Number Murals

At the culmination of our number sense unit, I wanted to engage the children in a fun project that would showcase all that they had learned.  And, let's face it: we love anything that involves ART!

This number mural idea came from the Math Out of The Box series.  Another K Teacher and I are piloting the Numbers kit this year.  We got the kit this summer and couldn't wait to try it out.

The children painted a number and then represented that quantity in some way. 

Abby painted the numeral 3 and glued down 3 stars!



 Nathan had the numeral 8 and Giovanna had the numeral 2.  They both decided to use dot markers to show that many circles.

 This was one of the finished products from a table of children working with various numerals. 

This was also a creative post-assessment--see the extra dot there near the 7?  Like many teachers believe, just because we are finished with our number sense unit doesn't mean that we'll stop noticing numbers, number words, or quantities.  It doesn't mean we'll stop counting!  It's just time to build on some different mathematical concepts!  Up next-- patterns!

Guided Math Groups--Number Sense

After a number walk around our classroom and school yesterday, we began our guided math groups for this week!  There were four groups and two of those groups switched once during math time.  I led a group, our very first parent volunteer led a group (Thank You Mrs. Alice!), our Lead Teacher led a group (Thank You Mrs. Smith!) and our assistant teacher led a group and monitored an independent one. 

I worked with a group of students on pinning the correct amount of clothespins on each numeral.  The children had to identify the number, count out the correct amount, and clip them on!

Then, the children had to choose the matching number for various quantities of pictures.  They had to pin the correct answer.

Mrs. Alice led a small group in counting domino dots and "parking" them in the correct spot.  The children had a tub full of dominoes to work with!  They counted the dots and tried to find one for each spot. 

The next day, another group worked independently on the domino parking and some of the children completed a practice page by counting dots and writing the numeral.

Another independent activity that Mrs. Misenheimer monitored involved the children in matching numbers to the corresponding quantities AND quantities to the corresponding numbers.

Audrey matching magnetic numbers to various quantities of pictures. 

 Jennifer matched the appropriate number of counting bears to the numeral.

Mrs. Smith's group rolled a die, counted the dots, chose the correct stamper, and stamped that number in playdough!  This was a fun one!  After they all had a few turns, she gave them number/quantity puzzles to put together.

I bought these puzzles at the Target Dollar Spot this summer!



One of my last groups I led on Thursday went smoother than I anticipated.  These children had to find the matching number.  These number stickers were another Target Dollar Spot find from this summer.  I worried that the children would struggle pulling the backing off of the sticker, but they came off easily!  While only some children needed practice like this, all the children wanted to join this group!

The children in my class have a wide range of abilities when it comes to recognizing and identifying these numbers, writing them, matching them with corresponding quantities and counting.  These Guided Math Groups were a great solution!  I read a great book this summer that really got me excited about teaching math in this way.