Hi, friends! This week, I thought it would be fun to share with the community how we as math teachers go through our day seeing everyday moments as opportunities to teach math skills. I talk a lot about using everyday activities as moments to teach our children, and students, math concepts and skills. Last week, we chatted about ways we can teach fractions to our students using everyday objects in our daily lives. (Here’s the link to that post)
This week, I’m going to take you through an average day and show you how you can weave in learning into your everyday moments with young children whether they are your own or your students. I’d love to hear about other ways that you find to teach math throughout your day. Comment and share your ideas with us! 😊
Finding Everyday Math Opportunities
If you’re like me, you probably clean out your purse a couple of times a month. How did those gold fish get in there?😂 Use this ritual to help your children learn about money. Let them collect the coins that are inevitably at the bottom of your purse. Ask them to identify the coins and tell you their value. Older kids can add them up. You can even “add” in some addition and subtraction practice with the coins.
Laundry can be fun and made into a learning experience. Have your children help you sort socks. While they are sorting and matching, have them create patterns with the variety of colors and patterns of the socks. Game night can also teach math skills. I think all of us have played Chutes and Ladders or CandyLand. Use these games not only for counting practice but also color recognition.
Begin the Day with Math
Let’s start with our mornings. I’ve shared this example before, but making breakfast provides so many math opportunities. My young daughter counted our waffles out one weekend morning. I posted about it on Instagram and heard from many of you that your children do the same. I even made a quick digital resource using “waffle math” later that day. Look how cute it turned out here. We may not even realize that we are teaching math skills during these simple, everyday activities.
Getting dressed also provides an opportunity to help your kids practice their counting skills. As they are buttoning up their shirt or jacket, have them count the buttons. When your children brush their hair, tell them to brush it so many times. You can even instruct them to add one or more brush strokes to their usual count. Simple addition! 😊
Another breakfast idea is to ask your child to find certain numbers on their cereal box. Number recognition is an important math skill. When pouring juice in the morning, ask your child which glass has more juice or milk in it. Pour different amounts into the glasses. If you drive your children to school, count together how many traffic lights there are between home and their school.
In-Class: Not Just During Math Time
Once at school, I think all teachers get more into the “teaching mode” of our profession. It’s where we lesson plan and individualize learning for our students. But, are you only using math time for math practice? It’s a good idea to incorporate math practice into the whole school day. For example, when young students come to class, have them search out their cubby number to put away their belongings. This is a simple way to practice number recognition.
Have students help you pass out papers and materials while counting their classmates. This is good practice for one-to-one correspondence and counting skills. This helps children recognize that numbers represent quantities. During snack time, have children count their snacks. This would be especially fun to do with gold fish snacks.
A common activity among teachers is to have a student count their peers as they head into or out of the classroom. Make a movement activity, and ask students to go and gather a certain number of objects around the classroom. You can even do this outside while on a nature walk. Have students count how many trees or birds they see on their walk.
Math Skills at Dinner Time
All meals provide so many creative ways to use math. Let your child help you with dinner. Measuring cups are a great way to learn math skills, especially fractions. Ask your child to count the family members and set the table with that number of place settings. You can also have family members encourage children to find shapes in their food. Onion rings are circles, tortillas are circles, tortilla chips are triangles, etc.
After dinner, use teeth-brushing time to have students count a certain amount of time that they need to brush. A stopwatch is fun to use to help children count the time until something is done. Have your child time you as you chop veggies for dinner or while a tea bag is steeping. Not only are they helping the family, but they are seeing how math is used in our daily lives.
Our family likes being outdoors. Take a walk outside, or sit outside, and count the ✨ stars together as a family. During the summer, it stays daylight a lot longer than usual. Use that time to go outside and practice some more math. Have children throw a ball and then measure how far they threw it. Use a ruler to measure how tall seedlings have grown during planting season. Older children can chart plant and flower growth.
Math Books to End the Day
I like to read a story to my children right before bedtime. There are so many math books that teach a variety of math concepts. Even though your goal is to get your sleepy children to bed 😉, take some time to engage in math learning with some of the following books:
⭐️ Ten Black Dots: Always a teacher favorite.
⭐️ How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?: Great book for kids who love dinos.
⭐️ When a Line Bends, A Shape Begins: Such a fun read.
⭐️ Mouse Shapes
⭐️ How Much is a Million?
Comment below and share your favorite math book. When you can combine literacy and math to make a moment teachable, it becomes an even better learning experience.
I hope this post helps you see a few more opportunities in your day to teach your children, or students, important beginning math skills.
Have a great week!
Jess