Math | The Mommy Teacher

What’s Missing?

Children can be really good at “rote” memory – they can sing their ABC’s all day, but that doesn’t always mean that they know their alphabet inside and out.

It is also very common for a little one to mistake a letter for a number or a number for a letter.

So, I made these ABC and 123 sentence strips using di-cut letters (hand-written looks just as good) so that I can help my little ones use their ABC skills to figure out which letter OR number is missing from the alphabet/counting order.

This is an activity that you want your little one using their problem solving skills to figure out. So, don’t fuss if they sing their ABC’s to get to the letter in order to figure it out (that is a resource for them). This is good practice for your little one to start recognizing letters and numbers with increasing observation.

I have made another FREEBIE for you, a printable for your little ones to practice as well. It is a fill in the blank of upper and lower case letters and one fill in the blank of counting. These are activity sheets with only ONE letter/number missing at a time. But I will make two letter, and three letter missing fill in the blanks soon. So, for now, start with the freebies below and see how well your little one can fill in those blanks! 🙂

ABC fill in the blank

123 fill in the blank

September 13, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Simple Number Search Round 2

The other day I posted a template of the numbers 1-5 so that your little one could carefully concentrate on, and color, one number at a time. Well, I wasn’t lying when I told ya I’d post numbers 6-9 soon, and I even threw in “0” just because I love ya!

So, here are the simple number search “puzzles”:

Simple Number Search 6-9,0

If you didn’t get a chance to read the first Number Search Post for a little more explanation and directions- click HERE

And just a reminder….the “answer sheet” will look something like this:

September 8, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

September Weather Tracking!

I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana so I am already experiencing Tropical Storm Lee and will be all weekend.
Being that I am rained in, and thinking of all of the mommy teachers who might be, I decided to make a freebie for you this morning 🙂

September Calendar

If you like this template… you can buy the whole years worth HERE!

There are sooo many skills you can teach using a calendar, and this month specifically, try to focus on teaching calendar skills by making a “weather calendar.” Just place the calendar on your fridge (or on display in the playroom), and ask your little one to help you be a weatherman (or woman) this month!

You can teach:

prediction: “What do you think the weather will be tomorrow? What do you think the weather will be like later today with a dark, cloudy sky this morning?”
patterns – “Do you see any weather patterns this week?”
picture graph data – “How many sunny days have there been? How many rainy days? Have there been more/fewer sunny days or rainy days this week/month? What kind of weather have we seen the ‘least’ of this month?”
vocabulary – monday, tuesday, sunny, cloudy, most, least, etc.

Your little one’s calendar might look like this:

or you might record the weather every morning and afternoon and in that case it will look different, but just do whatever is most age-appropriate for your little one… maybe your little one will only draw the pictures, maybe your little one will only write the “s” for sunny, and maybe your little one will only write the sight word. But as always , make this experience fun for them.

September 3, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

Simple Number Search

A friend asked me the other day for more number activities to introduce to her little one who is unfamiliar with numbers, though she said her little one is familiar with letters. This is sort of common because we are so eager to teach our little ones their ABCs we initially neglect their 123s. However, it is just as important to teach number recognition as it is to teach letter recognition, and today I made a little printable so that you can reinforce/teach numbers to your little one. The final “answer sheet” will look something like this:

I use this number search printable as a means of providing an example of what number your little one is looking for as well as requiring them to find that same number and color it in, focusing on the formation of the letter as they color it in. Then the little one will color in every other number that is not a “5” a different color.

Click on the link below to download the PDF or click the purchase button 🙂

simple number search

[purchase_link id=”3366″ style=”button” color=”green” text=”Purchase”]

August 10, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment

Bowling with Puffs

I haven’t been bowling in a while, but every time I go I really have a great night. Some time ago I noticed that the “graduates puffs” containers for babies look like bowling pins without the wrappers…as a teacher my mind was always turning when I threw things in the recycle bin. Save 10 of those cans and you have your very own bowling lane for your kids.

Bowling is a GREAT way to teach subtraction. Always ask your little one to count the pins to find out how many pins you have to start with, then count how many were taken away, and finally ask how many are left? These three questions will ingrain in your little one’s mind how subtraction works in a concrete way….even if they can’t figure out the abstract concepts of subtraction just yet….you are showing your little one the process of subtraction in a hands on way.

Sean Patrick opens puff cans with his teeth haha

And when he is finished I take the wrappers off and there you have it….bowling pins!

If you dont have kids…I used to collect these from my sister before I had kids, but if you don’t know anyone who has them then collect something that you might buy for groceries (pringles cans, soda liters, etc.) Make it work for you!

July 18, 2011 by Jessica | 1 Comment