Young children just learning number concepts learn them best when they relate to real things and real-life situations. It's easy to create math experiences based in a variety of cultures or to help children learn to count in a language not their own.
How Many in the Group?
Goal:
To find different ways of sorting and graphing the same group of people
Materials:
Large piece(s) of sturdy paper to make oversized charts
Process:
Group or family graphs are among my class's favorites. We make the family graph after the students have drawn pictures of the people in their family. Make a number of family-member graphs with the class, each time dividing the family unit into different categories: number of girls, boys, sisters, brothers, pets, and so on. Students place their names in the correct number column showing how many members are in their family. After everyone has had an opportunity to talk about it, we develop a graph story.
