PS/IS 686 | Brooklyn, NY

All About Math!

Our kindergartners continue to explore counting.   We read counting books and have been noticing how they are different from one another.  We played a whole class game called “Counting Around the Circle.” We sit in a circle. We go around the circle counting up by ones, each person saying the next number in the counting sequence. For example, I would say “1” the person sitting next to me says “2” then the next person says “3” and so on. You can try this at home, around the dinner table, in the car or anytime you have a few extra minutes. Challenge yourself to see how high you can count up to.  Try starting at a number other than one, or try counting backwards.

This week we introduced some new math games.  What a fun way to learn! We learned about equality using goldfish as a snack, in a game we call “Is it Fair?”  Students were given different amounts of goldfish. They worked with a partner to “make it fair.” They could share, ask for more or give some away. You can play this game with snacks at home, too!  Another game we learned is called “Roll and Record.”  Students have dice and a number grid. When they roll the dice, they write the number they rolled on the grid. So they are not only practicing counting skills but also practicing number writing.

We do our daily math routines of adding a bead to the bead string, a marker to the number line and a dot to the 10 frame.  These are all the ways we keep track of how many days we’ve been in school. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 23 days already!  We are keeping track so that we can celebrate the 100th day of school.