Mathematics Kindergarten
Strand: MEASUREMENT AND DATA (K.MD) Standard K.MD.3
Mathematics Kindergarten
Strand: COUNTING AND CARDINALITY (K.CC) Standard K.CC.1.
Mathematics Kindergarten
Strand: COUNTING AND CARDINALITY (K.CC) Standard K.CC.4.
Mathematics Kindergarten
Strand: COUNTING AND CARDINALITY (K.CC) Standard K.CC.5.
Students will learn about tallying and collecting data.
For each student:
Additional Resources
Books
Students should have a basic knowledge of numbers and one-to-one correspondence before they start working on these activities. Vocabulary words used in this activity:
Tally mark—A line made on a chart to represent an object in a set.
Tally chart—The chart on which tally marks are recorded.
Set of five tallies—The fifth tally goes across the first four tally marks to show a set of five marks.
Set of ten tallies—Two sets of five tallies get circled to show a set of ten tally marks.
Data—Information we are using, either from around us or generated by us.
Attributes—The properties of an object that can be used to compare it to other objects.
1. Demonstrate a positive learning attitude.
2. Develop social skills and ethical responsibility.
3. Demonstrate responsible emotional and cognitive behaviors.
Invitation to Learn
Have everyone close their eyes for a minute. Tell them that we are in a store and we are walking down the game aisle. Ask them what they see. Tell them that what you see are manipulatives for math—box after box of manipulatives that can make math really fun and interesting for students. The problem? Those games have big prices stuck on them and we can’t afford to buy them. Tell the class that you are a garage sale and secondhand store addict. Tell them that usually you can buy a game for $2 or less at a garage sale or a second-hand store. Tell them that those games will probably never be played following the rules of the game.
The following game ideas use second-hand items and can be adapted for games that are available to the teacher.
Push the grasshoppers down and wait for them to pop up. Have a student come and check whether they landed right-side up, or up-side down. Ask a couple of students to come up and try to catapult the monkeys into the tree. Ask another student to come and push the button on the Monster Mixup machine. Have another turn on the Lucky Ducks game and start pulling ducks from the pond one at a time, etc. . .
Ask the students what the students have been doing. Guide their conversation so that you establish the fact that all of the students have been generating data. Then ask what we can do with the data that is being generated. How can we collect, record, and display that data? Make a list on the board of the different ways that the students suggest.
Instructional Procedures
Center 1:
You will need a set of cards with tallies on them representing the numbers 1-20. Place the cards face down on the table. Each student at the table will need a laminated fish-shaped storyboard and a portion cup of goldfish crackers. Have a student turn over one of the cards. Everyone looks at the card, determines the number the tallies represent, and counts that many goldfish onto their fish storyboard. The fish are returned to the cup and another student chooses a card. The children continue to turn over the cards and count out the number of fish for the number the tallies represent. At the end of the rotation, the children get to eat the fish and the adult helper wipes all the storyboards with a baby wipe so they are clean for the next group.Center 2:
Have this table set up with sorting trays that have four different kinds of coins in the main area. Use plastic pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters. Have each of the children sort the coins into the divided areas of their tray. Then each student gets a tally sheet showing the front and back of each of the coins. Model for the students just what they need to do to make the tally. Show them that the pencil can stay in the hand they use to write with and then they need to use their other hand to move the coins as they tally them. The coins can be put back in the main area of the sorting tray as they are tallied. To clean up this table at the end of the rotation, the children must have all of the coins back in the main area of their tray and they need to put their tally sheets in their desks at their starting table.Center 3:
The students at this table will each have a container with about 15 beans in it. They are to reach into the container, pull out a number of beans, and put the beans on a foam square. Then they will tally the number of beans they pulled out of the container, using the hand they write with to make the tallies on the record sheet and the other hand to return the beans to the container. After all the beans are tallied, they count the tally marks, write how many beans there were, and circle the number. Then pull beans from the container again and start a new tally. At the end of this rotation, all the beans need to be back in the containers and their tally sheet needs to be put in their cubbies.Center 4:
Have a grocery store set up in this area with a number of foods that come in different kinds of containers. Have a tally sheet showing cans, packets, boxes, and bottles. Have two children fill their carts with 10 items they choose to buy. The other two children will check them out at the cash register. Have the students who were shopping place the items from their carts up on the counter. One of the check-out children pretends to scan the item and puts the item into a bag. The other student has to put a tally on the record sheet for each type of item purchased. Then have the check-out people trade places before the second grocery cart is emptied. After both carts have been tallied and bagged, have the students trade places so the other two students can have a turn shopping.Center 5:
This center will be set up with a grasshopper for each student and a tally sheet showing a picture of the grasshopper right-side up on one line and a picture of the grasshopper upside down on the other line. Have the students push down on their grasshopper to get them to hook to the table. After it jumps and lands, have them determine whether the grasshopper landed right-side up or upside down. Have the children put a tally mark on the chart on the right line. Push the grasshopper down and let him take another flying leap, and repeat the whole process again.As the children are doing these activities, monitor and record who is able to put one tally for each object that is counted. Who understands that the fifth tally goes across the first four to divide the tallies into sets of five, and who can circle groups of two sets of five to make a set of ten. You can also note who is having trouble with these concepts. It is really just one-to-one correspondence. One tally for each object they see that they can mark on their chart.
Family Connections
Research Basis
NAEYC, Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C., Eds. (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice In Early Childhood Programs. Revised Edition.
"To help children learn and develop, teachers use a variety of active, intellectually engaging strategies. . . teachers also model, demonstrate and explain, and provide information, coaching, direct instruction, and other assistance that a child needs to progress (pg 165)."