Ocean Math Unit!!!
An Ocean Math Unit!!!
This is just a few of my Math ideas. I will be adding ideas as I can get to them. You will also see some math activities in certain units like the Whales Unit!
Sorting Fish
You will need the following materials:
several different kinds and colors of small plastic fish
basket to hold fish
Put your plastic fish in a basket. Let the children take turns sorting them by color, shape, and by size.
Crackers Over Goldfish!
You will need the following:
box of goldfish crackers
work space (I like to use a page with a large fishbowl on it!)
creative imagination
- Give each child a handful of goldish crackers and a work space.
- Make up word problems and let the children use their goldfish as manipulatives. Ex. Brenda went swimming one day and saw 4 beautiful goldfish swimming near her. But, all of a sudden, 2 fish got scared and swam away. How many fish were left?
Favorite Ocean Animal
You will need the following materials:
graph made with chart paper
construction paper fish
- Ask children to decide what their favorite sea animal is. (I usually do this activity near the end of the unit so that children have more choices!)
- Give each child a paper fish and let them place it on the graph under their favorite. Some headers I use are as follows: Sharks, fish, octopus, starfish, seahorse.
- Once each child has had a chance to put their fish on the graph, interpret the graph using questions like "What is the favorite? Least favorite? Is there anything that is equal? How many fish in all?.
Estimation
You will need the following materials:
gummy fish or gold fish
bowl to hold the fish (I suggest an inexpensive fishbowl)
estimation sheet
- Let each child look into the fish bowl and make a "guesstimation" of how many fish are in the bowl.
- Hand out the estimation sheet and let children write the estimation.
- After every child has had a chance to fill in their estimation, get together as a group.
- Count the fish in the bowl. This is a good time to discuss strategies such as counting by twos, making groups of ten etc.
Let's go fishing
You will need the following materials:
fishing pole made by tying 3 feet of string to a dowel and attaching a small magnet to the end of the string.
Fish shapes cut from different colors construction paper and a paper clip attached to each. Write numbers or equations on each fish shape.
a large shape of blue bulletin paper cut to resemble a body of water or
an aquarium
- Lay the fish shapes out on the body of water or in the aquarium.
- Let the children take turns going "fishing".
- When they "catch" a fish, let them state the numeral on the fish or tell the answer to the equation.
Note: You may also want to leave the fish blank and let children catch a certain number of fish. Ex. catch five fish
