Differentiating Math in the Ladybugs

This has been a big week for math in the Ladybugs!  We have moved into some higher level thinking about numbers and sums.  The books we have been using are "One is a snail, ten is a crab" by April Sayre and "1+1=5, Unlikely Math" by David LaRochelle.  Both of these books are terrific resources and starting points for exploring different ways of looking at addition problems.  The kids have been very successful figuring out the new problems and they have even been teaching the older kids how to do this math.  These books have provided us with the perfect vehicles for differentiating math in the Ladybug classroom.  Some children are counting with a one to one correspondence, some count by 2's, 5's or 10's; others use multiplication to figure out the answer.  Each child was able to use the method that best suited them to solve the problems.  One of the things that became abundantly clear was how creative and eager these children were to solve the problems.  The activities allowed the children to think outside the box and enjoy doing math in a way that made sense for them.

this one is counting by 2's

Sometimes it's more fun to show the big kids how to do it!

Sometimes the best part is sharing the discovery with someone else!

Adding legs

"feet"

"legs"

5 starfish legs plus the number of legs we know an octopus has

this child is counting legs

this one counting ponytails