Number Sense with Peas and Carrots

How do you establish number sense in Kindergarten?  I like to go about things from a slightly different perspective.

I like the one number a week model.

We play with it too.

We look at all the ways we can make our number.  We do this with Peas and Carrots (green and orange connecting cubes).  Once the routine is established it is not hard to increase the numbers each week.  And then move from using the word and to using the symbols + and = .

We stop at five and play some more....trying to get plenty of practice to begin to establish fluency.

Then we stop again at ten.

I made this:

to last the whole first semester.

I made this as well for day three or four of our number week....More or Less.  That is another tricky concept for Kindergarteners and we practice it each week with every number.  You can grab this for free.  Just hop over to my facebook page and it is a free gift for you.

Each week we follow the same routine.  Introduce the Number, Peas and Carrots, More or Less.  We take longer at the beginning, and as the routine is established students do get quicker.  That leaves more time for other concepts (like shapes), and more time for centers.  By the time we get to the tricky teenagers, my kinders are ready to shake it up and start some new routines.

Learning About Numbers

I wanted to get my lesson plans for the week posted, but once again I am not getting my lesson plans finished enough to post.  But, I can share how I teach number sense.  It goes sort-of the same each week for each number through ten (the the routine changes once we hit those tricky teens).

I focus on one number each week, stopping at 5 and 10 to get some extra practice with those important anchor numbers. I begin the week thinking of ways to make the number (for example this week we are doing 4).  We look at 10 frames and 5 frames, we make number lines.  We look at dice and dominoes and unifix and connecting cubes.  We look at shells and bears and STUFF.  Then we chart them on a circle map.  Everyone goes and brings me that many of something.  We finish our first day with the circle maps by Fran Kramer of Kindergarten Crayons.  Fran is so generous she offers a version of these for free on her blog, but the complete version is in her store.

Next we move on to writing the number and really understanding it with Peas and Carrots.  Composing and decomposing numbers with Peas and Carrots is really the backbone of building number sense with my students. 

I have a tub of just green and orange connecting cubes  The students are directed to grab a certain number of cubes (I have that number already writtten on a small paper plate).  We then sit on our carpet and look at all the combinations we made.  We draw those combinations on sticky notes and post them on a number poster.  I cluster the ones that are the same together.  As a class, we look them over and try to decide if we have all the combinations.  If not, I challenge them to find the ones they are missing.  To help keep track I created these recording sheets:

We not only write the numbers...but I have them draw the peas and carrots too.

We start with lots of modeling and think alouds.  We begin with the word and, then move to the plus sign.  Lots and lots of talking about our thinking and our strategies for finding all the combinations.  As the year progresses we do this in partners and sometimes we revisit smaller numbers in work stations as independent practice.  My teaching partner will give them a recording page with too many spaces to see if they know when they are done and if they found them all.

We always make a little book as one of our math stations.  I like this one in Fun With Numbers by Kathleen Pedersen from Growing Kinders.  There are many other resources in that packet we use all the time.  There are matching cards and ten frames, graphing, tracing, dot the number, and more.  Some I use in centers, some for practice, some as a whole group lesson or game.

What else do we do?  We go back to probably the best blog post ever for number sense.  Kindergarten Crayons has a plethora of ideas all in this one blog post.  There are books to make with your kinders and number writing practice, and games to play....all for free.  Check it out here.

We also look at more, less, and equal as we work with each number.  Using a simple table and a single dice, we throw the die, draw the dots (or write the number), and compare that to our focus number.   

At the suggestion of a sweet friend I have changed up my peas and carrots just a bit.  If you want something just for fall...I have Apples and Pumpkins.  I am going to use this version in math work stations, just so my kiddos will have fun using the little apples and pumpkins I hope to find in the candy isle (otherwise the apples may look more like candy corn).  There is always spiders and bats (I am hoping to get it finished by this weekend, I have spider and bat rings just waiting for little fingers). 

  How do you teach numbers?  What fun games and activities do you use?

Happy Birthday....to me!

Yesterday was my birthday and I wanted to have a party.  What better way to celebrate than with 26 excitable Kindergarteners?

First I needed a cake....and a cake needs candles.
So....if a cake can only have 10 candles how many cakes will we need?  GREAT discussions and thinking going on (and yes I bit the bullet and confessed my true age).  Then they went to work drawing me some cake.

I just love the first two cakes....then I guess I am just too old.  She ran out of steam making the last ones.  Candle burning hats? hair?  I just love it!  She counted to 56 for me...and she just ignored the extra flowers and unfinished cake...so I did too.

This student wanted me to know each of the cakes he made for me.  Do you see the ghost cake?  He was the most proud of that one.  But there was also the heart cake and the chocolate chip one too.

They all wanted to know if I was going to blow out the candles.  Of course I will....candles have to be lit, don'tcha know?

After cake we need a party and some party games.  What better game than musical chairs? 

More good discussion of more, less and the same.  We are starting to be more and more comfortable using the word equal!!  I LOVE math!

Surprise!!  Do we have more students or more chairs?  I snuck that one in on them and they were surprised.  It was so funny!!

 I have just two questions...
Do you celebrate your birthday in class?
What fun things do you do when you are teaching math?

Rockin' On

I have been looking at all the cool things everyone has been making and I wanted to link up too.  Of course that means I have to actually make something on my long list of stuff I want to do (a list long enough I don't dare call it a to-do list).  But first a shout out to Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for giving me a reason to get off my duff and get something made.

I was so excited about my alphabet rocks, that I couldn't wait for Monday.  

You can read how I made them here.

How else can I use those magnets?  

 

Making words of course!!  I tried painting a tree, but it looked horrid.  I went instead to my scrapbooking stash of paper and made this tree.  I attached it with Mod Podge (I have a big jar) and did a top coat to try to protect it.  

 

 

But then I was having too much fun with my rocks so I decided to try some numbers.  I used puffy paints to dot the blue rocks that were leftover from trying to find enough clear rocks (no real craft stores near-by, long story for another time).  

I wanted my kinders to match the dots to the number so I printed out some numbers.  I couldn't decide which color I liked the best, so I printed them in several colors and made them all into magnets.  I'm getting to be a pro!  

What's on the back of my cookie sheet you ask?  Fabric!  I got the idea from Amanda Madden here.  Now if I can just win a Silhouette Cameo to add cute letters.  Maybe I will even make it to the big city and Target, so I can make Amanda's dice containers.  Too much to do and not enough time.  Back to work (or is it back to play?).

Terri