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Monday, June 2, 2014

Monday Math Literature Volume 45

If you missed my last Math Literature post about an amazing Loreen Leedy book, you can check it out here!

This week, I want to show you a fairly in depth lesson I did on the combinations of 10 around this story


Many of the ideas for this extended lesson came from this book
This book is full of lessons and ideas to help you get the most out of your math literature collection.  They also have one for grades 2-3 and grades 4-6.


The lesson in the Math and Literature book gave two examples, one done in a Kindergarten classroom and the other done with first graders.  I did this lesson with a mix of Kindergarteners and first graders so I took parts and pieces from each lesson and added some of my own ideas as well.

I taught this lesson in the early spring, before fireflies were out for the season, but students that I work with are familiar with fireflies.  If your students are not familiar with fireflies, other counting to ten books such as Ten Timid Ghosts would work equally as well.  Also Ten Flashing Fireflies can be hard to find new but there are usually plenty of used ones on sites like Amazon. 

I started by showing students the cover and having a brief discussion about fireflies.  I then read the story to the whole group.  It was a particularly nice spring day so we did this part outside which always adds some excitement to a lesson! 

Next we used our plastic bugs and our bug jar and acted out the story as we read it a second time.  Taking time to notice how many bugs were inside the jar and how many were outside. 



 When we finished the second read, we returned inside.  Each student was given a piece of construction paper with a "jar" drawn on it and some mini marshmallows.  As I handed out the marshmallows, I made sure I told them they each needed 10 and deliberately gave them less than 10. On my second time around, I ask each kid how many he or she has and how many more they need to make ten.  This gives them one more chance to practice combinations of ten while getting materials passed out.  Any small manipulative would work just as well here, I just happened to have mini marshmallows left over from Family Math Night.


Each kid used the mini marshmallows and the picture of the jar to act out the story again.  This time, I recorded how many were in the jar and how many were flying free on a piece of chart paper.  We also wrote number sentences together on the white board showing how many were in each place and how many all together.




As we finished up this part of the lesson, kids each got a piece of white copy paper and folded it into fourths.  They then showed as many different ways as they could that the bugs could be in and out of the jar and wrote number sentences to go with them. 



This lesson took about 40 minutes and was a great way to check in with kids about combinations of 10.  I will definitely be trying out other lessons from this book!




8 comments:

  1. Your math students must love to work with you, Tara! You make every lesson so much fun. :)
    Linda

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    1. Thanks! My goal is to get them to love math and if that can't happen I want them to at least like it more than they did.

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  2. Great lesson plan, Tara! We did something similar, but yours is much more fun what with the marshmallows and plastic bugs:)
    Ruby Slippers Blog Designs

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    1. There is nothing like food to make a lesson more interesting!

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  3. I've got that resource book. I just haven't read it yet. Guess what I'll be reading this summer? Great lesson!
    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

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  4. I've got that resource book. I just haven't read it yet. Guess what I'll be reading this summer? Great lesson!
    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

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  5. I like you you tweaked this lesson to include giving students fewer than 10 counters and asking them to tell you how many more they need to make 10. You could do this with counters instead of marshmallows as we have to in Texas since we can't give kids sugary foods. Ten Flashing Fireflies is one of my all-time favorite books. In addition to the great math lesson, I love the text, the rhyme and the awesome vocabulary, and the luminous illustrations. Thanks for sharing the lesson!
    Stephanie Sheffield

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    1. I always give kids fewer than 10 when I want them to have ten. It really helps them with combinations of 10 and answering other how many more type questions.

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