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My very favorite preschool math activities have been reserved for my "PRE-MATH" booklet (see the "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" section of my website).

NUMBER: 7

Share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

From Stormie:

Learning Center Playtime: "Choose An Activity":

Tell the children that while playing, you want them to find an activity that they can do seven times. Give examples and demonstrate: Stack seven blocks, string seven beads, put seven pegs in the pegboard, do a puzzle with seven pieces, etc. Throughout the morning, remind the class of your request, encouraging as needed and praising each endeavour.

Group Time: Familiar Story: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs":

Read the story, stopping to count the dwarfs often. This is a fun story to act out also (creative drama).

Counting Practice: 7th Heart: Place multiple hearts (10 or more) on a flannelboard or table (in various colors, patterns, and sizes -- try to make them all interesting to look at). One at a time, have each child come forward to scatter the hearts about to get a mixed variety, then have him/her line them up in a row. S/he then begins counting the hearts aloud. They are to keep the heart they come to when they get to number 7 (the 7th heart). Allow them to place 7 stickers on their hearts and take them home. (As each child removes a 7th heart, you'll need to replenish the mix.)

Remember to keep an eye out that children are counting by beginning on the left of the row.

Counting/Patterning: Give each child 7 pink and 7 gray hearts. Have them glue them in paper in a pattern: gray, pink, gray, pink, gray, pink. See if they can remember the pattern on their own.

Extension: Do the activity as a group and increase the difficulty by adding 7 red hearts. Let the pattern be gray, pink, red, gray, pink red. Use large hearts and let each child help you create the pattern along the wall of the classroom.

New Fun With Old Rhymes:

As I Was Going to St. Ives

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives;

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits.

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were going to St. Ives?

Discuss the rhyme with the children and its silliness. Promote a love for language by explaining that we often say rhymes just because words are fun to hear. Define wife. What do you think a "kit" is? As a follow-up, help the children experiment with words by replacing some of them: "What other words sound like "Ives" or "cats" or "sacks?" As a follow-up pre-math activity, have children draw seven things of their choice on paper.

Stormie's Games: By the way, I offer a "Counting Cards" game in the "Teaching Aids" section of "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers.

Favorite Books:

From Stormie:

Pre-Math: Counting: Read the book "My Love For You" by Susan L. Roth: This is such a cute counting book about a mama mouse counting the ways she loves her little mouse. Fits perfectly with a Valentine's Day theme!
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Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.

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My website address: http://www.preschoolbystormie.com