One-to-One Correspondence (continued)

You guys must be some One-to-One Correspondence Loving Fools, because that seems to be a top post each week.

Which is GREAT!  It's such a great Math Readiness Skill!

If you would like some background on this topic check out the original post:

One-to-One Correspondence

Two new games we've added to our Play Space are simple (and similar) ways to practice counting and the meaning behind those numbers you are chanting.

So this first one isn't really new...at all: 

 

We made it before Christmas.  The opposite side is painted green and has sparkles on it.   Yes, it was meant to be a Christmas Egg Carton Tree craft.  However, cutesy crafts just never go as planned in our home.

BUT if you just flip over the egg cartons, voila, a perfect way to organize and partition off little objects!  Which is the best way to enforce one-to-one correspondence in it's most basic form!

 This is the second:

I was planning on making it a train.  Right now they are cars that he drives all over the mat.  So they will probably stay that way.

I'm thinking this time we will paint the side you see!

To Make:

You will need egg cartons, staples (or glue if you are patient) and some objects to count.  

Cut egg cartons and assemble into a shape of your choice.

Rules of the Games:

1. Every ball needs a home.  

2. Every home only needs one ball.

3. Count the balls as they are placed in their "home."

I'm starting to hear some more number words recently!  His favorite seems to be 9, which is strange.  Every time we're counting his voice gets really loud on 9, like most people do for 10.  He cracks me up!

(and Carter, 2 years old)

A Look Back

I'm currently working on the next article in the Brain Development series. I'm very excited to announce that the next part will be published on I Can Teach My Child! I will give you all of the details once they are set, but it should be at the end of this week. I hope you can show us some lovin on her uber big blog! (Eeek...I'm getting major stage fright.)

In the mean time, we've had so many new followers join us recently! Welcome, we are so glad to have you! I hope you can take a look around and check out the About Page to get a better idea of who we are.

Here is a look back at some old posts that have been lost in the dust but can hopefully inspire some ideas for Baby Play!!

Mini Pumpkin Basketball

Independent Play Games: For Babies

Baby Wipe Box: Ribbon Pull

Whew, those boys have grown!

OH, and happy Memorial Day. Can you tell I live in China?

One-to-One Correspondence

Great book for this lesson!

If your child is already in preschool or has started kindergarden, then chance are, you have heard the term "one-to-one correspondence" before. Maybe it's been listed on their Skills Accomplished list or Report Card.

It is usually explained as the ability to match one object to one (corresponding) number or object.

Example: 1 egg per egg carton holder. 12 total.

or

Example: 2 socks to 2 shoes.

This concept is so fundamental that we often don't even think about it. Most people want to jump right into teaching their kiddos to count 1-10. While Rote learning (memorizing counting numbers) is a handy tool, it can just be like singing a song and have no meaning to them. In order to lay a strong foundation for mathematic understanding they need to fully understand the meaning behind each of those little ol' numbers!

Children (all people really) learn best by using concrete examples, hands-on and FUN learning!

There are so so many ways to practice this concept for all developmental levels and can be as simple as:

• Count your fingers and toes (touching each of them).
• Count all of the animals in a book.
• Covering the numbers 1-5 with the corresponding amount of stickers.
• Counting the trees or cars you pass on a walk!

Teacher Tip- 3 techniques to help teaching this concept:

1. Scanning- Have your child move their hand over the object as you count out loud. Better yet...touch it!
2. Organize- If the items are scattered about you can move them together. Once counted, you can move them into a line or in an organized shape. Your child can then go back if they lose track, reorganize their thoughts, and pick back up.
3. Partition- Assign separate "compartments" for all objects, counted and not yet! Like egg cartons, cups, baskets, paper cut into different shapes labeled with a number.

Do NOT let this explanation scare you. Most likely you are already doing these things and you hadn't even thought about it! See you are a teacher!

Here is an example of us playing (and secretly practicing 1-to-1 correspondence yesterday).

See that isn't scary!

And do not let these two pictures fool you. This lasted all of about 3 minutes!

There are so many ways to practice this! Here are some from a quick google image search:

No Time for Flash Cards

Rockabye Butterfly

What other ways do you practice this concept? Please share!