Making Kindergarten Math and the Number of the Day Magical

9/19/2020

What routines do you have to celebrate each new school day? In our kindergarten classroom, we incorporate a variety of ways to show numbers throughout out morning meeting so students get familiarized with number concepts.

Helper of the Day

I begin our morning meeting by giving clues about who our special helper is for the day. I keep the students names on a ring, and we flip the name tag each day for a rotation. The tags are shuffled once we make our way through the stack. Our school mascot is a Titan, so the special student is referred to as the Titan of the Day. I share what letter the child's name starts with, how many syllables it has, what it rhymes with, etc., based on what we are learning about in phonics. Once the Titan of the Day is revealed, s/he helps with our number of the day activities.

Number of the Day Activities for Kindergarten

The first job is to drop a cube into the pocket chart. Then the child choses the magnetic numerals to show how many hundred blocks, tens sticks, and ones cubes are in the pockets. The class looks on and counts along.

The Titan of the Day's next job is to place a magnetic dot on the ten frame. We show the number with our hands to make a connect to counting with our fingers by tens. For each math tool that we use, students chant to repeat after me. For example, I say, "Look at the ten frame! Let's count by tens!" This gets them used to the math terms and tools.

The next stop is the hundreds chart, where the child moves the rainbow icon to the next number square. Then we slide the flower on the pocket chart to focus on today's number that is in the one's place. We write the number in the air, use our fingers to place each dot on the frame, punch out each dot for the domino, hold up our fingers to show the number, and write the number word in the air!

We have a number line above our board, and we slide the arrow over each day. The kids count along with me, one by one, as we hold up our fingers for each number.

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Classroom Mascot

Now, here's the most exciting part! Meet Uni-Zero! Get it? Uni, 1; zero, 0?! She's my spinoff of Zero the Hero. I just really like unicorns and rainbows, okay? Anyway, she gets a little stir crazy each time she hears us say "zero" in our number of the day activities. It's crazy! She starts to wiggle around and whispers things in my ear! She has a magical bag with her when she arrives! (Hello, Target and Bullseye's Playground.) Every time we have a zero in our number of the day, she brings us something that is shaped like a zero! Here's a list of some of things she has brought:
M&M's
Skittles
Oreos
Fruit Loops
Spider Rings
Jingle Bells
Smiley Face Stickers
Whoppers
Hershey Kisses
Egg Mini Erasers
Chocolate Coins
Trix Cereal
Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows
Smarties

I peek inside of her bag to give clues about what is inside. Then I pass out the treat. The kids know to hold it in their hand and wait until everyone gets their surprise. Then we do a magic spell with Unizero! I chant, and they repeat, "Boppity Boo! Dipity Dount! Unizero is here! To help us count!" Then we eat the food, ring the bell, put the ring or sticker on...you get the picture...then BAM! We start counting alllllll of the way to our number of the day! The kids go crazy!

We just love our number of the day routine in our classroom. I hope your students enjoy the magic, too! Stay tuned for how we celebrate the 100th Day with Unizero! It's quite the party!

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