Daily Math Meeting Part 3: Days of the week, patterns, graphing

by Cindy Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

In Part 1, I focused on subitizing practice during your meeting time (for PreK-1st grade classes). This week I will focus on days of the week and graphing opportunities.

Days of the Week

  • Rather than posting the whole month at once, post the current date piece each day. Show different ways to write the date (in words, with numbers).
  • Discuss the day before and the day after.
  • Find the day (Monday, Tuesday, etc.). Sing a song or watch a video about the days of the week and months. See list below.
  • Use the number as a focus for the day: If today is the 5th, let’s look at dot cards with 5, ten frames with 5, dice with 5, count to 5, count backward from 5, tally of 5, spelled form, and number bonds of 5.
  • Consider making patterns with your calendar pieces. For example, September could be red apple, green apple, red apple, green apple . . . for an AB pattern. October could be pumpkin, pumpkin, ghost for an AAB pattern. Or use different colors or shapes (circle, square  . . .). Or make patterns based on odd / even numbers, counting by 3’s, 4’s . . . the possibilities are endless.
  • Discuss the pattern, predict what will be next once the pattern is established. Introduce clap patterns which match your chosen calendar pattern. If you are working on AB, then do clap, snap . . . If you are working on ABC patterns, do clap, snap, touch  your knees . . . Have children make up patterns to follow.
  • If you have an upcoming activity, predict what the date will be. Example: We are going to the library in 3 days. Today is Monday, so when is our library day?
  • After the calendar is mostly complete for the month, you can emphasize ordinal numbers. Model how to find the first Friday, the second Tuesday, the third Wednesday, etc. Then have students practice.
  • Consider having a student in charge of the calendar each week as one of the class jobs. This student would post the new calendar piece and then get to lead the class in saying the date and other features of the daily calendar.

Days of the week / months songs (Click on link to go there fast!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tx0rvuXIRg (Learning Station)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIvQOab00OQ (To Adams Family tune)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enDRrWyXaw (Months)

Graphing Ideas:  The calendar board is a great place to introduce graphing or review it on a regular basis.  You can make graphs or charts using bars, tallies, yes/no, or Venn diagrams. Continue reading

First Day Math & Literature Activity K- 5

by C. Elkins, OK Math and Reading Lady

The book, Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes is one my my all time favorite first-day-of-school stories to share with my students – no matter what grade level. The main character is Chrysanthemum, who is all excited about her first day of school until the other students start making fun of her name because it is soooo long. This makes her reluctant to go to school until everyone finds out their favorite music teacher has a long name (Delphinium) and is planning to name her new baby Chrysanthemum. A poignant story to help children develop a sense of empathy and compassion and realize that everyone’s name is special – no matter what it is or how long or short it is!

Math Connection Grades K-2

  • Letter and name recognition
  • Counting letters in names
  • Name graph with a variety of methods (paper graph, color tile or unifix cube graph, etc.)
  • Name grid art activity (see below)
  • Comparing name lengths

Math Connection Grades 3-5

  • Name graph – can use first, middle, and/or last names. To start, just have students write their name on a post-it-note and stick it on the board. Then rearrange into columns or rows according to how you are collecting your data. Or make a frequency table, line plot, percentage pie chart, etc.
  • Name grid art activity (see below). Review terms: row, column, grid, array.
  • Use some type of strategy to determine total number of letters in first names in the class (repeated addition, multiplication). Using the example graph, students could add 3 + (4 x 5) + (5 x 8), and so on. Let students think of the strategy though!
  • Determine most often and least often used letters.
  • Determine the mean, median, mode, and range using length of names.

Name grid art activity Continue reading

Growing Patterns and Evaluating Expressions (1st – 5th grade)

by Cindy Elkins, OK Math and Reading Ladygrowing-patterns-cropped

For the teachers in OK, there have been many changes to the math standards, called OAS (Oklahoma Academic Standards). For 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades there is a stronger (or new) emphasis on growing patterns in the algebraic reasoning section. As I always advocate, connecting this concept to concrete objects and pictorial representations should happen before students are given a string of numbers and a function table to decipher.

Did you know there is more than one type of pattern? Continue reading