Exploring Junk...or Treasure...Boxes

Exploring Treasures...Once you have collected your treasure boxes math manipulatives, have your students find out all they can about what is in their junk box. Have them tell what things you have discovered.

Fifth's Caps: hard, squishy, plastic, black, orange, yellow, green, hard, metal, gold...

Fourth's Chips: red, white, blue, rough with lines, plastic, has "Bicycle" and a spade on them, thin...

Third's Tiles: yellow, green, blue, red, squares, plastic, thin, hard, small...

Treasure Train...For this game, one item is selected. Have them make a line of treasure with each treasure connecting to the one before it by some attribute.

Square-square, blue-blue, has lines-has lines, and words-has words, red-red, plastic...

Guess my Treasure...With the pile of treasure in front of your student, have them pick out a treasure in his mind, but don't tell which one. Now the rest of you get to ask you questions one at a time to eliminate the possibilities until it can be guessed which one you he is thinking of.

Guess my Pattern...Have your student make a pattern with your his treasures. When he is finished, the rest have to guess and continue his pattern.

Sources: 

GEMS: Treasure Boxes
Kindergarten
6 Activities
102 pages

Mathematics strands explored include discrete mathematics, statistics, number, logic and language. The educational sequence of these activities is designed to build real-life understandings of graphing, sorting, and classification while encouraging cooperation and appreciation for the many ways we can recycle and reuse materials.

Mathematics... A Way of Thinking

by Robert Baratta-Lorton

This activity-centered program contains lessons and blackline masters that covers problem solving, computation, geometry, measurement, probability and graphing..