1. Fill It Up: Filling empty containers provides opportunities to explore comparisons, measurement, volume, estimation, and geometry. Grades K-2
· Materials
A measuring cup, 4 glasses of equal size, and water
· Pour
water at different levels ( 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 3/4 cup and 1 cup) in
each glass. Put the glasses next to each other. Ask your child: Are all
the water levels the same or different?
· Ask
your child questions to encourage comparison, estimation, and thinking
about measurement. Which glass has more water? Which has less? How many
glasses of water do you estimate it will take to fill the container?
· Pour
more water into one of the glasses to make it equal to the amount of
water in another glass. Move the glasses around so that the glasses that
have the same amount of water are not next to each other. Ask your
child: Which glasses do you think have the same amount of water?
· As
your child begins to understand more, do activities using
different-shaped containers that hold the same amount of a substance
(water, rice, and popcorn kernels). This helps your child see
comparisons, as well as the various capacities of different-sized and
-shaped containers.
2. Fractured Fractions: This
hands-on activity explores whole numbers and fractions by using
measurements your children can see. Your children also will learn to
guess or estimate quantities. Grades K-3
· Materials
Clear
container, masking tape, marker, measuring cups ( 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4 cup
measure), uncooked rice or popcorn kernels, and water
· Have your child stick a piece of masking tape straight up one side of the clear container from the bottom to the top.
· For
younger children, use a 1/2 cup measure. For older children, use a 1/3
or 1/4 cup measure. Choose the unit of measure and fill the measuring
cup. Then let your child pour the substance from the measuring cup into
the clear container. Continue to pour the same amount of the substance
into the container.
· As
each equal amount of the substance is poured, mark the level on the
container by drawing a line on the tape. Write the cup size or
appropriate fraction on each line. The fraction for one-third cup would
be 1/3.
· Follow this procedure until the container is full and the tape is marked in increments to the top of the container.
· Fill the container again and again using different measures each time. Ask your child "thinking" questions.
* How
many whole cups do you think this container will hold? How many 1/2
cups, 1/3 cups, or 1/4 cups do you think the container will hold?
* How many 1/2 cups equal a cup?
* How many 1/4 cups equal 1/2 cup? A cup?
* How many 1/4 cups equal 3/4 cup?
3. Money's Worth: Coin
games help children to learn the value of coins. They also teach
counting, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Coupons can help
teach children money management, as well as subtraction and percentages. Grades 1-3
· Materials
Coins, grocery store coupons, and a pencil
· Coin clues.
Ask your child to gather some change in his or her hand without showing
what it is. Start with amounts of 25 cents or less (for first-graders,
you can start with pennies and nickels). Ask your child to tell you how
much money and how many coins there are. Guess which coins are being
held. For example, "I have 17 cents and 5 coins. What coins do I have?"
(3 nickels and 2 pennies).
· Clip and save.
Cut out grocery store coupons and tell how much money is saved with
coins. For example, if you save 20 cents on detergent, say 2 dimes. Ask
your child what could be purchased using the savings from the coupon. A
pack of gum? A pencil? How much money could be saved with 3, 4, or 5
coupons? How could that money be counted out in coins and bills? What
could be purchased with those savings? A pack of notebook paper? A
magazine? How much money could be saved with coupons for a week's worth
of groceries? How would that money be counted out? What could be
purchased with those savings? A book? A movie ticket? What percentage of
the original price is the coupon worth?
· Count the ways.
How many ways can you make 10 cents, 25 cents, 30 cents, 40 cents, or
50 cents? You can help your child add the coins in various ways to get
different answers.
· Try playing the coin games with coins from another country.
4. In the News: This newspaper activity helps children read and understand numbers and charts. Grades K-2
· Materials
Newspaper, scissors, pencil or crayon, glue, and graph paper
· Newspaper numbers.
Help your child look for numbers 1 to 100 in the newspaper. Cut the
numbers out and glue them in numerical order onto a large piece of
paper. For children who cannot count to 100 or recognize numbers that
large, only collect up to the number they do know. Have your child say
the numbers to you and practice counting up to that number.
* Or
· Collect
only numbers within a certain range, like the numbers between 20 and
30. Arrange the numbers on a chart, grouping all the numbers with 2s in
them, all the numbers with 5s, and so on.
· Counting book.
Cut out pictures from the newspaper and use them to make a counting
book. Page 1 will have one thing on it, page 2 will have 2 things that
are alike, page 3 will have 3 things that are alike, and so on. All the
things on the each page have to be the same. At the bottom of each page,
write the number of items on the page and the word for the item. Have
your child tell you a story about what is on the page.
5. Newspaper Search: This
activity helps children see how much math is used in everyday life. It
also helps in the variety of ways in which math is used to tell a story,
read a timetable or schedule, plan a shopping list, or study the
weather. Grades 3-5
· Materials
Newspaper, calculator, pencil, paper, and graph paper (can be hand-drawn)
· List it.
Give your child the grocery section of the newspaper in order to make
up a list of foods that will feed the family for a week and also meet a
budget of a certain amount of money. Have your child make a chart and
use mental math or a calculator to figure the cost of a few items. If
the total for the groceries is more than you have budgeted for, talk
about which items can be eliminated. Could the list be cut down by a few
items or by buying less of another item? What will best serve the needs
of the family?
· Shop around.
Have your child search for advertisements in the newspaper for an item
they have been wanting, such as a piece of clothing or tennis shoes, in
order to find the lowest price for the item. After your child finds the
best buy, have him or her compare the best buy to the rest of the
advertised prices. Are this store's prices lower for everything or just
items in demand?
· Highs and lows.
Have your child search the newspaper for daily temperatures and create a
graph showing weekly trends. Ask your child for the differences in
temperature from day to day.
6. Treasure Hunt:
Organizing the "treasures" in one's house provides practice in
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Children can also
graph data on shapes and sizes. Grades K-2
· Materials
Large container, buttons, screws, bottle caps, old keys, anything else you can count, and graph paper (can be hand-drawn)
· Find a container to hold the treasures.
· Sort
and classify the treasures. For example, do you have all the same-sized
screws or keys? How are they alike? How are they different?
· Use
these treasures to tell addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division stories. For example, if we share 17 buttons among 3 friends,
how many will we each get? Will there be some left over? Or if we have 3
shirts that need 6 buttons each, do we have enough buttons?
· For
older children, you can organize the treasures by one characteristic
and lay them end to end. Compare and contrast the different amounts of
that type of treasure. For example, there are 3 short screws, 7 long
screws, and 11 medium screws. There are 4 more medium screws than long
ones. Make a simple graph showing how many of each type of screw there
are. This activity may also provide an opportunity to talk about
fractions: 7/21 or 1/3 of the screws are long.
7. Simply Symmetrical:
A shape can be symmetrical when two parts of it are exactly alike. This
exercise helps young children develop an understanding of symmetry and a
sense of geometric patterns. Grades 1-5
· Materials
Paper, pencil, marker or crayon, magazine pictures, scissors, and glue
· Explore
your house for symmetrical designs. See how many your child can find.
Look at wallpaper, floor tiles, pictures, bedspreads, and appliances.
· Cut
out a magazine picture that is symmetrical. Cut it along the line of
symmetry. Paste one half of the picture on the paper. Have your child
draw the missing half.
· Write
your child's name in big block letters, then write your name. Which
name has more letters with lines of symmetry? How many letters have one
line of symmetry? How many of each letter have two? (a B has one line,
an H has two). Does anyone have a name with all symmetrical letters?
(BOB is one.) Can any letter be turned upside down and still look the
same? (YesH, I, O, S, and X are symmetrical around a center point.) Go
through the alphabet, making a list of the letters that look the same on
both sides and those that look different.
· Fold
a sheet of paper in half lengthwise. Have your child draw half of a
circle, heart, or butterfly from top to bottom along the fold on each
side of the paper. Help your child cut out the shapes that were drawn.
Unfold the paper to see the symmetrical figure. Have your child color
and glue the full figure on another sheet of paper to display the
design.
8. Tracking Time: Statistics includes collecting information, analyzing it, and describing or presenting the findings in an organized way. Grades 2-5
· Materials
Clock or watch, newspaper, blank paper, and graph paper (can be hand-drawn)
· Together
with your child, keep track of the time he or she spends watching
television as well as doing homework. Make a table listing the 7 days of
1 week. Keep two columns, one for television and one for homework. At
the end of the week, see if together you can make a graph comparing the
two different activity columns.
· While
watching television, make a chart showing how much time in every hour
is used for commercials compared to how much time is used for the actual
show. Do this for every half-hour of television you watch. Then make a
bar or pie chart showing the two amounts. Time the minutes carefully.
· Together
with your child, keep track of how he or she spends time in one 24-hour
period: time spent sleeping, eating, playing, reading, and going to
school. Measure a strip of paper that is 24 inches long. Let each inch
represent 1 hour. Color in the number of hours for each activity, using a
different color for each activity. When finished, make the strip into a
circle and place it on a blank piece of paper. Trace around the circle.
Then make lines from the center of the circle to the end of each color.
Your child has just made a circle (pie) chart of how he or she spends
24 hours. Compare this with how other people in your family spend their
time.
9. Reading: While reading with your child, take part in the mathematics within the story. Many books provide themes that are based on mathematical concepts. Listed below are examples of books based on content and grade level. The books listed are available from Scholastic.
Kindergarten
Counting Addition Shape Recognition
Good Night, Gorilla Monster Math Picnic What is Square?
Ten Little Fish Monster Musical Chairs What is Round?
Grade 1
Addition and Subtraction
Cats Add Up!
Fat Frogs on a Skinny Log
Grade 2
Length Addition
Inch by Inch 12 Ways to Get to 11
Biggest, Strongest, Fastest A Quarter from the Tooth Fairy
Grade 3
Subtraction Multiplication
Pigs Will Be Pigs Sea Squares
Math for All Seasons Bats on Parade
*Activities are provided from: http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Math/mathhome.html