Inquiries- Week 2

This week, the inquiries were all based on 1-5 numbers and the value they hold. It is so important for students to see that the number 5 actually represents a value of 5 individual items. I loved seeing students go from not seeing this correspondence to actually understanding the meaning of a number! For each of  the activities below, we would check for:

- the numbers being in the correct order 1,2,3,4,5

- the correct number of items corresponding with the number

- counting in order 1-5

- identify/recognize numbers out of order ("can you tell me what number this is?" & "where is the 2?")

1:1 to 1 Correspondence Counting Bear (1-5)

Students placed counting bears on the dots of number cards. We didn't stress that students used the same size bears or the same color. As long as the 4 card had 4 bears, we said it looked great! 

2: 1 to 1 Correspondence Beans Match (1-5)

Someone spilled the beans! Students put beans on mats. As you can see, some of the activities are a bit large and take up some space. We let them get on the floor and use the manipulatives so that they feel free to play with the sequencing. We also encourage them to organize numbers in order and in a straight line so that they can begin seeing how 5 is more than 2. 

3: 1 to 1 Correspondence Dot Paint (1-5)

We put dots of paint into circles to match the numbers. I thought about what would happen in we did not have the dots so students were thinking about the value rather than filling in the dots under the number. This could be a good activity to start with and talk about value with. You can show students that the 1 box has only 1 dot and the 3 box has only 3 dots. 

4: 1 to 1 Correspondence Family Match (1-5)

Only 1 person can live in the 1 house and only 2 people can live in the 2 house. Put the correct number of people into each home! This activity was a bit confusing for some students because they wanted the people who looked alike to all live in the same house. The students were not necessarily concerned about the numbers at first so we would let them play with the families and then encourage them to do the work.