snumbers

From Stormie:
INTRODUCTION
Rather than just plunging in, introduce the concept of numbers. Begin by showing cardboard numerals to the class. What are these? What do we use numbers for? Where are some places we find numbers? Ask the children to look around the classroom or out the window for objects with numbers: clock, ruler, book, license plate, phone, watch, calendar, etc. Then ask "how many" questions: Ask one child, "How many buttons are on your shirt?" After he answers, hold up that number. "How many eyes do we have?" Then hold up number two, etc. Another good idea is to line the children up and have them start counting off 1-10, giving them that number as you go down the line. Place "textured" numbers in the pre-math center for children to "feel" how they're formed, or at group time, practice drawing numbers in the air with your fingers. Teach numbers through games and everyday experience.

Please share your ideas for introducing numbers by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

CONCEPT OF ZERO
From Stormie:
Count various objects in the room and name a few objects for which there are none. For instance, ask, "How many girls are in our room?" Then count the girls. Then ask, "How many boys are in our room?" Then count them. Then ask something far out like, "How many snakes are in our room?" They will, of course, laugh and answer "none." Tell them another word for none is zero. "There are zero snakes in our room." Keep the game going as long as you wish, repeating "zero" as often as possible. (Another example: "How many people with brown hair, with blonde hair, how many people with purple hair are in this room?") You get the idea. Children usually like to participate by coming up with their own outrageous suggestions. Also, make a zero with your thumb and finger or draw zero in the air.

Find the 0's: Place old calendars in your Pre-Math Center and let children place a small object on all the 0's they see.
By the way, if you buy those cartons of liquid creamer for your coffee that comes with a small lid opening, save those lids as they make perfect tokens for games such as this one. If the lids are white, you can make them colorful with just a tiny little "sticker" dot added to the top. Collect enough of them and they can become a color sorting game in themselves.

Gross Motor (eye-foot coordination): Cut a large zero from several pieces of the larger-sized construction paper (cut the zero as big as the paper will allow). Laminate them to last longer. Arrange the zeroes in any kind of pattern on the floor or sidewalk and then have the children walk the pattern by placing their feet inside the zeroes.

Zero-Shaped Snacks: If possible, try to find snack shapes that are more like the number 0 rather than the letter O.

Please share your ideas for the concept of "zero" by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

ONE
From Stormie:
Personal Note: I don't spend alot of time on "one" simply because most 4-yr olds I've met seem to understand the concept of one but I review it like any other number through counting, tracing with our fingers, etc.

One-to-One Correspondence: Outline Matches: Here's a neat game I once made that was super easy to create: On pieces of posterboard (approximately 8 1/2 x 11 in size), draw around various objects with a thin black marker (key, comb, clothespin, rubber band, paper clip, spoon, plastic knife, fork, etc). Keep the posterboard pieces in sheet protectors for easy lamination and store them with the items you drew around. Place the game in your Pre-Math Center after showing children how to play it by matching the items to their outlines.
Variation: To increase the difficulty, draw around items that are very similar in shape.

Fill the Squares: Provide sheets of paper in your Pre-Math Learning Center that have been divided into squares. Begin with a only a few large squares, then, throughout the school year, increase the number of squares on the paper and decrease the size of the squares. Provide children with sheets of tiny stickers. When they wish to do this activity, they peel off the stickers, placing only one sticker in each square. Besides sheets of stickers (which can get expensive), you can also buy "rolls" of tiny stickers. Or, draw several of your own designs on a large label then cut out your designs, creating your own tiny stickers. Or, better yet, have children "tear" pieces of paper to glue into the squares:

*	#	*
#	*	+
*	*	#

Other pre-math activities to do with this as the year continues:
Count the squares on the paper. Count the number of red, blue (etc) stickers. Find the stickers that are alike. Sort out all red stickers for the top row, bottom row. And so on.
You can also do the above activity with other numbers (example: 2 or 3 stickers per square).

Creative Drama: How would you stand if you were #1?

Gross Motor: Place a long strip of masking tape on the floor or sidewalk and have children walk the giant #1!  Or let them decide how to get from one end of the #1 to the other (hop, gallop, crawl, jump, etc).

A Following Directions/Using Imagination Easel Activity: "When you come to the easel today, I would like you to paint a picture about Number 1."  (Accept anything the children paint.  Ask them about their pictures and print their words on their papers and read it back to them.  It's very interesting to see what the children paint and tell you.  Some may draw the number 1 itself while others may say, "I painted one _____.")

Only One: Have the children find things in the classroom of which there's only ONE.  Give them an example: "We have only one easel in our classroom" or "We have only one water table in our classroom."  Do we have only one chair?  One door?  How many tricycles do we have? You get the idea.
Extension: Character Ed: What a perfect opportunity to discuss "sharing."

Snack: Eating a #1: Carrot sticks

Please share your ideas for number "1" by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

This great idea comes from Cassidy Fuess, a teacher at Montessori Country Day School in Flower Mound, Texas:
Tracing Numbers: I provide a lightbox for the children to use for tracing laminated number cards in my class. Actually, it can also be used for tracing other things as well -- names, shapes, letters, pictures, and so forth. (It was purchased for $12 from a craft store.) The children place a blank piece of white paper over the cards, securing them in the box with clothespins. They then trace the number on the card with a pencil. This can also be done by taping a card and paper to windows on sunny days. (The items being traced actually don't need to be laminated for this to work, but they last longer if they are.)
Note from Stormie: I placed Cassidy's wonderful idea here in case teachers may want to use it starting in the first month of school then continue it throughout the year with other numbers.
TWO
From Stormie:
Pairs:
Find magazine pictures of things that come in twos: shoes, socks, eyes, ears, feet, suspenders, bike wheels, eye glass
frames, gloves, etc. Cut the pictures in half so that the children must find the matching half before pasting the "pair" on paper. This could also be a group project where each child finds at least one pair to paste onto a class mural. Discuss things that come in twos and the word "pair." These magazine picture pairs can also be used as a math learning center game.
Bulletin Board Idea: Number 2: Place a giant number "2" in the center of your bulletin board and surround it with "pairs" of items children have cut from magazines themselves -- if you know for a fact that they have learned that skill.  By the way, to make cutting easier for projects such as this, draw a square or rectangular shape around the picture to be cut and then have children cut along the drawn shape lines.

Snack Pairs: Place a mixture of snacks in a large bowl and have children choose pairs of something from the bowl to eat (2 pretzels, 2 cheese crackers, 2 bagel chips, etc). (Make sure all the little hands are very clean.)

Let a "pair" of children paint at the easel together!

Gross Motor: Have pairs of children jump (hop, skip, crawl, etc) from one spot to another.

Science: Mixing Colors: Have each child pair up with a friend.  The two friends then paint each other's thumbs (in a primary color).  They then rub their two thumbs together, creating a secondary color!

New Fun With Old Rhymes: As you continue through my website, you will find that I love reading old rhymes to children just for the sake of exposing them to the wonderful world of language. I don't necessarily intend for the poems to be used as fingerplays or rhymes for children to repeat, but rather just for "listening" to and then discussing at Group Time on a preschooler level of understanding.  Here's just one such poem, relating to the concept of "pairs":
Pair Of Shoes
(Author Unknown)
My daddy has a pair of shoes so wonderful to see
I want to wear my daddy's shoes, but they're too big for me.
My brother has a pair of shoes as cute as they can be
My feet won't fit in that pair, they are too small for me.
There's only one thing I can do since I'm not small or grown
If I want to have a fitting shoe, I'll have to wear my own.

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

Find Two: Place two of several items in a bag (2 dull pencils, 2 cotton balls, 2 tiny blocks, 2 spoons, 2 rubber bands, etc). During Group Time, have children take turns removing two items from the bag that are the same -- without looking in the bag.
To decrease the difficulty for those not yet ready, dump all items out of the bag first for visual review by the children.

Please share your ideas for number "2" by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

Making a Multi-Cultural Connection:
To provide a frame of reference, show children where countries are located on your classroom globe or map, and if possible, provide related pictures and books:

From Stormie:
Favorite Book:
Numbers: How Do You Say It? by Meredith Dunham: I've always found that the children love saying new words. Here's a neat book that allows children to count in other languages.

Please share your multicultural ideas by e-mailing me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

-----------------------------------------------
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. Then keep hitting your "BACK" button to return to this page.

CONTINUE ON

OR

REVIEW SEPT CURRICULUM CURRICULUMS INDEX WEBSITE INDEX HOME

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