Games and Exercises

Try these hands-on exercises after reading Math Man to your class. The following list grows in complexity:

One Potato, Two Potatoes:
Arrange potatoes on a table in a set of seven. Sing "One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes, four… five potatoes, six potatoes, seven potatoes, more. Demonstrate more by adding one more to seven, then two more to seven, then three, then four, then five to total twelve or twenty.

Count The Sprouts:
Empty several cups of Brussels sprouts onto a table. Place them back into the cups in groups of five—five, ten, fifteen, twenty...

Snack Cake Computation:
Model subtracting by taking away cakes. There were ten snack cakes and Marnie ate two. How many are left. There were eight snack cakes and two kids took two each. How many are left. Try exercise with snack cakes wrapped singly, and two to a pack. Eat the manipulatives at the end of the demonstration.

Perfect Produce:
Cut melons into fractions: halves, fourths, eighths, and sixteenths before serving to hungry mathematicians. [If you choose a melon with seeds in the center, split it, and seed it, and bring it to school in plastic wrap.]

Pumpkin Prediction:
Introduce pounds and ounces. Weigh a few items on a tabletop scale. Ask children to bring in a variety of pumpkins and gourds to school, all shapes and sizes. Students should arrange the produce in approximate size order on a long table. You will number the fruits in order, and place a few treats, or bonus point tickets behind each one Ask the class, by a show of hands, to select the pumpkin or gourd that most represents the average or mid size of the lot. Weigh it. Now solicit predictions of the weight of each remaining fruit. Ask students to record their weight predictions on paper. The closest predictor(s) win or share the treats behind each item.

We Can’t Scan:
Ask children to bring clean empty, grocery containers to school, such as egg carton, milk container, soda can, dry goods boxes, etc. Also ask them to bring the price of the item written on paper, folded to hide the number. Solicit estimates of the prices of each item. Mark the actual price on each item after the guesses have been made. Round the price to the nearest dollar for lower grades. Ask each student to prepare an imaginary shopping list of five items. Announce this: "The supermarket scanners have gone KAPUT! You must add the items yourselves!"

How Much For A Pumpkin?
Two weeks in advance, ask each child to bring in one empty egg carton and a labeled zip-lock bag containing 4 quarters, 16 dimes, 24 nickels, and 60 pennies. Place a small pumpkin on your desk. Announce that it costs 50 cents to buy a one-pound pumpkin. Ask students to select fifty cents from their coins in the following groupings: just pennies, just dimes, just nickels, and then any combination of the rest. Students can place each set of coins in a segment of the egg holder. Ask how many combinations can be made before the money runs out? Repeat the exercise with 40 cents, 30 cents and 20 cents.

Mini Mice:
Everyone knows how quickly mice can multiply. A female mouse can give birth every 20 to 30 days. She can give birth to 4 to 7 babies at a time. Problem:

Mother Mouse gave birth 12 times in one year. If she had 4 offspring each time, how many mini mice were born? If Mother Mouse had 5 offspring each time, how many mini mice were born? If she had 6 offspring each time, how many mini mice were born?

What is the highest number of mini mice Mother Mouse could produce in one year?

A Quantity of Quality Math Picture Books

(Note: Preview materials before sharing them with students.)

Adler, David. 1) Fraction Fun. 2) Shape Up! 3) Fun With Triangles and Other Polygons. Illustrated by Nancy Tobin. Holiday House
[Paper plates, paper, and rulers should accompany this fun lesson for budding fraction makers.]

Anno, Mitsumasa. Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar. Putnam, 1983.
[Explore the factors of ten in a playful way.]

Barry, David. The Rajah’s Rice. Illustrated by Donna Perrone. W H Freeman & Co., 1994.
[Doubling tiny grains of rice seems insignificant until the numbers grow large and the storeroom is full! Primary grades.]

Burns, Marilyn. The Greedy Triangle. Illustrated by Gordon Silveria. Scholastic, 1995.
[An introduction to geometry. Suggested activities can be used to increase understanding.]

Burns, Marilyn. Spaghetti And Meatballs For All! Illustrated by Debbie Tilley. Scholastic, 1997.
[Calculate food and seating for 32 people at the reunion. Use cardboard squares to demonstrate.]

Cleveland, David. The April Rabbits. Illustrated by Nurit Karlin. Scholastic, 1986.
[A counting book that includes ordinal and cardinal numbers.]

Demi. One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale. Scholastic, 1997
[A delightful book for the primary grades about geometric progression.]

Fox, Mem. Shoes from Grandpa. Illustrated by Patricia Mullins. Orchard, 1990.
[A cumulative tale about clothing.]

Gag, Wanda. Millions of Cats. Coward, McCann, 1928.
[Explore the concept of multiplying cats.]

Giganti, Paul. Each Orange Had 8 Slices: A Counting Book. Illustrated by Donald Crews. Morrow, 1992.
[Counting and multiplication for primary grades]

Hightower, Susan. Twelve Snails to One Lizard. Illustrated by Matt Novak. Simon & Schuster, 1997.
[Measurement for ages 5-7 ]

Hill, Elizabeth Starr. Evan’s Corner. Illustrated by Sandra Seidel. Penguin USA, 1991.
[Only two rooms for eight people? What will Evan do?]

Mahy, Margaret. 17 Kings and 42 Elephants. Illustrated by Patricia MacCarthy. Econo Clad Books, 1999.
[Enjoy the tongue twisting language and the colorful counting as the kings journey through paradise.]

MacKain, Bonnie, et al. One Hundred Hungry Ants. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
[A mass of spirited ants divide as they hurry to a picnic.]

McMillan, Bruce Eating Fractions. Scholastic, 1991.
[Foods are used to demonstrate fractions. Recipes are included.]

Murphy, Stuart. Give Me Half. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Harper Collins, 1996.
[Simple division is demonstrated in a fun, family tale about sharing.]

Murphy, Stuart. Ready, Set, Hop! Illustrated by Jon Buller. HarperCollins, 1996. [A lesson on building equations for primary grades.]

Myller, Rolf. How Big is a Foot? Econo Clad Books, 1999.
[More measurement for primary grades: Thrown in jail because the bed he made for the Queen is too small, an apprentice comes up with a more accurate way of measuring size.]

Scieska, Jon. Math Curse, Illustrated by Lane Smith. Viking, 1998.
[A zany math problem grows out of control.]

Tompert, Ann. Grandfather Tang’s Story. Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker. Crown, 1990.
[Cut and assemble tangram puzzles to replicate the animals in this tale about fairies who change their shapes.]

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