Tag Archives: Counting

A Cake All For Me!, by Karen Magnuson Beil

Pig is making a cake, all for himself but just as he is about to eat it some friends stop by. Will he share his cake with his friends? Count along to find the answer.

Materials

  • White cake mix
  • Bag of chocolate chips
  • Assorted colors of food coloring
  • A plastic spoon and cup for each child
  • Flour sifters and egg whips
  • Graters and a bag of carrots
  • 3 empty one gallon milk jugs and cups for pouring and scooping.
  • An index card for each child with their name printed on it.

Vocabulary

  • Share (to let somebody use something, to give part of what you have to someone else)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know what it means to share. Give examples of how you have seen the children share among themselves over the last day or two (I remember yesterday when Roger shared his markers with Kerry, that was being a good friend. I liked when I saw Sean let Alison have a turn on the bike).

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.

Reading the Story

Practice reading the story beforehand so that you have a nice rhythm as this is written in poem form. Point out some of the actions as you read. Also stop after 1,2, get out the moo. Ask the children if they think they know what ‘moo’ means in the story.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction, and poetry.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if Pig was a good friend, why? Talk about the importance of sharing. Tell the children sometimes it is hard to share but when you do it lets another person know you are friends.

Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; shows progress in developing friendships with peers.

Discovery

Make up the white cake mix according to directions. Scoop it into equal portions to make one plastic cup per child. Ask each child what color cake they would like to make. Drop the appropriate food coloring into their mix and give them a spoon to mix well. Have each child count out 5-10 chocolate chips and drop them into their batter. Continue to mix. Have a cupcake pan/s ready. The children (you may have to help) scoop their batter into a cupcake pan to make a class cake. Cook and cool before eating. If you like you can spread with a thin layer of cool whip as frosting. Yummy

Mathematics/Numbers & Operations; develops increasing ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.   

Music and Movement

Sing 1 Little 2 Little 3 Little children (sung to 1 Little 2 Little 3 Little Indians)

1 little 2 little 3 little children
4 little 5 little 6 little children
7 little 8 little 9 little children
10 children baking a cake! Yum!

Then count down 10-1 eating the cake! Yum!

Hold up fingers as you sing the numbers.  Mathematics/Numbers & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and beginning to match sets.

Do Patty Cake Patty Cake with the children but change out the letter to match children’s names and see if they can fill in the name where you would have said “For baby and me”.   With children who are just learning to recognize letters, make the letter sound also so the children can hear the letter sound before they guess.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; associates sounds with written words, such as awareness that different words begin with the same sound.

Blocks

Bring in a pan from the dramatic center and encourage the children to make a stove/oven that they can bake a cake in.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem-Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Art

Get out the play dough and your cookie cutters to pretend making cookies. Put out pieces of cardboard to put the cookies on so they can go in the oven.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Sand and Water

Put sifters in to the table with sand. Also egg whips, measuring cups, and several bowls.  Encourage the children to pretend to be bakers making a cake.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Library and Writing

Ask the children if they have a favorite recipe. Ask them how it is made, dictate their directions onto a piece of paper. They can then go through magazines to see if they can find their favorite food. Let them cut it out and glue it to their recipe.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses in abilities to initiate and respond appropriately in conversation and discussions with peers and adults.  AND Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and play.

Dramatic Play

Encourage the children to pretend to bake or cook a yummy treat. Add the book to the center as a reference guide. Or add a cookbook that has many pictures of food.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Math and Manipulatives

Bring in several graters and a bag of carrots for the children to try their hand at grating.  Remind them to be careful to not grate too close to the end or they might scrape their knuckles.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in eye-hand coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing patterns and shapes, stringing beads, and using scissors.  AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions or interruptions.

Outdoor play

Put the empty milk jugs into the sand box along with a variety of cups to scoop and pour. Challenge the children to pour the sand into the jugs and count how many scoops it took ( 16 cups=gallon, 8 pints=gallon)

Mathematics/Number & operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Transitions

Write each child’s name on an index card.  Tape the index cards onto the wall in front where the children can clearly see the names.  Tell the children that you are going to pretend that this is a delicious cake.  Now teach your children the following poem;  Down around the corner at the bakery shop, there was a beautiful cake with icing on top.  Along came (child’s name) all alone, and she took a piece of cake and then went home.  The child then comes up and finds their name among the names hanging on the wall.

Literacy/Print awareness; recognizes a word as a unit of print, or awareness that letters are grouped together to form words, and words are separated by spaces.

Dear Parent- Today we read a story about a pig who got to bake a cake.  Find a time this week when your child can help cook something in the kitchen.  It can be as simple as pouring milk into cereal or as complicated as baking and frosting a cake. Not only is it fun but following a recipe requires math skills and watching a cake rise in the oven involves science!

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs, by Paul Strickland

What child doesn’t like dinosaurs? This fun book will help children with their number awareness.

Materials

  • A variety of small dinosaurs

Vocabulary

  • Enormous (really, really big)
  • Spiky (sharp and pointed)
  • Elated (to be happy)
  • Feisty (acting pretty wild)
  • Weary (tired)
  • Carnivore (one who eats meat)
  • Herbivore (one who eats plants)
  • Canine teeth (the pointed tooth between the incisors and the molars, people have one on each side of their mouth.)

Before Reading the Story

Today the children will be exploring their teeth before reading the story. Make sure that the children have washed their hands appropriately before they come to the group today so that they will not be putting dirty fingers into their mouths. On a piece of paper, draw a large tooth. Ask the children if they know what it is? Talk for a moment about dental care (brushing, dentist visits, minimal sugars, and not using teeth to open things). After you have discussed dental care to your and the children’s satisfaction, point to the tooth you drew and ask the children if all teeth are shaped like this? (No, we have different kinds of teeth in our mouths to chew different kinds of food). Draw a pointy canine tooth. Tell them that some teeth are shaped like this and ask them to touch the tooth in their mouth that is pointy. Explain that this tooth is pointy so that it can tear and eat meat. People and animals that eat meat are called carnivores. Ask them to think about other animals that might have pointy teeth (dogs, cats, tigers, alligators). After each, if it is a meat eater say, “Yes, it’s a carnivore”. Have the children go back into their mouths and touch a back molar. Explain that some teeth are flat like these so that they can mash and chew plants. Tell them that people and animals that eat plants are called herbivores. Ask them to think of some animals that might be herbivores (horse, camel, elephant, rabbit). If it is a plant eater say, “Yes, it’s an herbivore. If the animal eats both meat and plants tell the children that it is both an herbivore and a carnivore and is called an omnivore. Let the children name animals and guess if it is a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore.

Science/Scientific Skills & Measurements; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and respect for their bodies and the environment.

Reading the Story

Tell the children that your story today is about a creature that is sometimes an herbivore and sometimes a carnivore. Read the title of the book and look at the dinosaurs on the cover. Point to each one and ask, could this one be a carnivore? (Only the ones with visible teeth count) When you get to the pages that say, “so then there were”…pause to see if the children can name the correct number.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. AND Science/Scientific Methods & Skills; develops increased abilities wo observe and discuss common properties, differences and comparisons among objects and materials.

After reading the Story

Hold up 10 fingers and state, “10 take away one equals _____. Let down a finger. (take away one equals ____.) Continue down to zero.

Mathematics/ Numbers & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for problem solving and determining quantities.

Discovery

Bring in pictures of dinosaurs or books about dinosaurs.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and poetry.

Do a web search of dinosaur pictures to color and print off 4-5 realistic looking pictures for the children to talk about, compare, and color.

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers.

Music and Movement

Say, “Feel that shaking on the floor, must be the dancing of the dinosaurs!” Turn on some lively music and stomp, twist and dance to the music.

Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles.

Blocks

Dinosaurs in blocks would be fun. If you do not have dinosaurs, cut out pictures from the internet and tape to your blocks.

Creative Arts/Dramatic play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming roles in dramatic play situations.

Art

Move the chairs away from your art table and have the children stand around the edges. Tell them that you are going to be dancing, twirling, silly dinosaurs. Put out two primary colors of finger paint directly on the table and some lively music. As the children finger paint the tabletop, help them be aware that the two colors are mixing into a new one. Make sure to give yourself a little extra clean-up time. Children seem to really enjoy painting the table but it takes extra time to clean.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Library and Writing

Write D/d on a piece of paper. Point to and name the capital D and then do the same with the lower case d. Tell the children that D/d is the letter that begins the word dinosaur. Have the children practice making the D/d sound several times. Ask the children to think of as many D/d words as they can and write them on the paper repeating the /d/ sound and the word each time.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating names of letters with their shapes and sounds. AND Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds in words.

Sand and Water

Add small dinosaurs to the sand table. Dampen the sand so the children can make mountains, craters, and volcanoes. Add rocks and sticks to make a dinosaur diorama.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Dramatic Play

As the children move about the room today, at intervals call out , “Dinosaurs Roar!” and encourage all the children to roar loudly with you. You could have the children roar for each other when they or you have seen someone do an act of kindness or friendship.

Social and Emotional Development/Social Relationships; shows progress in developing friendships with peers.

Math and Manipulatives

This would be a good day to put out any puzzles relating to dinosaurs, teeth, or numbers. If you have none of these, any puzzles will do, both table and floor.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, or experiences.

Outdoor Play

Choose one child to be the ferocious, meat eating Tyrannosaurus Rex. The rest of the children can be the gentle plant-eating dinosaurs. The T Rex is “it” and chases the other dinosaurs . If they are caught, they must go stand by a tree and pretend to eat the leaves until the T Rex has caught three children and then a new T Rex is chosen.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping. Mathematics/Numbers & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. Develops increased abilities to combine, separate, and name “how many” concrete objects.

Transitions

As the children go to their next activity, ask them to make loud chomping sounds if they are an herbivore plant eater, roar if they are a carnivore meat eater, now stomp on off.

Literacy/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varies vocabulary.

Dear Parents, Help your child learn to count by doing this little dinosaur song. As you sing each number hold up the corresponding finger.

Ten Big Dinosaurs (To the Tune of “10 Little Indians”)

1 big, 2 big, 3 big dinosaurs,

4 big, 5 big, 6 big dinosaurs,

7 big, 8 big, 9 big dinosaurs,

Ten Big Dinosaurs!

They all lived a long, long time ago.

They all lived a long, long time ago.

They all lived a long, long time ago.

Now there are no more.

My Granny Went to Market, A Round-the World Counting Rhyme, by Stella Blackstone

Materials

  • Globe
  • Pieces of cardboard 4×8 inches, one per child
  • Hole puncher
  • Many pieces of yarn about 4-5 inches long
  • Dice, one with dots for numbers and one with numbers 1-6 written upon it
  • (If you have one inch cubes, these can easily be turned into dice)

Vocabulary

  • Flying Carpet (a magic carpet, small rug that flies in the air)
  • Tassels (the edging of the flying carpet)
  • Fierce (ferocious and wild looking)
  • Spiraled (swirled)
  • Market (a shop or store)

Introducing the Story

Bring out the globe and ask the children if they know what it is. Explain that a globe is a map of the world. Ask them why they think it is round instead of flat like most maps. Explain to the children that the world is really round like a ball and so the globe is round like a ball to show where things are. Now open the front cover of the book and show the children the map inside. Explain that mapmakers make maps flat so they can be folded up and taken with. Show the children the flat map and about the proximity where your school is located. Then find the approximate spot on the globe. These are both ‘here, where we are’ just looking at it from two different points of view. Use your finger and follow the map on the front cover while saying this is where Granny went on trip around the world.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the contexts of classroom, home, and community.

Reading the Story

As you begin to read the story, start in North America and move your finger across the globe to each of Granny’s destinations. On the page where Granny goes to Istanbul, show the children the tassels on the end of her flying carpet. Ask the children if they think a flying carpet is real. Ask them how they think people really travel long distances. (plane, boat, train, car). Turn to the next page and explain to the children in this story we have to use our imagination as Granny flies on her carpet from one place to another. On each page hold up the number of fingers that states the number of objects that Granny bought. After the page with 4 lanterns, ask the children if they can guess how many items Granny will buy at the next destination. (The story goes up 1-10 items).

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

After Reading the Story

After reading the story, ask the children if they can remember some of the items that Granny bought along her way. If they children cannot recall, go through the pages and let them see the pictures to help them remember what Granny bought in each country. As you finish up with the story, ask the children if they can remember which state they live in. Go back to the globe and find your state, then tell the children that it is in North America. Have the children repeat back to you, the name of your state and North America.

Social & Emotional/Knowledge of Families and Community; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in contexts of the classroom, home, and community. AND Literacy/Book KNowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Music and Movement

Count to ten and back again. Have the children crouch down and together slowly count to ten. As you count hold up the correct number of fingers and begin to stand up slowly. You should reach 10 in a fully stood up position with hands over head. Now have them count back down slowly lowering their bodies into a crouching position and holding up the correct number of fingers. (My children liked to get to zero and yell, “Blast off!” and jump up).

Mathematics/Numbers & Operations; develops increasing ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.

Put on a variety of music from different countries and let the children explore moving and dancing to each. For example; put on the Mexican Hat Dance music from Mexico and teach the children the dance (All stand in a large circle. Tap your heels in beat with the music-left foot right foot, left. Right foot, left foot, right. Left foot, right foot, left. Right foot, left foot, right. Skip round and round the circle, skip round and round some more. Skip round and round the circle, then begin the tap once more).

Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles

Today would be a fun day to let the children experiment with instruments during free play time. If you have any bell type instruments, you can put them out and remind the children that Granny bought 5 bells in Switzerland.

Creative Arts/Music; experiments with a variety of musical instruments.

Discovery

Show the children how to fold a simple paper airplane and let them practice flying them. https://www.diynetwork.com/made-and-remade/learn-it/5-basic-paper-airplanes

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions. AND Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing balls, and using a slide and swing.

Blocks

Add any type of play material that the children can sort into like kinds (animals, small cars, colored cubes, etc.) Encourage them to build fences around the like kinds, or structures to house the like kinds.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Art

Make flying carpets today. Ahead of time, punch holes along the 4-inch edge of the pieces of cardboard. Let the children use markers to decorate their carpet. Show them how to thread a piece of yarn through one of the holes and tie it off with a knot. These will become the tassels. You may want to trim the tassels down when the children are through making their carpet.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in eye-hand coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads and using scissors.

Sand and Water

Granny flew over the ocean. Put out water play today and add float and sink items.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. 

Library and Writing

Ask the children if they have ever been to the market with their Granny or their parent. Talk about the kinds of things that they purchased when they went to the market. Encourage them to draw a picture of what they purchased and you write their dictation about their market experience on another piece of paper and then attach to their illustration.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next n a story.

This can easily be turned into a classroom book entitled; We Went to Market, a Classroom counting book. Have children draw a specific number of items that they purchased at the market (Roger bought 1 box of cereal, Alison bought 2 hair bows, Ryan bought 3 match box cars, etc.)

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups.

Dramatic Play

Travel play. Bring in any small suitcases or bags that the children can use to pack their things. Ask them which mode of transportation they are pretending to travel by. Help them to assemble what they need to make it (bring in extra chairs for seating in a plane or train, add a paper plate for a steering wheel, or let them use a beach towel if they want to travel by flying carpet.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next n a story.

Math and Manipulaties

Put out any kind of memory game that you have. If you do not have a memory game, you can use a deck of cards. Pull out a pair of the number cards 1-10. Turn the cards upside down on the table. The children take turns picking up two cards. If they are the same number, they get to keep the pair and go again. If they are not the same number, they turn the cards back over on the table and it is the next child’s turn. Play until all the pairs are found. Let the children count their cards to see who has the most.

Mathematics/Number Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities and written numerals in meaningful ways. Mathematics/Number Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to.

Put out any type of seriating toy that you have in your classroom (nesting dolls, small to large counting bears, large to small stacking toys, puzzles)

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such a color, shape, or size.

Outdoor Play

Youtube shows how to make several simple boomerangs from both cardboard and paper. You will have to make these ahead of time as they will be difficult for the children to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0A_Lwr7a9s

Show the children how to flip a hula-hoop so that it comes back to you, just like a boomerang!

Physical health & Development/demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing balls, and using a slide and swing.

Transitions

Have the children take turns rolling the dice (dots for younger children, actual numbers for older children). If using dots, let the child count the dots and then go to the next activity. If using numbers, let the child state the number and then everybody can count to that number out loud. For more of a challenge, teach the children how to count in another language.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Dear Parents, today we read a book about a Granny who went to market and bought many different things. Next time you go to the grocery store, take your child and let them count out 10 apples, 2 boxes of cereal, or 1 treat. Help them to practice counting objects in your home and out and about the neighborhood.