstart is a series of 63 storybooks organized into three levels for Pre-K through Grade 4. Each story teaches a different mathematical skill.
You can buy individual books, sets by level, or a complete library. Here is list of where to find MathStart books!
• Level 1, Pre-K/ Kindergarten
Seaweed Soup (matching sets)
Turtle is such a generous and good friend that none of his buddies can say no when he invites them to lunch for a bowl of that "thick and green, gooey and slimy" delicacy, seaweed soup. Will he have enough matching place settings for everybody? Not to worry. This is one resourceful turtle!
Understanding sets is an important step in counting, as well as in learning about patterns.
• Level 2, Kindergarten / Grade 1:
Same Old Horse (making predictions)
Poor Hankie the horse is allergic to hay! And every 20 minutes he sneezes. But that’s only the beginning of his boring predictability, of which pasture-mates Jazz and Majesty waste no time making fun. “Just watch,” says Jazz to Majesty.” Hankie will come out of the barn at exactly ten o’clock.” They know that Hankie’s owner Susan takes him out about an hour after she arrives at the barn, and she arrived at nine o’clock. They also know which week Hankie will wear a blue saddle pad, and when he likes to roll in the grass and take a long cool drink. Hankie’s buddy Spark Plug assures him that predictability isn’t always such a bad thing. Still, Hankie may have a surprise in store for everyone.
Making predictions based on the observation of patterns is an important part of logical thinking.
• Level 3, Grades 2 - 4:
Divide and Ride (dividing)
In order to ride the Dare-Devil roller coaster at the Carnival, there must be two kids in each seat. But what if you're part of a group of 11 best friends? Ten kids will fit in five seats, but what do you do about the one who's "left over"? Meanwhile, chairs on the Satellite Wheel seat three, which means two best friends will be left over. Every ride presents a problem. Can the kids figure out how to fill all the seats so that everybody gets to ride?
Understanding the meaning of remainders in simple division problems is a precursor to solving more difficult division problems.
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 (see map).
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.
Emma’s Friendship (making friends)
Emma is new in town. More than anything, she wants to make new friends. See what happens when she smiles, asks to play, offers to help, and shares her toys. Making friends is fun!
The ability to make new friends is important as young children meet one another and work and play together.
Encourage your child to make a new friend!
Emma hace amigos (hacer amigos)
Emma acaba de mudarse a un nuevo vecindario. Y lo que más desea es hacer amigos. Ve lo que sucede cuando ella sonríe, pide que la dejen jugar, y se ofrece a ayudar y a compartir sus juguetes. ¡Hacer amigos es divertido!
La habilidad de hacer amigos nuevos es importante mientras los niños se conocen y trabajan y juegan juntos.
¡Anime a su hijo/a a hacer un amigo nuevo!
Do you have a story or a question? Please send me an email!