Tag: numbers

  • Create Your Own Number Path – at Home!

    Create Your Own Number Path – at Home!

    I recently read about the difference between a number path and a number line in the book Mastering the Math Rack to Build Mathematical Minds.

    Walking up and down my hallway I noticed the tiles made a very nice number path. So I used some removable whiteboard wall decals and cut them in quarters.

    I wrote the numbers 0-11 on them with a permanent marker and slapped them down on the tiles.

    Later, while reviewing Carlito C. Caterpillar’s Math House Games for The Homeschool Post, I noticed Carlito suggested the same thing!

    My hallway is now a counting lesson!

    When we run down the hallway, now, we say the numbers as we step on them. This integrates counting, recognition of numbers and linearity all with body movement – which serves to solidify the learning.

    Not only that, but the removable decals don’t hurt the floor!

    And there’s more…

    When we were at the ice cream parlor, she noticed the tiles on the floor and started running along them and saying numbers! This was something I didn’t expect at all.

    Not only that, the three sets of three tiles created a number path of 11 when you included the two spacers. I don’t know if she recognized this, or if it was merely a coincidence. But it was fun to see.

    Will you do it?

    You can do this with anything that has a “block” pattern – at home, or in a classroom.

    Let me know if you try it – and the reaction of your kids – in the comments below.

    Disclaimer: The sweet folks over at MathRack.com sent me a bunch of MathRacks and the book, at no charge, for me to check out and report to you on, if I wanted to. You’ll be seeing more articles about these soon (they are really cool!).

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  • The 1-2-3 Song

    The 1-2-3 Song

    Part of the Count 10 Read 10 series to help parents connect with kids through math a little each day.

    Did you know that the alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep are all the same tune!?

    Well, now there’s another!

    Thanks to all the great folks who have public domain images out there that I could use for this.

    Specifically

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  • An Observation of Cardinals and Ordinals at the Playground

    An Observation of Cardinals and Ordinals at the Playground

    We were hanging at the playground on Mother’s day. Daughter had taken up with a cute little girl – a good playmate for the teeter-totter. I watched Daughter’s new friend do something interesting. She was “counting” some gumballs that had fallen off the sweetgum tree.

    Here’s what she said: ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT

    I looked and there were ten gumballs. I watched her more and saw that while she was reciting the terms and pointing at the gumball pile, she wasn’t associating each number word with the next gumball in the pile.

    Developmentally, I’m not sure if this is okay or not. I wonder.

    Mathematically, I know that there’s still a disconnect with this girl and what numbers mean to her.

    There are two types of numbers.

    In the realm of counting numbers, there are two types. Cardinals and ordinals. A cardinal number tells us how many we have. Like this:

    And ordinal number tells us the order:

    When we count, we use both types of numbers.

    The group of gumballs has the cardinal number of 10. But to arrive at that cardinal number, to determine how many there are, the friend had to “order” them. She was trying to point to each one and assign it a position. “YOU, I label 1st, you are 2nd … and since you are 10th, I know I have 10 gumballs.”

    We grownups take advantage of this procedure. Indeed most people don’t know what cardinals and ordinals are.

    But knowing this when you teach counting is quite helpful. At home you can do something similar to the potatoes in the pictures above. At school, you can buy some great posters (I found one at Teacher’s Heaven last night) that demonstrate this.

    Will you change the way you think and talk about numbers?