1st and 2nd Grade Math Event

1st and 2nd Grade Math Event – Number Sense

Unlike the typical Family Math Night, this Primary Math Event is a sit down affair with a presenter. The presenter leads student-parent pairs through a series of games and activities designed to develop number sense and addition and subtraction strategies. The focus is on listening to children’s mathematical thinking; the presenter using a microphone with a very long cord goes out into the audience and interviews children about their strategies and parents learn to adjust the level of each game to match their child’s ability. At the end of the evening families take home directions for playing the games (and many additional games) all using playing cards and a handout with guidance on “making your child mathematically powerful.”

Following the links on the left side of the page will take you to all the documents you need to run a fun and educational math event at your school.

Speaker Resources includes the PowerPoint presentation and a timing guide.

Setting Up Your School Math Night has a check-off list for organizing the event and the blacklines for making ten-frame cards and the tic-tac-toe game boards.  

Handouts for participants has three blackline masters to run off: (1) Activities that Build Number Sense, (2) Simple Card Games to Play at Home, and the (3) Mathematically Powerful Parent.

The curriculum is designed to be used with several classrooms at once, either during the school day or in the evening. Presenters can be teachers or volunteers. The curriculum can also be used with individual classrooms perhaps as a way to help parents understand part of the math curriculum. Additionally individuals might use this to stimulate and develop a young student’s number sense (volunteers working in “homework help sessions” or home-schooling parents). Our hope is that whatever audience or context you choose, the joy that is young children understanding numbers will inspire you.

This curriculum was developed by Gail Gerdemann of SEPS with help from Dr. Kathryn Cheval of the Salem-Keizer School District.