Curriculum Focal Points and Connections for Kindergarten

The set of three curriculum focal points and related connections for mathematics in kindergarten follow. These topics are the recommended content emphases for this grade level. It is essential that these focal points be addressed in contexts that promote problem solving, reasoning, communication, making connections, and designing and analyzing representations.

Kindergarten Curriculum Focal Points

Number and Operations: Representing, comparing and ordering whole numbers and joining and separating sets

Children use numbers, including written numerals, to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems, such as counting objects in a set, creating a set with given number of objects, comparing and ordering sets or numerals by using both cardinal and ordinal meanings, and modeling simple joining and separating situations with objects. They choose, combine, and apply effective strategies for answering quantitative questions, including quickly recognizing the number in a small set, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number in combined sets, and counting backward.


Geometry: Describing shapes and space

Children interpret the physical world with geometric ideas (e.g. shape, orientation, spatial relations) and describe it with corresponding vocabulary. They identify, name, and describe a variety of shapes, such as squares, triangles, circles, rectangle, (regular) hexagons, and (isosceles) trapezoids presented in a variety of ways (e.g. with different sizes or orientation), as well as such three-dimensional shapes as spheres, cubes, and cylinders. They use basic shapes and spatial reasoning to model objects in their environment and to construct more complex shapes.


Measurement: Ordering objects by measurable attributes

Children use measurable attributes, such as length or weight, to solve problems by comparing and ordering objects. They compare the lengths of two objects both directly (by comparing them with each other) and indirectly (by comparing both with a third object), and they order several objects according to length.

Various Ways of Teaching Shapes

1) Shape Hunt
1.1) Give pupils a shape to search for in classroom.
1.2) Give them five minutes to bring all of the things that are that shape. For instance, an eraser might be a rectangle.
1.3) When the time is up be sure to praise your pupils for all of the things that they have found.

2) Shape Collage
2.1) This activity will need safety scissors, a glue stick, construction paper, a marker, and a few old magazines.
2.2) Divide a piece of construction paper into six boxes. Label each box: square, rectangle, circle, oval, triangle, and star.
2.3) Help pupils search for shapes in magazines that represent any of the six shapes on the construction paper.
2.4) Cut the pictures out and have your child glue the shapes in their appropriate box. 2.5) Construction paper can be subsituted by poster board, should you need a bigger workspace.

3) Shape BINGO
Use printable BINGO cards to play a friendly game of Shape BINGO with pupils. They will have fun, and learn at the same time.

REMEMBER:

Prekindergarten only need to know about the basic shapes, such as squares, circles, triangles, etc. They will learn the more complex shapes in the later years of their education. Prekindergarten shape activities can be made fun for children with a little imagination on the teachers' part. They will not only enjoy the activity itself but will remember the shapes correctly for the rest of their lives.

Teaching Shapes using Food

Here's a good idea. Children, in general loves food, especially those sweet and cute ones. So, in order to attract them and assimilate what they are about to learn, we could use food. Below are some examples:

1) Bread Snack Shapes
1.1) Cut bread into shapes and ask them to eat the shapes.
1.2) Create a mix of squares and triangles and ask the pupils to eat the squares first.
Not only they will eat a lot of bread in this way, but will also learn to differentiate between a square and a triangle.
1.3) For an added variation, cut cheese into shapes as well to make shape sandwiches.

2) Cereal Shape Sorting
Have your pupils sort shapes using brand cereals such as:

2.1) Squares: Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Captain Crunch
2.2) Circles: Cheerios, Fruit Loops, or Apple Jacks
2.3) Rectangles: Frosted Mini Wheat
2.4) Then use the cereal as a special snack time treat!

3) Graham Cracker Snack
3.1) Use graham crackers at snack time to teach rectangles.
3.2) Break the graham crackers in half to create squares.
3.3) Let your pupils spread their graham crackers with peanut butter, cream cheese, or other tasty treat.

Teaching Shapes by Poems

One way of teaching shapes is by using simple poems. Such as:

CIRCLE
CIRCLE, CIRCLE. Never ending. Just like Mother's stack of mending.

TRIANGLE
TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE. Has three sides. In the corner she always hides.

RECTANGLE
RECTANGLE, RECTANGLE. Two short, two long. Remember this rule and you won't go wrong.

Maths Shapes Activities

Hot Air Balloons production, presents to you.......


SHAPES!!!! :D

What the children needs to do:

(1) Trace dotted lines
(2) Identify shapes and colour
(3) Cut out the shapes below
(4) Paste them on the hot air balloon!
(5) YAAAYYY! CLAP CLAP CLAP!






p.s. Teachers, please make sure that your pupils have really understood what the activity wants and remember to have lots and lots of fun!! :D

Maths Shapes Activites

Hello,

I have not had the proper time and connection to post my latest TP log and Maths Activities. Was on M.C and the internet connection at my area has not been good.

I'll post them up later today, or tomorrow. Let's hope for the best. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Maths Activities

Maths activities here.

to be edited