Acorn Math

The children were divided into 6 groups. Each group was given a hula hoop, a plastic bag and a map of the quad. 4 groups were asked to put their hula hoop on the ground by one of the trees. The other 2 groups were asked to put their hula hoop in the middle of the quad. The marked their location on their map. Next the children collected all the acorns in their hoop and put them in their bag. The two groups who were in the middle of the quad were concerned because they didn't have many acorns to collect. We discussed why there weren't as many acorns in the middle of the quad. One child asked, "How did the acorns get in the middle?" Responses included, "The wind blew them there" and "The squirrels took them there". We later leaned another possibility. The cheer leaders kicked them there during their daily afternoon practices.

Back in the classroom the groups counted how many acorns they had collected. They put them into groups of tens and then in groups of five. They also recorded how many each group had collected and arranged them from the least to the most.

This was truly a nutty lesson!