Hands on Mathematics

Over the course of this semester the students have enjoyed experiencing Mathematics using hands on experiences. Some of the main items that we use in the classroom to explore numbers and manipulate them are dice, counters, paddlepop sticks, rubberbands, milk bottle top lids, and plastic shapes. Just this term we have learned how to create patterns of varying complexity and how to count up into the teen numbers quicker.

In regards to this, last week we spent time learning about a quicker way to count teen numbers through the use of paddlepop sticks. At the beginning of the week we spent some time bundling paddlepop sticks into groups of ten (which was excellent for our 1 to 1 correspondence). The next day we learnt about how when we count we don't actually need to start at 1 every single time. If we know that there is already 10 in a bundle (which we know because we made the bundles) then we can just start from ten and continue counting.

This lead into a group game where we would take turns rolling a dice to see which number would come up, from a plastic container we would then take that many individual paddlepop sticks and place them next to one bundle. Using the count on method we would practice counting on to see how many paddlepop sticks we had all together.

Everyone did an amazing job and had so much fun rolling dice and counting with the bundles that we had created.