Early Math Project

How would you stack the cats?      

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Topics: comparison, counting, balancing, sorting, mathematical reasoning, stacking, subtraction, addition, measurement

 

Activities To Do Together:

 

As you read the book Stack the Cats with your child:

• Notice the different types of cats in the story. Talk about their differences and similarities. Ask your child to describe the cats or point out the colors, sizes, and positions of the cats to your child.

• Count the cats. Notice that two stacks of three cats makes a total of six cats.

• The eight cats tried to stack, but they tumbled. Ask your child how they would arrange the eight cats so they wouldn’t fall down.

• Ten cats are just too many! Count how many cats remain once one cat falls asleep. Count how many cats remain after two cats climb up and away.

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When you are done reading Stack the Cats:

• Explore how many different ways you can stack five different objects.

• Make stacks with toys. Figure out how to stack the toys so they don’t teeter, totter, or tumble. How many toys can you stack before they fall? Is that number different depending on what you are stacking?

• Measure the stacks of toys. How tall are they? What do you notice about the differences?

• Find three different ways to stack nine objects.

• Make a group with ten objects. Find all of the ways that you can divide the ten objects into two groups that are equal to ten.

• Find three different combinations of three numbers that are equal to ten.

• Start with a group of stuffed animals. What if two left to play? How many stuffed animals remain? Pick some stuffed animals to run off to play hide and seek, how many are left now?

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Conversations During Daily Routines with Infants and Toddlers:

1. Snack time - Stack a snack. Notice the shapes of foods that stack easily.

2. Bed time - Count stuffed animals. Find three that will stack. Talk about which stuffed animal is on the bottom, in the middle, and on top.

3. Play time - Make a stack with different size shoes. Talk about the sizes of the shoes and explore how the different shoes stack. What types of shoes are best on the bottom of the stack? On the top of the stack?

4. Outside time - Look for leaves, twigs, stones, pinecones, and other natural objects. Count them and explore how they fit together.

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Questions for Mathematical Thinking:

1. Why do you think the eight cats tumbled?

2. How would you measure a stack of cats? How tall do you think a stack of three cats would be?

3. How would you describe the cats in the story? How are they alike? How are they different?

4. If you had five cats of different sizes, what strategy would you use to stack them to make a tower?

5. How would you stack seven cats? Why?

6. When some cats went off to play, how did it change the number of cats that were left to stack?

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Please check out the Book Guide for Stack the Cats: for more!

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Online External Resources for Stack the Cats:

• Coming soon!

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