Interactive Math Menus for Fun Learning at Home

2. Math Menus are a list of six options for math each week. They always include estimation, games, measurement, shapes, story problems and number sense. Children use the power of choice to decide the 5 menu items they will complete each week (1 per day). Math Menus are designed to use the materials you have around the house, or to make with materials on hand. In some cases you may need to print a document or re-make it by hand. 2

3. Students choose 1 entrée in the menu to do each day for 5 days. That means there will be one entrée they do not need to do. Students are permitted to do all 6 if they want to enrich their learning. Each choice should require 20 minutes or less to complete. Each menu may require numeral cards and beans with dots. 3

4. Parents can ask their children: What menu item did you choose today? What was the most fun part of that? What was challenging? How did you do math around the house today? What did you discover today with your math menu? How close was your prediction today? Why do you think it was that close? TALKING ABOUT THE MATH MENUS IS IMPORTANT! 4

5. Close Enough? Grab two handfuls of something. Put each handful on a different plate. How many do you think are on each plate? How many do you think are altogether? Do you think each hand grabbed the same amount? Check your predictions. Gaming! Make or print the BUMP game board and play one more one less bump. Make your dice by getting 10 beans and marking one side with a black dot. Put them in a cup. Shake and roll. Who won the game? Measure it! Find three objects. Line them up tallest to shortest. Use a penny to see how tall each object is. If you do not have a penny, find a measuring tool similar to a penny in size. K Shape Hunt! Collect 4 shapes around your house and some playdough (or make some). Use the shapes to see what kind of 2D footprint the shape will make. Are all the footprints for the same shape the same? Why? What’s the Story? Pick a Counting Picture and make a story about it. Tell the story to an adult. Show the adult how you can count the objects in the picture. **Requires teacher showing pictures to students Number Play! Go on a color hunt. Count all of the things you see that are that color. How many did you count? Do you think there are more or fewer things that are your color or that are gray? Find out. KINDER 5

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7. Gaming! Shut the Box! Use numeral cards 1-9. Each person lays out their 1-9 cards in a row, in order from 1-9 facing up. Take turns rolling 2 dice. You may flip over the sum of the 2 dice or any combination of cards that equals the sum. The first player to flip over all of their cards, the “shut the box” and win. Measure it! Draw, color, and cutout four different snakes of different lengths on paper. Arrange them from shortest to longest. Use each of the snakes to measure your foot. Which snake is shorter than your foot? Which snake is longer than your foot? Close Enough? Have someone pour some objects into a see through container. Predict how many will fit in there. Then dump them out and count them. How close were you to your prediction? 1 Shape Hunt! Using objects that are straight (pencil, straw, stick) create three sided and four sided shapes. Describe what shape they are to someone at your house. Tell them how you know it is that shape. What’s the Story? There are 10 people who came to different places but are now together. Tell a story about how they ended up together. How would you solve this problem using numbers and symbols? Can you think of another story using different numbers? Number Play! Write the numbers 0-9 on different strips of paper. Put them in a bowl and draw 2 numbers out of the bowl. Use them to make a 2-digit number. Find at least 6 ways to break that number apart. KINDER 7

8. Gaming! Strike it Out! Draw a number line from 0-20, label each number. The first player picks 2 number sand crosses them out, then circles their sum or difference. The second player crosses out the circled number and another number that is left, and again circles either or the sum or the difference. The winner is the person who stops their opponent from making a move. Measure it! Find 2-5 objects around the house to measure. Measure first in inches and then in centimeters. Are they the same amount? Are they different? Why do you think that is? Close Enough? Cut a piece of string that you think is as tall as you are. Compare it to your height. Was your string too short? Too long? Then measure yourself and your string using a measuring tool and record your findings. 2 Shape Hunt! Look around the house to find rectangles, squares, and circles. How many of those shapes did you find? Create a tally chart. What’s the Story? The answer is 58 snails. What is the compare problem or the take apart problem? Ask an adult to solve the problem. Number Play! Play a board game with a family member. Whenever someone rolls a dice or spins the wheel, create an math problem that equals that number. Challenge your family member to do the same. (You rolled a 5, 3+2=5) KINDER

9. Gaming! Play “Blackout Multiplication” where you draw a rectangle with sides that you roll on dice. The product of the 2 dice, or area of your rectangle is your score. Players use different colors to fill in a grid and whoever covers the most area wins. Measure it! Look up perimeter if you do not remember what it is. Find something that has a perimeter and measure it. You can use a ruler, tape measure, or even your foot! Close Enough? Make a prediction about how long it will take you to do a chore. Time yourself with a clock and see how close your were. Try again with a different chore. Are you getting closer? 3 Shape Hunt! Make playdough and form it into small balls. Use straws, toothpicks, or roll small papers into think rolls. Make different shapes with the balls and straws. Organize them into categories with someone. Then try to find a new way to categorize them. What’s the Story? Look around the house for something you make equal groups with (candles, cereal, beans, etc.). Make a story about the equal groups. Have an adult solve the problem. If they are incorrect, help them understand better. Number Play! Choose a recipe to help an adult make. You can only use a 1/3 cup, ¼ cup, and a ½ teaspoon. How many of each will you need for each ingredient? Rewrite the recipe. KINDER

10. Gaming! Play Multiplication Board Tic Tac Toe. Measure it! Take a tortilla and cut it equally so everyone in your house can have a part of it. How many pieces do you need? How much is each person getting in fraction form? ½ ¼? Is it easy to cut into that many pieces? Close Enough? Estimate the perimeter of a cabinet door, the front of a drawer, and the front of a cereal box. Write your predictions down. Use a ruler to check your predictions. Be sure to measure to the most accurate fractional part. 4 Shape Hunt! Find 3 different examples around your house for parallel and perpendicular lines. Find three examples that are not parallel or perpendicular. What do you notice about those? Make a definition in your own words for parallel, perpendicular, and neither. Prove your definitions using the examples around your house. What’s the Story? The answer is 6. What is a story problem that uses division? Ask as adult to solve your problem and help them if they are incorrect. Number Play! Choose a recipe to help an adult make. You can only use a 1/3 cup, ¼ cup, and a ½ teaspoon. How many of each will you need for each ingredient? Rewrite the recipe. KINDER 10

11. Gaming! Play multiplication War with a partner. See if you can use three cards to multiply. Measure it! Get 4 index cards of the same size. Fold them into shapes with no top and no bottom. Make a cylinder, a rectangular prism, and a triangular prism. Try to have them hold beans. Which shape hold the most? Close Enough? Make three different number patterns (each one should have three to five numbers), one growing pattern, one shrinking pattern, and one repeating pattern. What will the 12th term be in each of the patterns? 5 Shape Hunt! Find an example in your house of every type of quadrilateral. Is there anything you can classify as only a quadrilateral and nothing else? Why is that? What’s the Story? The answer is 54 goats. What’s the story? Be sure to use at least two different operations in the problem. Ask an adult to solve and help them if they are incorrect. Number Play! Plan a quilt of many different rectangles that uses fractional measurements like 3.25 inches by 2.5 inches. Sketch the quilt. Find the area of each piece and then find the whole area. Do the values make sense? KINDER 11