Wednesday, August 17, 2011

First Day Math Explorations

Today was our first day of school.  We did lots of getting to know you activities, rules and procedures, smartboard activities - just to get the hang of using it - read alouds and discussions... but toward the end of the day I planned 4 math station rotations to explore some math manipulatives.  Even though it was fun for the kids, I can gather a lot of information from the way the kids use these manipulatives.  We had a pattern block station, dominoes, unifix cubes and large foam dice station.  As my students "played" I noticed some of the patterns they were creating.  We did not use any templates so I was impressed to see some of the awesome patterns.  Take a look:



At our dice station, I gave students a piece of blank paper and a pencil and they could roll the dice and write numbers or write numbers after adding the dice together.  I really left it open just to see what my kiddos would do.  Here are the dice I used:


Here are a couple samples. I was so impressed to get this:


I also saw students just writing numbers after they rolled:


I really enjoy walking around and observing my first graders so I can see where students are so I can meet them at their level and build upon their prior knowledge.  All in all, our first day went well.  I can't wait to see what our second day has in store!  Smiles ~

4 comments:

  1. Love the dice! Will you share where you purchased them? Love you blog!

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  2. Mama and Tia Syl - I purchased the large foam dice at the dollar store. It was not the "Dollar Tree" but a dollar store. The store is no longer in business, so I'm sorry I can't help you. :(

    Nicole

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for this post! It helped me figure out just what math explorations is for my first graders homework.

    ReplyDelete

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