Make Connections: You and Me and Math
Created through the collaboration of TERC and YMCA OF SILICON VALLEY, made possible by the Heising-Simons Foundation.
Download files are in English and Spanish.
Children learn about geometry (shapes and positions like up and down) as they “build” buildings from communities near or far.
Ages 2 and Up:
- Build towers and houses using boxes, straws, and marshmallows;
- Create bridges out of paper and cardboard;
- Play a game in which they identify fruits and vegetables by shape.
Under 2s:
- Build with soft blocks;
- Find shapes that roll;
- Find “round” fruits, like oranges and lemons.
THEMES
Our community.. Children “build” familiar buildings as they do the activities in this unit.
Communities around the world.. Show photos of buildings in a distant community. Children “build” these as they do the activities in this unit. For instance, My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me, by Maya Angelou, includes photos of a Ndebele community in South Africa.
Building.. Focus on shapes and sizes of buildings all over the world.
MATH: SOLID GEOMETRY
As children are doing the activities, help them learn math by:
- Describing shapes and positions with words such as round, flat, top, bottom (all ages);
- Encouraging children to describe what they are building (2 and Up);
- Asking children to compare shapes: “How are these the same? How are they different?” (2 and Up).
MATERIALS
Ages 2 and Up:
- Download files
- About 20 varied small boxes (make sure they differ in size and shape)
- A few toilet paper tubes and clean, empty yogurt cups
- A few paper cups per child
- Cardboard sheets cut from cereal boxes, enough so each child can choose a few
- Colored copy paper, enough so each child has a few pieces
- Paper cups, enough so each child can choose a few
- Roll of masking tape
- A few small toy vehicles and animals
- Scissors (for adult)
- About 50 plastic straws, full and half size, or uncooked spaghetti cut in half and thirds, per child
- About 25 large marshmallows per child
- Paper plates: 4 per child
- 2 similar onions (or other round vegetables)
- 2 similar carrots (or other long vegetables)
- 2 similar oranges (or other round vegetables)
- 2 similar bananas (or other fruits)
- 2 cloth grocery bags
Under 2:
- Download files
- A few plastic cups of different sizes
- A few soft blocks and balls, sized so some fit in cups and some are too large
- Several fruits and vegetables in different shapes