At the End of Your Rope? Knot Yet!

Hi All,

Keeping track of the number of days of school has to begin right away (especially if you want to celebrate that special 100th Day of School later on with some accuracy.) I know I'm a little late with this for some of you, but you can always "catch the class up" and begin any day.

Here's one fun and physical way to do it. Using a long piece of rope or clothesline (30 feet should be enough), tie a knot for each day of school as it occurs. You can give students turns tying the knots each day.

Have children paint or use marker to color every fifth knot yellow, and every tenth knot red. The other knots can be left the color of the rope or colored black.

Through this pattern, they can practice counting by ones, fives, and tens. The rope really helps children "take hold" of math skills and concepts, letting them see and touch patterns and relationships in simple counting.

You could have a class rope and students can have individual pieces of string to do the same thing on a smaller scale. It is fun to keep the class rope in a drawer and take it out each morning to count the new day.

If you are teaching virtually, every student will enjoy having their own rope or string at home to do together with you as you work on the calendar, date, and number of days so far on the "class rope."

All the best,

Bob

From Fresh and Fun: September by Bob Krech (Scholastic, 2000)

Comments

What Does Not Belong?

Hi All, "What Does Not Belong" is such a great little concept and can be applied to so many different areas of math as well as other content areas. Great little game when you are waiting, like for buses to be called or for the day to begin. Also a great game for long car or bus rides where if there are no written numbers or pictures you really have to do the mental math. Present a group of numbers. Start with maybe six. Say, 10 56 17 122 4 98 Ask the players to identify which number does not belong and have them explain why. We want players to look at the characteristics of the numbers and compare them to try to find the selection criteria or "rule" so they can determine which does not belong. For example, we have a mix of 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers, so it's not the "rule" is not the number of digits. We have five even numbers and only one odd number. That's it! 17 does not belong, because it's odd. All the rest are even.

EGG BOX SHAKE! IT'S WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE.

Hi All, Shake it up! Egg Box Shake is noisy and fun! That's a big plus right there for most kids. Students like to create and keep their own math tools, and this is a great opportunity to do that as well. And, teachers can adapt the game to fit any level or mathematical operation. Win. Win. Win. Egg Box Shake originated as a coin identification and addition game for grades 1 – 3. I had students bring in an egg carton from home and then provided them with play money or coin stamps, ink pads, and card stock. They stamped out pictures of the coins onto card stock, front and back images, and then cut out the pictures. Students glued these pictures into the bottom of the twelve sections of the egg carton. Each player would get two beads, beans, chips, marbles, or any other small manipulative. They put these into the box and closed it. They then shook the box. When they stopped they opened it and saw where the beads had landed. Players added those two coins o

What's in a Name? A lot of Math!

Hi All, Welcome back! With school starting one way or another in various parts of the country, I figured it was time again to bring back the math blog. No matter what's going on or how it's going on, I'm hoping this content will still be useful to you. So, let's talk about names! When classes start, one of the first things both teachers and students must learn about each other are their names. A child's name is a very powerful and important thing. It's also a great springboard to learning. Kids are always interested in their own names. "Names Add Up" is an easy activity for K-2 (though older kids like it as well) that combines counting, addition, and money, as well as vowel and consonant identification. You'll need a pile of pennies and nickels. Explain to children that for this activity vowels will be worth a nickel and consonants will be worth a penny. Have children take the coins that correspond to the letters in their first names and

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