Most of the time, when your child gets dressed in the morning he'll more than likely be wearing an article of clothing that has at least one pocket. In this activity, you and your second grader can pick a day to be a "Pocket Day" as a fun way to help him practice his addition skills. Once the family has grown accustomed to the random calls for a “Pocket Day,” try having a scheduled “Pocket Day” set aside on the calendar and challenge the whole family to wear as many pockets as possible and see how high the total becomes!
What You Do:
- The first time you do this activity you may want to begin by calling the whole family into one room to explain how the activity is done. This will not be necessary for later “Pocket Days,” of course.
- Explain to the family that your second grader will be completing an activity to help him practice his addition skills. He will need to count the number of pockets each family member is wearing.
- Using a sheet of paper, have your child draw a picture of each family member. He'll then either draw the number of pockets this person is wearing on that given day or simply record the number of pockets under the drawing.
- After he's gathered all of his “pocket data,” have your child use the pencil and the paper to add up the total number of pockets the family is wearing that day.
- Assist him in using strategies that will help him add the list of numbers quicker and more efficiently. Strategies may include looking for numbers that add to ten (4+6, 7+3, etc), looking for doubles (2+2, 3+3, etc.)
Other methods of collecting “pocket data”:
- Make a 2 column chart listing all family member’s names and the number of pockets they are wearing on a particular day.
- Make a bar graph of each family member and the number of pockets they are wearing on a particular day.
- Make a tally chart counting the number of pockets for each family member.
You can have Pocket Days as many times as you and your family would like. You can dress in crazy outfits on a weekend Pocket Day or if it's a school day, you can all wear clothes that you would normally wear. Keep a record of the pocket data from all of your Pocket Days, and discuss the results with your child. Are there any days when the family tends to wear more pockets than others? Does one family member tend to wear more pockets than everyone else? Challenge your family to get the most pockets possible by having a pre-arranged scheduled “Pocket Day” in which all members wear as many pockets as possible. Be sure to take a photo to remember those crazy outfits!