Our first math day in preschool

I recently shared with you our take-home math bags and after doing so, one of my readers asked if I would go ahead and show how we go about graphing our math tokens….

Let me begin by talking about the sharing process. The children take turns coming to the front of the room so they can take all the tokens out of their bags and share them with the rest of the class…

As each child takes a turn, he or she takes the items out of their bag and places them on the floor for everyone to see. Then the entire class counts along with the child the number of items he or she brought…

Once all the children has a turn to share the math tokens they brought from home, we put all the tokens in a basket so that the children can take a closer look at the tokens during center time. Before we go into sorting, patterning, grouping or all other types of math – we want to explore our math tokens first.

Now for the graphing part. We will take several approaches to graphing our math tokens throughout the year. Each child has their own math graph and keeps it in their math folder. “My Math Graph” has six columns. In the first column, I print the name of the math tokens brought by that specific child that day. In the five columns next to each token, the child then colors a square for each number of tokens that he or she brought that day. So if the child brought five seashells then the child colors in five squares next to the word “seashell.”  Each week, the child will continue adding to this graph. This graph is primarily used to introduce basic graphing skills…

Another graph we are just starting to use is a large group graph.  As the children count their objects, I place tally marks on this graph…

 

Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

Subscribe to My Newsletter

Latest Blog Posts

P is for Pizza!

While learning about the letter “P” we decided to explore with pizza! Pizza is an all-time favorite food for many preschoolers, and activities involving pizza

Read More »