Early Math Project

Will there be enough lizards for the show?

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Topics: skip counting by 5s and 10s

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Activities To Do Together:

• Use Leaping Lizards to introduce and practice skip counting by 5s and 10s. 

• Skip counting is an important introduction to multiplication. 

• Practice counting a group of nickels to count by fives or a group of dimes to count by tens.

• Talk about skip counting and practice with different numbers. For example to practice skip counting by two, count pairs of shoes: 2, 4, 6, 8…

• Practice counting by fives with an analog clock. Count the minutes by fives between 4:00 and 4:30. 

• Practice counting elapsed time. For example, count the minutes between 1:45 and 2:10, count by fives: 5 (1:50), 10 (1:55), 15 (2:00), 20 (2:05), 25 (2:10) = 25 minutes.

• The way the lizards are shown in the book is an array. Arrays show objects in an organized way that makes counting easier. The use of arrays leads to conceptual knowledge of multiplication and not simply the memorization of multiplication facts. Practice putting collections into an array to make counting easier

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Extension Questions:

1. In what situations do you often see fives and tens

2. How could you use skip counting?

3. When could you use the multiples of five and ten?

4. Using a 100 chart (print one here or make your own), color in all the multiples of 5. Then color in all the multiples of 10 in a different color. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

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Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts:

add, altogether, count, fifteen, fifty, first, five, forty, four, half, more, one, soon, ten, thirty, three, twenty, twenty-five, two

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Please check out the Book Guide for Leaping Lizards for more!

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Online External Resources for Leaping Lizards :

• Activities for Leaping Lizard on the author’s website Math Start

• Skip Counting Activities from We Are Teachers