Showing posts with label tally. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tally. Show all posts

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Lite Brite Pointillism & Percentages

Using the web 2.0 tool Happy Daric Lite Brite, students learn about the art technique pointillism and explore fractions and percentages! Have students create a unique design on the lite brite. While they are making their art, have them tally each time they add a color.  Next, students write a fraction for each color. Then, they divide and multiply to figure out the percentage of each color they used. Students round their percentages. Then, they check their work to make sure all the colors add up to 100%. 

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Lunch Math

Students organize, represent, and interpret lunch data! Before throwing their lunch away, students sort it into categories (paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, compost, trash). They tally how many they have of each item. Then, as a class, create a graph of all of the materials that were found in their lunch. 

Which material was most commonly found in their lunches? Was this material recyclable? If not, could they generate a solution to minimize the trash in their lunch? Is their a place to throw recyclables and compost in their cafeteria? What can they do about it? 

To celebrate Earth Day have a Trash-Less, Waste-Free Lunch Party! Challenge students to bring in a lunch that does not have any item that needs to be thrown away or even tossed in a recycle bin! Can they do it?

Reinforcement: Recycle-Roundup Game

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Guess Who?! - Teeth

photos via cc: mouth 1 - Dana Beveridge, mouth 2 - Chris Penny, mouth 3 - Izik

This fun idea comes from Fall into First! Take photos (or have students take photos) of students' toothless mouths (showing their teeth). Next, ask kids to estimate the total number of teeth that have been lost in the class (sum of all their teeth lost). Have students go around the room and tally how many teeth each of their peers has lost. Have them count all of their tally marks and figure out the total. Whose prediction was the closet? Then, as a class, create a graph of how many teeth each child is missing. Hang the photos up, as well as the graph. Students try to guess who's mouth is whose based on their knowledge of how many teeth each of their peers has lost, as well as their keen observation skills.

Science experiment - Brush your teeth! - Part 1 and Part 2

Monday, January 7, 2013

Tongue Rolling

photo via alamy

Take part in a Zoom Experiment! Collecting data and comparing with a graph: Who can roll their tongue? Does gender make a difference? See who can roll their tongue, tally the results as a class. For tallying, create a 4 column table (shown left).

Next, use your results to create a class graph, comparing boys and girls. Then, compare your results with kids across the U.S. on Zoom

What determines if a person can roll their tongue?! Click here to find out!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

What Can You Do With A Leaf?!



Leaf Surface Area - Practice non-standard measuring with leaves, great way to introduce the concept of area. Visit Kindergarten Lessons for more details and measuring ideas! PBS has a fun activity that integrates science and math. Kids shine a flashlight on a leaf and trace its shadow on grid paper to find the area of a leaf!

Leaf Symmetry - Check out the cool art project Beautiful Ideas did!

Science - Is a Green Leaf Really Green? Click here to find out! Also, check out Exploring Life Community's photosynthesis experiment!
Create a Leaf Skeleton - ehow

Descriptive Writing - "Meet My Leaf, " free printable from Scholastic
Leaf Descriptions - Set up a leaf station in your classroom. Kids work in pairs. One child describes a leaf. The other child has to find the correct leaf. This activity is a great way for kids to learn the importance of detail (adjectives) and comprehension (listening skills).

Leaf Hunt, Tally, Graph, Fractions - Classic activity that's always popular with young students. Go on a leaf hunt outside around the school yard. Have kids tally their leaves. Then, as a class, graph your findings! Afterwards, have kids write the fraction for each color found. Younger kids could also practice their patterning skills with colored leaves.




Leaf Art - Who doesn't like leaf rubbings! If kids color nicely, they could show leaf transformations for a geometry unit. Have them use one leaf and make their rubbings in different colors. Leaf texture via Jimmie Homeschool Mom - flickr commons



Saturday, June 9, 2012

Pea Pods - Similarities and Differences



Do all pea pods contain the same number of peas? The pea pod experiment fits right into Common Core's Life Science: Behavior, Growth, and Changes. This demonstration shows kids that even though pea pods come from the same plant, they're not all alike.

ESTIMATE - Lay out pea pods, all varying in size, and have kids make a prediction. Do long, thin pea pods contain the most peas or do short, fatter ones? Will pea pods of the same length have the same amount of peas? 

MEASURE - Measure the pods and sort them by size.

TALLY - Have kids tally how many peas are in different pods. Make sure they draw a picture or write a description of the pod near their tally marks for each pod, accuracy is important!

What were your findings? Did similar pods contain the same number of peas? Could you predict which pods would contain the most peas just by looking at the size and shape? Does size and shape even play a role in how many peas are in a pod?

Conclusion: Plants of the same species aren't always the same. 

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Monday, May 21, 2012

Balloon Tennis

Balloon Tennis - Glue paper plates on popsicle sticks for a racquet. Kids hit balloons and play tennis!

Synonyms - Two player game - Kids are given a word. They hit the balloon back and forth. Before they hit the balloon they have to call out a synonym for the word. If they can't, their opponent gets a point. 

Sight Words - Write sight words on balloons. Kids whack the balloon and say the sight word. If they have the correct answer, they get a point!

Spelling - Spell out a word and hit the balloon for each letter. Kids can do this solo, with a buddy, or in a group. 

Fractions - Three player game - 2 people hit the balloon and one person keeps track of the score. Kids choose how many chances they get to hit the balloon. Limit kids to a certain number. Otherwise, they'll go on all day, and everyone needs a chance to play! If they miss, they get to continue, but they have to start off from where they stopped.  For example, if they plan to hit the balloon 20 times and they stopped at 6, they start counting at 7. The kid keeping track of the score tallies each time they hit the balloon. As soon as they reach the maximum number they stop (which is hard I know!). As a group, they figure out the fraction. For example, the balloon was kept in play (or smacked) 18/20 times.

Basic Addition - Two Players - Have kids count up their points!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Basketball Fractions

Learn about fractions while playing basketball! Write a fraction for how many times you made and missed a shot. You can write fractions for both halves of your game. Then, figure out the total. You can also write fractions for free throws and 2 and 3 pointers. Check out learn-with-math game's basketball fractions to see their three round version.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Rock Paper Scissors Math

Explore fractions, while playing a classic hand game!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Top 5

For a fun writing station activity, have kids become critics of movies, music, books, or food. They choose their top five for one category. Then, they draw representations, write a sentence, come up with adjectives, differentiate vowels from consonants, make fractions, take a poll, and find the difference!


Sunday, April 1, 2012

Chex Mix Math

Grab a bag of Chex Mix and have fun with math: estimate, write fractions, add, tally, sort, and compare! Click here for a free download!