Featured Book: How the Stars Fell into the Sky
Read the Navajo legend How the Stars Fell into the Sky by Jerrie Oughton.   Discuss the stars and both the orderly constellations and the randomness of many stars in the night sky.
- Use magnetic number cards randomly placed on the board and ask students to find specific numbers.
- Discuss how hard it is to find a number when the numbers are "all mixed up."
- Distribute the number cards to students and ask them to place the numbers in order.   Help students create the hundred chart in rows of 10.
- This activity can be added as a math center using number cards on any magnetic surface so that students can build the hundred chart using number pattern clues to assemble it correctly.
- This activity is easily differentiated by varying the numbers students are given (e.g. #1-20 or #1-50).
- Download number cards for #1-100
Ten Apples up on Top
Young students will enjoy Ten Apples up on Top by Theo LeSieg.   The story is amusing to students and they will wonder if the apples will topple.   Because ten is such a pivotal number in our base-ten system, students need many experiences constructing this number.   Consider combining this book with the traditional fall apple theme for a strong math lesson.
- Let students draw themselves with a given number of apples up on top for the class Apples up on Top book.   Each student is assigned a different number of apples.   Each student completes a page for the class booklet by filling in the number and his/her name on the template.   Students then make the oval his/her face by adding features and hair.   Students then add the correct number of apples up on top.   The teacher may bind the book together to create a class book to be read, reread and sent home with students to share with their families.
- Download the Apples up on Top template to create a class booklet.
- Tell apple number stories using 10 apples of two different colors. Students may color in ten-frames to record how many of each color apple.   Then ask students to record the same information in a Part-Part-Total diagram, as used in Everyday Mathematics to connect the concrete representation to the symbolic.
- Download a Ten Frame & Part-Part-Total recording chart for students to color and record numbers of each color apple used in the number story.
- Students may also use a Generic 3-column chart to record the information from the apple stories.
Ten Black Dots
Young students will enjoy Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews.   Students will enjoy predicting how many dots come next and how they are arranged.   Students also see a triangular arrangement of dots for each of the numbers at the end of the book.   Because ten is such a pivotal number in our base-ten system, students need many experiences constructing this number.
- Give students dot labels and have them create a number picture for the class Ten Black Dots book.
- Give students 10 dot labels of two different colors.   Ask students to create a picture using all 10 dots.   Students can write a number sentence about the 10 dots.
- Give each student 10 two-color counters in a cup.   Students shake the cup and spill out the counters.   Students may use a t-chart to record how many of each color they got.
- Download a Red-Yellow-TOTAL recording chart for students to use in sheet protector
- Download a Generic 3-column recording chart for students to use in sheet protector
- Download a Red-Yellow-Number Sentence recording chart for students to use in sheet protector
- Students may also color in ten-frames to record how many of each color they got.   Then ask students to record the same information in a Part-Part-Total diagram, as used in Everyday Mathematics to connect the concrete representation to the symbolic.
- Download a Ten Frame & Part-Part-Total recording chart for students to color and record numbers of each color as well as the total number of chips.