Our PreSchool Blog

Today we reviewed our numbers 11-20, practiced our counting and one to one correspondence skills….recycling style.  These are important activities to continue to review throughout the summer!

Today we read Jump Frog Jump by Robert Kalan.  As a group we worked on patterning with lily pads and leap frogs. We strenghtened our math skills during small groups and made our own frog patterns. Be sure to check backpacks for our fun frog craft!

Today, we continued to work on our numbers, focusing on 11-20.  As the children rolled the die, they turned the number number they rolled into a higher number by placing a one in front of it.  For example, if they rolled a six, it would become sixteen.  This was a new and exciting way to practice our numbers!

We also practiced our number recognition and one-to-one correspondence.  The boys and girls picked a number, then put the corresponding frogs onto their lily pads.

Our focus during small groups today was one to one correspondence and number recognition of numbers zero through twenty.

Understanding the one-to-one correspondence of object to object is necessary before a child can carry out meaningful counting and higher calculations.

Children can find many opportunities in their daily life to experience one-to-one correspondence. They can place one sock inside one shoe or one shoe on one foot; they can get one napkin or snack for each member of the family or class; they can place one lid on each of several containers; they can place pieces in one-piece puzzles.

Many experts believe that rote memorization of a set of numbers is meaningless.  Once children understand the relationship of one to one correspondence, they can link one number with one object and then count with understanding.

Today, the boys and girls practiced counting, tracing and writing the number 18.  With all of the loops and turns involved, it proved to be a tricky one!  When making the 8, it help the children to identify the letter “s” that is made when half of the 8 is written.  After realizing this, the boys and girls became masters of 18 in no time!

How do we solve word problems in math?  Pictures of course…the children were introduced to word problems during our group time Math Minutes.  These will be introduced in Kindergarten as well and are one of the most challenging tasks for young mathematicians.  The key to solving math problems is to teach children strategies to solve them.  The first strategy will be drawing pictures, which we began today.  The second will be a math “sentence,” but I’ll leave that up to the Kindergarten and First grade teachers 🙂

We went on an African safari during small groups and kept a record of the animals we found throughout the school.  We used our graph to explore an important math concept for Kindergarten…comparing sets…which animal did we find the most of?  Which animal did we find the least of?  Did we find more giraffes or more lions?  Did we find fewer zebras or fewer ostriches?

We did coin rubbings today to discover the differences between the heads and tails of like coins.  Ask your child which coin worked the best!