Count Me In!

Introduction

Have you ever dreamed of playing baseball while in class?
I am making that dream a reality by bringing the ball game to the class room!
Come participate in this fun learning activity where we will use baseball to practice our counting. Batter up!

Task

Every day will start off with a different baseball themed introduction, whether it be singing, reading, acting out, etc.
Next we will start our baseball themed math activity of the day. This includes adding to the daily tally chart, looking for patterns in wins and loses, practicing equations, and/or using ten frames.
Students will participate in groups, their baseball teams, to add team work and fun to the game! There will also be a question of the day for students to answer individually.

Process

Every day students will break off into their assigned "baseball teams" and participate in the daily learning activity.

Today's activity will be counting tallies by using baseball bats!

Once students are in their groups I will hand out the first activity sheet to every member in the group, which has 10 baseball bats on it, that can be colored in using the team colors, and each baseball bat will need to be cut out one by one.

When the baseball bats are colored and cut-out I will hand out a blank piece of paper to each student and they will need to paste their baseball bats to the paper in tallies of 5.

The end product should include 2 sets of 5 tallies and will equal 10 total baseball bats on each paper.

If each member of the group successfully creates their paper as instructed, then the team will get to add a point to the daily tally board. Remember even though each student is creating their papers individually, this is a team effort! You must help your team mates in order to receive a point for the day.

Now, play ball!

After the assignment please answer the question of the day.

Today's Question: How do tally charts make it easier to count large numbers?

 

Evaluation

I will evaluate each student's papers individually to see if they correctly formulated the baseball bats into tallies.

I will evaluate how each team works together.

If both of these areas are met then each team will receive a point for the day.

Whichever students had trouble with the project and/or the team does not receive a point, I will work with to make sure they earn a point next time! There will be no shame in not earning a point for the day.

Also, each student will need to answer the question of the day and will get credit for answering it individually.

Today's question answer explained: Using tally marks make it easier when learning to count large numbers because they are collected in bundles of five, so you can count by fives, which is faster than counting by ones!

 

 

Conclusion

I hope this activity was fun and every one has learned something new!

When we master tallies of 5 using 10 baseballs bats, then we will move on to 15 baseballs bats, then 20!

This ball game is not over yet, so stay tuned!

 

Credits

Langhorne, PA, S. R.Retrieved from http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=3300

http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceUrl/Preview/23110

 

Teacher Page

Objective: Helping students learn to count by fives using tallies and providing a fun baseball themed activity to engage students in the material. Allowing students to work in teams to get to know their team members and practice helping one another succeed. 

Materials needed:

An activity sheets with ten baseball bats that are able to be cut out easily.

Crayons, safety scissors, blank construction paper, and glue sticks.

A white board for a daily tally chart of team wins and loses(with plenty of dry erase markers).