Download Unit 9 About Numbers Parent Letter

Dear Family,
Our unit for the next week is “Learn Every Day about Numbers.” Your child will
experiment with numbers and discover the many ways people use numbers in their daily
lives. He/she will learn about addition and subtraction. He/she will also learn how to
interpret bar graphs.
Your child will explore simple addition by adding the fingers on one hand to the fingers
on the other hand. He/she will talk about familiar items that come in sets of a certain
number, such as hot dogs, socks, and eggs. In addition, he/she will learn that sets can be
created in many different ways.
Here are some activities we have planned:
Art Center: Make ants for use with the “Ants Go Marching” counting song; and create
paper plate art in wholes, halves, and quarters by decorating and cutting a paper plate.
Dramatic Play Center: Play with stuffed “pets” (dogs, cats, birds); and make a bar
graph of favorite types of pets.
Home Living Center: Practice one-to-one correspondence by setting the table with one
plate, one spoon, and one cup or by making sure that each baby doll has a bottle.
Literacy Center: Play a simple number-matching card game; trace the numbers with
his/her fingers and say the numbers out loud; make number books based on Lois Ehlert’s
Pie in the Sky; spell names with letter tiles and compare the lengths of the names; and
create a bar graph that represents how many times the teachers read to the children during
the day.
Music Center: Sort the instruments into sets by their color, size, shape, or type of sound
they make; and play musical chairs and discuss how the set of children is always larger
than the set of chairs in this game.
Discovery Science Center: Count, sort, and compare the items in several collections,
such as beans, seeds, and shells; and create a bar graph about whether or not the children
like a certain type of drink.
Math Center: Practice counting the number of objects in collections and compare the
collections to each other; and use the ants from the Art Center activity to answer simple
addition and subtraction word problems: “If 10 ants march in and 5 ants march out, how
many ants are left in?”
Outdoor Activities Center: Collect sets of objects from the playground, such as stones,
bark, and leaves; sort collected objects into sets according to size, color, and texture;
explore nature by estimating how many bugs he/she will find in a certain measured area
of the playground; and use a bar graph to keep track of the outside temperature
throughout the week.
At home you can:
 Count things around your house. How many beds? How many cars? How many
chairs at the table?
 Create a collection of favorite toys.
 Help your child find sets of items in your home, such as utensils, pots and pans,
silverware, and dishcloths.
 Have pizza for dinner and talk about dividing it into halves, then quarters, then
eighths.
 Create a bar graph that represents the colors of your family’s eyes.
We are very excited about the activities we have planned. As always, thank you for
sharing your child with us. Please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions or
concerns.
Sincerely,