December Math Read Aloud

The December Math Read-Aloud just HAD to have a winter theme.  And since understanding combinations that make 10 is such an important concept in the lower grades (and even still for some upper elementary kiddos!), the book Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman was just perfect!

Next week I actually get to go into my son’s kindergarten class to do some math centers, but I thought I’d bring along a math read aloud as well.  Since it is just a few days before the Christmas break I thought I’d do Christmas themed math activities.  Ten on the Sled starts with all ten animals on the sled but as they traverse down the hill, one by one they fall off.   The lonely caribou is the only one left but then all the animals returns to the sled.  Last week I did a lesson in a Kinder class using a counting book but we modeled what was happening in the story on their rekenreks…however, that class was familiar with the rekenrek before I came.  I was thinking of doing the same lesson (but using this book) with my son’s class but they have not used the rekenreks yet, so I decided to use ten frames to help them model the storyline.  I created a Ten Frame Sled using a graphic from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/. Click the image below and you can download it from Google Drive.  I will be cutting these apart, and laminating them, so that each child gets one sled.

I am thinking I will have the kiddos fill their ten frame with M&Ms (I should take a healthy snack, but I love candy!!) and as each animal flies off the sled they move a candy off the sled.  Even though eating the candy at the end is the fun part, don’t forget to focus on the mathematics while the kids are modeling the story.  Pause during the lesson to ask questions like “How many animals have fallen off the sled now?”  “How many are still on?” “Does your Ten Frame show that many?  How do you know?”

Well, I am getting excited for next week as I write this and cannot wait to get some pictures.  So check back next week to see!

Update: I also created “filled” ten frames so that his teacher can use these throughout winter to do Quick Images with these Filled Ten Frame Sleds.