Hello everyone! This is my 5th year teaching Pre-K but my first year using Math tubs and Literacy Tubs. We are now using the Big Math for Little Kids program. I don't know how many are familiar with it. Anyway, it has a lot of small group activities and so I have 3 different color tubs. I have 3 tables in my class and they each have a colored caddy. On the counter they have a tub that matches there caddy. After the students get finished with there small group activity they are to go to the caddy and get something to do. OK here is my question. The first unit is working with numbers. The low group is really low so, what kinds of activities to you suggest I put in the tub? The other two groups are little higher so that was a little easier. Right now I just have the birthday cakes with numbers on them which already have the holes so they cannot miscount but self check. Any other ideas would be helpful.
Here's a website that I used to get me started. Not sure if it will help or not, but hopefully you'll be able to pull some ideas from it. http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/math_tubs.html
I have a math page on my site for pre-k teachers: vanna's math pages I also really like the books More Than Counting and Much More Than Counting for ideas for math centers/tubs. Right now in math centers we are working on sorting, 1:1, and the number 3. For sorting we are sorting Halloween themed math manipulatives, for 1:1 we are using more Halloween math manips in the "ice cube tray game" (see my 1:1 page for description), and for the number 3 we are doing crayon rubbings of sandpaper #3 and then cutting 3 things from grocery store flyers to glue to the page, and also "spill the pumpkins" using more Halloween manips (see descrip on 1:1 page). I have heard good things about Big Math for Little Kids, we use Growing With Math.
I don't really like the Big Math for Little Kids. Some of it is way over our kids heads and it takes too much time to prepare.
