Addition by counting-on

Just as we have learnt to count backwards, we can equally take this up a notch by learning how to add by counting-on. It’s sometimes amazing how much these little ones can grasps at such a short time. Here’s an activity I found and I bet it’s gonna be really fun for both the little ones and the adults;

1.) Draw a card and count the objects

2.) Draw a second card and place on the second side;

3.) Count the number on the first card and keep counting till you get to the second card

4.) So remove the first card so that only the other card with the total sum is showing.

5.) Count the objects one more time and say the total sum.

The aim is to expose your young one to addition concepts and not to confuse him/her by using words like plus, minus, and equals.  Once you’ve practiced a bit more and solidified these beginning addition and subtraction concepts, you can start using more mathematical language.

Try this activity with your preschooler. Even if he has not mastered number identification or one to one correspondence, your help and modelling in this activity is excellent exposure to addition and subtraction concepts.  You will be pleasantly surprised at how long this activity kept their attention.  Preschoolers are capable of learning rather difficult concepts if broken down into manageable concepts to practice.

As the Easter holiday is around the corner, you could scan through the blog and check for some fun activities that can keep them active but still learning during this time. We can equally do well to recommend the blog to a friend *wink*

Counting Back

In furtherance of our counting back post, below are a few activities for both old and younger kids;

Sing a Song

Primary Grade Song:

10 Little Fishies Swimming in the Sea (Sung to the tune of 10 Little Monkeys)

10 little fishies swimming in the sea (have students hold up all ten fingers),

1 swam away and went past me,

So there were 9 little fishies swimming in the sea (have students hold up 9 fingers),

1 swam away and went past me.

Have students sing the song until they get to one little fishie. Have them use their fingers when saying the number of fish.

Intermediate Grade Song:

50 Bottles of Pop on the Wall (sung to the tune of 50 Bottles of Beer on the Wall)

50 bottles of pop on the wall, 50 bottles of pop,

Take one down and pass it around,

49 bottles of pop on the wall.

Have the students sing the rest of the song by ones.

For additional songs, sing known favourites such as 10 Little Indians, 10 Little Monkeys or 10 Little Ducks, and start with the number 10 and count down.

Sidewalk Chalk

This activity can work with both the younger students and the older students. Use sidewalk chalk to create a hopscotch game and have students jump on the numbers counting down. For the older students you can start at 20 and for the younger students you can start at 10.

Another way to use sidewalk chalk would be to have the students create a number line in descending order. The older students can start at number 50 and the younger ones at number 20.

Number Puppet

This activity is for younger students. Create numbered finger puppets to help students learn the concept of counting backwards. On a blank piece of paper write out each number in a big, bold colour. Then cut about a three-inch by one-inch piece of paper. Fit each piece to the student's fingers and then glue the number to the three-inch pieces. This is a fun way for students to learn how to count backwards.

Counting back

Once your child has mastered counting forward then it's time to teach them to count backwards. Learning to count backwards and to understand what the numbers mean rather than just reciting them by rote is another skill that gets built on in the future as children learn to subtract, get proficient with mental maths etc. Countdowns from 10 are fun but learn to count backwards from any number is important too. Now, below are some interesting games and activities to master counting back in school or at home….

• Practice a space ship countdown in suitably important voice! 
• Play hide and seek and count backwards from 10 before calling out "Ready or not, here I come!"
• Hands on practice. Print out a set of our Number Cards and ask your child to put them in the correct order then count down - from 10, or from any other number that you point to.
• Physical fun. Do you have 10 children? Give each of them a large number to hold (use some of our Number Cards or cut out large numbers using our Number Templates) and then ask them to line up from 1 to 10, and then from 10 to 1! Each time you get them to call out their number and bob up and down as they do so, with the rest of the class joining in with the counting.
• Hopscotch counting. Draw the numbers 0 to 10 with chalk and get the kids to jump or hop along them and then hop back, counting as they go.
• Use Number Lines. Print Number Lines from 0 to 10 or 1 to 10 and display or use in front of you. Practise "hopping" down the line as you count.
• Play Snap Challenge. At any time - in the car, out walking, in the bath, during a meal, surprise your child by saying "Snap Challenge! Count down from xx". Your child must answer as quickly as possible. Encourage your child to Snap Challenge you, too.
• Play with cards. Use a set of Number Cards. Place them face down on the table and shuffle them around. Take turns flipping a card over and counting down to zero from whatever number shows.

Number Formation

Hello there, in the course of the few posts, we shall be discussing some fun ways to learn Maths. In this post, I’m very excited to share some ideas on how to teach proper number formation.

Below is a rhyme postal, you could print, laminate and have the kids read during their free time

Also, you can take advantage of the worksheets to keep the young ones busy.

Above are a few samples of worksheets that can be used both at home and in the class room.  More to come in the next post, stick around…..

 

Fun with phonics

Learning can so much fun. Lets look at other fun things to do, check previous posts for 1-4

5. Stretch-out-the-Word

For this word stretching game you only need an elastic object (a rubber band or hair tie works well) with some letters taped on to it. 

You can stick with word families, changing just the first letter so little ones see success quick. Begin by putting the letters c-a-t on the elastic.

Make your little one pull the elastic to stretch each sound apart. Once they are spread out, he should say each sound slowly… /c/… /a/… /t/.  

Next, he should move his hands a little closer and said them again, then closer and again, blending the sounds closer together each time until finally he can read “cat”.

It takes some practice so little ones say the letters smoothly together in a blending way. The game can be taken a step further  by changing just the first letter for the next round like ‘s’ instead of ‘c’ to give you a new word “sat”.

6. Say Two Words

Say two words, and have kids stand up if the words begin with the same sound. Have them sit down if they do not. For example,
cat – cow (stand up)
hat – goat (sit down)

This could come-in really handy in a classroom. 

7. Erase the sound

Draw a picture on a dry erase lap board. In the example below, we have a snowman.

Call children up one at the time to erase something that begins with something in the picture. In this picture, children can erase something that begins with H (hat), something that begins with B (buttons), something that begins with N (nose). Continue until everything is erased.

More ideas to come in the next post............

Fun with Phonics

Lets get on with other phonics activities.....check previous post for 1-3 

4. For another movement activity, put tape on the floor, with a letter on each piece of tape.

Tell your child to start with their feet on a certain letter (e.g., start on letter A), then tell them to jump to different letters, using the letter sounds. For example, “Jump to the letter that makes the sound (insert letter sound).”

As your child becomes more independent with his letter sounds, you can make the letters spell actual words. For the word cat, have three pieces of tape, C, A, T. Tell your child to start at the C, then jump to the next letter in Cat, and then the last letter. To make it more challenging, have your child spell the word backwards, by starting with the last letter and jumping in order until they get to the first letter.

Mix up the game with upper and lower case letters. The example above has three letters, but you can use as many pieces of tape and letters as you want. Start out with a few and add more if your child is making good progress.

5. Make a work sheet, using words and pictures with your child’s favourite characters, foods, animals, etc. 

You can draw the work sheets by hand or use tables in Microsoft Word.  For a three-letter word, make a table with five columns and one row. Put the picture of the word in the first box of the table (you can draw in the pictures or copy and paste them from Google Images). Put the letters in the other boxes, but leave one letter out. Have your child fill in the missing letter. Here is an example of the work sheet:

Fun with Phonics

Have you ever wondered how to teach phonics while still having fun? Okay, do not fret any longer, I have taken out time to comply a few indoor and outdoor (….yes yes outdoor) activities to enjoy phonics; 

1. Make flash cards with a picture on one side and the letter the picture starts with (or ends with) on the other side (You can draw the pictures yourself or make flash cards using pictures from Google Images).
Here is an example:

Show your child a picture and ask her to tell you the letter (or letter sound) it starts with (or ends with). If she is correct, let her know and show her the back of the card. If she is not correct, give her two more tries. If she does not get the letter or sound, show her the back of the card and tell her the letter and sound (then enunciate the sound as you say the word), have her say the letter/sound back to you twice, and shuffle the card back in the pile. Repeat.

2. For children who have a lot of energy, turn a phonics lesson into a movement activity.

Tape four letters onto the wall as shown in the image below:

Call out a letter sound and tell your child to run to the letter that makes that sound, touch it and run back. Spice it up. Here are some examples:
Hop to the letter that makes the sound
Skip to the letter that makes the sound
Tip Toe to the letter that makes the sound

3. Have your child paste letters on paper as you call out the sounds (You can use the letter flash cards you made, like in number 1).
You can use this activity to teach your child how to spell words. Draw lines or boxes on the paper like so your child knows where to paste the letters. You can give your child the exact number of letters in the word, or throw in some extra letters to make it more challenging.
Call out the first sound in the word, have your child pick the correct letter and paste it on the first line. Then have her do the next sound, and so on, until the word is complete. Supervise the activity, providing assistance as needed. When your child is done, hang up their work to show her that you are proud of her effort.
You can also use this idea to teach a child how to spell her name. Check out this cute idea below where a child built a rocket by pasting the letters of her name.

More to come on the next post........