Math Every Day Counts is a daily calendar activity. We count the days we have been in school with straws, money and tally marks. We also add the number to a 100's chart. We practice days of the week and months of the year daily. We learn patterns, telling time and measurement as well.
Counting with straws helps to learn place value. We put 1 straw daily into the 1's pocket until we reach 10. We then trade the 10 1's for a bundle of ten, which goes into the 10's pocket. We continue until we reach 100 and then continue until the last day of school.
For money sense, we use a penny each day because a penny is 1 cent. We will trade pennies for nickels, nickels for quarters and dimes, then eventually a dollar. We count the money daily.
We add a tally mark daily and learn to count by 5's. The helper writes the number on the chart that reads; We have been in school for _______ days.
For days of the week we have 2 songs, one is a song about food, the other is a days of the week song to the tune of the munsters theme.
For the months we have 2 different songs also, one we do the macarena to one song; the other is a slower months of the year song. We count the days of the month and add todays date. The dates on the calendar are in a pattern that changes monthly.
For telling time skills, the helper picks a card which has a time on it, they have to move the hour hand to the matching number. If the students fully understand this concept we move on to half hour in the 3rd nine weeks.
For measurement, the helper measures an object in the classroom with a ruler and tells the class how many inches the object is.
Each day, we sing a song to reinforce academics and we use props to help us. We also sing a fun song and end with a calming down song.
