Teaching Day-by-Day: Math and More...

1. Young children can investigate patterns in nature by observing plants, and compare and contrast different patterns online at www.pbskids.org/boohbah/parentsteachers/activity132.html
2. How many letters are in your name? Use a chart to spell out your students' names. Who has the longest name? The shortest?

3. Read Math Projects for Fun by Andrew King (Copper Beech Books, 1999) for kids ages 7 to 9 to learn about math using everyday objects, games and more.
4. PBS Parents Guide to Early Math (www.pbs.org/parents/earlymath) has activities and games for infants and toddlers through second grade, including matching games.
5. PBS Mathline (www.pbs.org/teachersource/math.htm) includes lesson plans and activities for all school ages, including the "Here, There, and Everywhere" patterning game.
6. On PBS Jazz Kids site, play "Tap Your Feet" (www.pbskids.org/jazz/lesson/tap_your_feet.html) with first graders to practice following a pattern in music.

7. Help a mother goose find the right egg in the "Virtual Goose" matching game found at www.pbskids.org/arthur/games/virtualgoose
8. At the Between the Lions website, find downloadable and printable play money to use in your classroom's store. www.pbskids.org/lions/printables/misc/money.html
9. Visit the US Mint website for games, a teachers' area and to learn more about the history of the coins in your pocket. www.usmint.gov/kids
10. Find five fun and engaging hands-on projects that you can print out at Cyberchase at www.pbskids.org/cyberchase
11. Have younger students vote for their favorite (or least favorite!) snack. Explain how one-to-one voting works and then tally the results together.
12. Arthur's game "Arthur Bounces Back" helps kids develop an awareness of money as they pretend to buy advertised items. www.pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/lesson

13. Read Follow the Money! by Loreen Leedy (Holiday House, 2002) and follow George, a quarter, from his stamping in the Mint through his adventures in finance.
14. Make a special container for saving money using this Reading Rainbow activity: www.pbskids.org/readingrainbow
15. How warm (or cold) is it outside today? Use a thermometer over the course of a week and plot daily temperatures with your students. What does the graph tell us?
16. Sesame Street's The Count brings kids the Number of the Day, and follow-up segments focus on math concepts such as counting, number recognition, geometric shapes, measurement and
    patterns. www.pbskids.org/sesame/number
17. Pick a number of Boohbahs and see if your students can draw them in at least four different configurations. www.pbskids.org/boohbah/parentsteachers/activity508.html

18. In the PBS Parents Early Math game, "Animal Lost and Found," kids can help identify pets they've found by number of legs, ears, eyes and more. www.pbs.org/parents/earlymath
19. Help students learn to count in Spanish with Dragon Tales' "Play It and Say It" game. www.pbskids.org/dragontales/parentsteachers/activities/activity305b.html
20. Cyberchase's "Number Machine" has kids try to create the largest number by adding three other numbers together: www.pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/numbersense/index.html

21. Read aloud Barn Cat: A Counting Book by Carol P. Saul (Little, Brown & Company, 1998) to help very young children learn to count with this fun barnyard tale.
22. What time is it really? Visit the website of the US Naval Observatory for the official time at tycho.usno.navy.mil/what1.html Lead children in a discussion of time zones.
23. Make a simple sand clock with children using this lesson plan from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: www.pbskids.org/rogers/parentsteachers/theme/1666_p_act.html
24. Read All in One Hour by Susan Stevens Crummel (Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2003) What can happen in one hour? Follow along with a mouse and a cat at 6 a.m. and see!
25. In an effort to make students more aware of how long a century is, ask them to list members of their families who were born in this past century. Kids might create family trees to display in school, or create a chart or database on the computer. Use a free, downloadable family tree builder at www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/sfeature/index.html
26. Cyberchase's game "Bike Route" helps kids in grades 3 to 5 use their knowledge of distance and time to determine the route that is the shortest and quickest. www.pbskids.org/cyberchase/webisode_3/web_game3.html
27. To explore how people keep track of longer stretches of time, investigate "Calendars through the Ages" at www.webexhibits.com/calendars/index.html Have students make a calendar of their own, drawing pictures or symbols on a strip of construction paper.
28. Visit the "Misunderstood Minds" website to learn more about the stages of development in math skills to help you understand how children learn math concepts and where problems might develop. www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/mathbasics.html

29. How much did a photograph cost in 1850? What does a digital photograph cost us today? Visit PBS' Big Apple History website for activities comparing costs from the past to today: www.pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/parentsteachers

30. Why do we use money, anyway? Why not donuts? Use this lesson plan to begin a discussion of our monetary system and what things are worth. www.pbskids.org/cyberchase/parentsteachers
31. Play with the numerals of the date 01/31/06 to show young students how numbers are everywhere. 0+1+3+1+0+6 equals 11 if added and 22 if the total is doubled. What else can we do with these numbers?

PBS TeacherSource helps PreK-12 educators with 3,000+ free lesson plans and teachers' guides on hundreds of topics – all correlated to national and state curriculum standards. Visit www.pbs.org/teachersource to access these educational resources, professional development materials and to sign up for a free weekly newsletter for teachers.

January 2006, Vol.36, No.4