School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap)

Home Activities for Primary students

Literacy Suggestions for Families for Children in Kindergarten to Grade 3

girl drawing on the floor using chalks

Numeracy Activities for Kindergarten through Grade 3

Kindergarten

Big ideas: Numbers to 10. Really important to be able to build sets of items to 10; compare quantities within 10 (example, 8 is 3 more than 5)

See the math that is in everyday activities. For example, give your child tasks to do such as set the table. If 4 forks are needed for the table, hand them the incorrect number and have your child tell you how many more they need, or give back the ones they don’t need. Or, in the car, count the number of gas stations you drive by, or the number of red cars you see.

Play lots of card and dice games to encourage your child to count. Encourage board games such as Candyland, Sorry and others where they roll a die and count spaces to move. Check out our website for additional card and dice games: https://sd83.bc.ca/family-math-games/

I have…and I wish I had: use counters, rocks, buttons, etc and have your child build a set of a certain number (example 5). Then say “I wish I had 7” and have your child adjust their set to show 7. Early on, children will ‘erase’ their set and build the 7 from scratch. Work towards being able to adjust what they already had to reflect what you’ve asked for- in this case, by adding two more to their set. Be sure to ask them to both add and subtract from their current set. In this example, the next request could be “I wish I had 4”.

Birds in a tree: the object of this activity is to help your child be able to break apart numbers in many ways. Draw two trees on a piece of paper. Then say “I am looking out the window and I see two trees and nine birds. Show me how you think they are sitting in the trees”.  Have your child place counters in the trees to show nine split between the two. Encourage them to find different ways (e.g. 8+1, 7+2 etc).

wood creativity child game

Lego Math: Build structures together. Encourage your child to use words to describe parts of what they are building such as “taller, shorter, beside, on top of, underneath”. Another idea is to count the blocks – not necessarily all the blocks, but sometimes count all the yellow blocks in a particular tower, or ask which colour was used the most/least.

Knock ‘em Down Addition (Use nerf/squirt guns, or if you prefer, use a tennis ball/water balloons/bean bags/water hose/rolled up socks etc.)

Write the numbers 1-6 on plastic cups. Stack them in a pyramid, or line them up on a ledge outside. When you say “Go” the child gets 3 tries to knock down the cups. They add up the points on the cups and keep a running total. First player to reach (10, 20, 100 your choice- depends how long you want to keep them busy😊) wins. For Kindergarten, the child can add the total of the cups, but an older person will need to keep the running total.

AMAZING! Draw a grid of 20 squares outside using sidewalk chalk (or write the numbers 1-20 on paper and lay the papers on the ground). Start at 1 and have them walk their way through counting by 1’s all the way to 20. (You can organize the numbers in many ways. This is just an example.)

Variations:

  • Start at a random number (e.g. 8) and find the way to 20.
  • Start at 20 and follow the numbers down to 1, saying the numbers aloud as they move.
  • Start at 2 and count by 2’s-stepping to each number e.g. 2,4,6,8 etc.
  • Hop to a number to start with, then the adult gives a math equation to figure out and the child hops to the answer. Example: child jumped on to 3 to start with- adult says “3+2=” and child jumps to 5. They get a point for each number they successfully land on. When they land on the wrong answer, they are out and it is someone else’s turn.

Grade 1

Big Ideas for Grade 1: Numbers to 20; addition and subtraction within 20 Examples: 8+5=; 18-7=

Tips for big ideas: have your child explain ‘how’ they find the answer to addition and subtraction questions. We are looking for the child to start to develop flexibility to use different strategies such as counting on for smaller numbers, using doubles to help solve an equation (e.g. 7+7) and making 10 and some more (e.g. 8+5 is thought of as breaking 5 into 2 and 3 and thinking of the question as 8+2+3)

Website: https://gregtangmath.com/tenframemania This is a game for building number sense and beginning addition skills.

Play lots of card and dice games that focus on adding and subtracting within 20. Examples: Connect 4, Salute!, Nine-Square. Check out our website for games: https://sd83.bc.ca/family-math-games/

See the math that is in everyday activities. For example, give your child tasks to do such as set the table. If 6 forks are needed for the table, hand them the incorrect number and have your child tell you how many more they need, or give back the ones they don’t need. Or, in the car, count the number of gas stations you drive by, or the number of red cars you see. To work on the concept of subtraction, you could have them guess how many red cars they will see in a walk around the neighbourhood or a drive into town. Then as they are counting the red cars they see, ask “how many more cars do we need to see to meet our guess?”

Addition and Subtraction facts: Rather than memorizing facts, students are expected to use strategies to become fluent with facts. They might use doubles, doubles +1 (e.g. 6+7), making 10 and some more. Ask your child to explain how they solve addition and subtraction questions up to 20. Once they can explain how to get the correct answer, they can practice the facts to gain speed, but the strategy is the most important part to develop first.

Knock ‘em Down Addition (Use nerf/squirt guns, or if you prefer, use a tennis ball/water balloons/bean bags/water hose/rolled up socks etc.)

Write the numbers 1-8 on plastic cups. Stack them in a pyramid, or line them up on a ledge outside. When you say “Go” the child gets 3 tries to knock down the cups. They add up the points on the cups and keep a running total. First player to reach (10, 20, 100 your choice- depends how long you want to keep them busy😊) wins. Grade 1 students may need assistance adding higher than 20, but it is good practice!

AMAZING! Draw a grid of 20 squares outside using sidewalk chalk (or write the numbers 1-20 on paper and lay the papers on the ground). Numbers can be arranged in other ways. This is just an example.

Start at 1 and have them walk their way through to 20 counting by 1’s all the way.

Variations:

  • Start at a random number (e.g. 8) and find the way to 20.
  • Start at 20 and follow the numbers down to 1, saying the numbers aloud as they move.
  • Start at 2 and count by 2’s-stepping to each number e.g. 2,4,6,8 etc.
  • Hop to a number to start with, then the adult gives a math equation to figure out and the child hops to the answer. Example: The child jumped onto 3 to start with. The adult says “3+2=” and the child jumps to 5. They get a point for each number they successfully land on. When they land on the wrong answer, they are out and it is someone else’s turn.

Estimation Jar of the week activity: Fill a jar or container with a certain number of similar objects. For grade 1 it is suggested to keep the number to 50 or less. Example: put 20 marbles in a cup, or 7 sugar cubes, 25 tea bags etc.  Have your child guess how many objects are in the container. Write their estimate on a paper and leave it beside the jar. Each day post a clue such as “The answer does not have a “7” digit”, or “The answer is an even number”. Your child can change their answer, narrowing it down each day until Friday when you reveal the final answer!

Grade 2

Big Ideas for grade 2: Students develop more fluency with addition and subtraction facts to 20; addition and subtraction within 100.

Examples: 24+38; 86-24; 72-38;

Strategies: ask your child to explain how they get their answer when they are adding or subtracting. The usual language is “exchanging, regrouping or trading” rather than what used to be called “carrying or borrowing”. Having lots of opportunities to estimate is really important. For example, students can estimate the number of slices of bread in one loaf, then estimate how many would be in the display in the grocery store.

A good online game for building number sense and addition skills: https://www.gregtangmath.com/tenframemania

Card and Dice games: Play lots of card and dice games that focus on addition and subtraction within 20. Examples of these games include: 9-Square, Salute, Pyramid. These games, and others, have all been explained on previous home learning opportunities. Check out our school district website for game ideas: https://sd83.bc.ca/family-math-games/

Addition and Subtraction facts to 20: as explained above, it is important the your child has strategies to figure out the answers to addition and subtraction questions within 20. Once they are able to confidently explain how to arrive at the correct solution, they can work on getting faster. Crib is a great game to develop these skills, as are the games in the family game section of our website.

Daily problem solving: It is so important to use math in context, rather than always a page of questions. Help your child see how math is used by giving them a question each day such as “When I walked by the park, I counted 45 Canada Geese on the lawn. When I came back, there were only 27 Canada Geese left on the lawn. How many geese had left?” Students should be encouraged to solve the problems using pictures just as much (or more) than equations. Great mathematicians use diagrams frequently to help sort out what a question is asking them to do.

Estimation Jar of the week activity: Fill a jar or container with a certain number of similar objects. At grade 2 it is suggested to keep the number of objects to 100 or less. Example: put  20 marbles in a cup, or 62 Q-tips, 25 tea bags etc. Have your child guess how many objects are in the container. Write their estimate on a piece of paper and leave it beside the jar. Each day post a clue such as “The answer does not have a “7” digit”, or “The answer is an even number”. Your child can change their answer, narrowing it down each day until Friday when you reveal the final answer!

Knock ‘em Down Addition (Use nerf/squirt guns, or use a tennis ball/water balloons/bean bags/water hose/rolled up socks etc.)

Write the numbers 5-12 (or whatever numbers are appropriate for your child’s math level) on plastic cups. Stack them in a pyramid, or line them up on a ledge outside. When you say “Go” the child gets 3 tries to knock down the cups. They add up the points on the cups and keep a running total. First player to reach (10, 20, 100 your choice- depends on how long you want to keep them busy😊) wins.

Grade 3

Big Ideas for grade 3: Students should be comfortable adding and subtracting three digit numbers up to 1000.  Examples: 352+619;  862-367; 451+312; 675-243

Strategies: students should be able to estimate first, then complete the question and explain how they arrived at their answer. For example, for the question 352+619 they may estimate “350 and 600 would be 950. My answer will be a little more than 950”.

https://www.gregtangmath.com/kakooma This is a game for practicing addition and subtraction skills. Be sure to do the “practice” first as it explains how to play!

Card and Dice games: Play lots of card and dice games that focus on addition and subtraction within 20. Examples of these games include: 9-Square, Salute, Pyramid. These games have all been explained on previous home learning opportunities. Check out our website for some games:  https://sd83.bc.ca/family-math-games/

Grade 3 is also a great time to start to introduce the game of Crib (link to rules).

Daily problem solving: It is so important to use math in context, rather than always a page of questions. Help your child see how math is used by giving them a question each day such as “A full bag of pop can recycling needs to have 250 cans. We have 134 cans in the bag, how many more do we need to make it a full bag?” Students should be encouraged to solve the problems using pictures just as much (or more) than equations. Great mathematicians use diagrams frequently to help sort out what a question is asking them to do.

Estimation Jar of the week activity: Fill a jar or container with a certain number of similar objects. At grade 3 it is suggested to keep to 100 objects or less. However, it is also helpful to go to a much larger number if you are not expecting them to estimate within 10. For example, recognizing that there might be 1000 rice grains in a container, rather than 100. Examples of items you might place in a container: put 20 marbles in a cup, or 150 Q-tips, 25 tea bags etc.  Have your child guess how many objects are in the container. Write their estimate on a piece of paper and leave it beside the jar. Each day post a clue such as “The answer does not have a “7” digit”, or “The answer is an even number”.  Your child can change their answer, narrowing it down each day until Friday when you reveal the final answer!

Knock ‘em Down Addition: (Use nerf/squirt guns, or use a tennis ball/water balloons/bean bags/water hose/rolled up socks etc.) Write the numbers 15-23 (or smaller numbers if they are more appropriate for your child’s math level) on plastic cups. Stack them in a pyramid, or line them up on a ledge outside. When you say “Go” the child gets 3 tries to knock down the cups. They add up the points on the cups and keep a running total. First player to reach (100, 250, 500, 1000 your choice- depends how long you want to keep them busy😊) wins.