Yesterday we introduced something called a number rack! It's a very important tool we use in Kindergarten. We're using a 20 number rack, but you can have one that goes all the way up to 100. It's kind of like an abacus, but a bit more fine tuned ;) Each rod has 10 beads on it, 5 red and 5 white. We started by learning about how to use it, and then played a game of "How many?'. I would push some over and they would have to see how many there were. Watch this video I made ions ago to learn more about how we use it!
There are apps you can download on the iPad (search rekenrek) or you can make one out of cardboard, pipe cleaners, and beads. Number racks have the following benefits:
when numbers get larger, so does the quantity
understand the important of 5 and 10 as benchmarks (instantly recognizing 5, pulling 2 more over and knowing that that's 7)
different ways to compose numbers (1 and 9 make 10, so does 8 and 2, etc.)
addition
more or less than
place value (15 is actually 10 and 5 more)
We will continue to explore this math tool during our daily math time :)
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