Ugh…I couldn’t even get through five days of posting consistently! Oh well, it’s been a loooong week! I literally slept SO well last night! So anyways, here’s the pic that should’ve gone up on Thursday (day 5)!
I introduced Even Steven and Odd Todd to my first graders this week. (In hindsight, I should have done this in the first month of school, but, at least we’re learning about it now!) I pretty much copied the guys and the activities from Cara at The First Grade Parade.
So on Wednesday, I introduced Steven and Todd to the class, and told them the little story about each one (see a synopsis on Cara’s post). Then, I had one student choose a number less than 20, and we counted that many M&Ms onto a napkin. I think our first number was 18? So then I asked them if we should give the snack to Even Steven or Odd Todd- by a raise of hands. Most wanted to give it to Even Steven (not because they knew it would be even, but because the majority “liked” him better! Ha!). So we divided up the treat into his hands to see if it would be even, and it was! So we knew the number was even! We did the same thing several times, and then one time (after correctly guessing even or odd each time) I chose a number (15) and chose to give it to Even Steven. They pointed out right away that the treat should go to Odd Todd, and why. I saw the wheels turning!!
The next day, they did the same activity with a partner (again, following Cara’s lead), and they did great! On Friday, we tried translating it to doing the process in their heads, and recognizing even and odd numbers, which has proven a bit more tricky. This mainly happens with the two and three digit numbers. We did this FREE sort, and were trying to guess instead of think about the right answer. So I think I may have broken the record on saying “What do you think?” and “Why?” the most times in that half an hour! I told them to cover all but the units digit with their finger and decide whether that number was even or odd. That way they aren’t thinking about any other number besides the last one.
One thing that I have done since day one is make our number line around the classroom. I use black marker for the odd numbers, blue for the even numbers, and red for the tens. My plan when I go in on Monday is to underline those tens with blue, to remind them that the tens are even too. That really helps them check their work and helps with anything they don’t know. I cropped the picture of Steven and Todd above, but I did put a little reminder on the bottom of them just like Cara.
What do you do to teach the difference between even and odd numbers to your students?
Much Love, Allie
