When rereading the book, the children used coloured cubes to act out the story. We also used a set of dominoes to pick out all the doubles, and a pair of dice to attempt to roll doubles. In Math, we often use manipulatives (concrete materials) to make sense of abstract ideas. Handling the cubes, dominoes, and dice facilitated counting and fostered greater understanding of the concept of doubling numbers.
In a follow-up activity this week, the children were invited to build a tower between 1-10 cubes high. A classmate would count the cubes in the tower and build a second tower containing the same number of blocks, thereby doubling the quantity of blocks. “What is the total number of cubes it took to build both towers?”
Together, we also drew a series of silly illustrations containing doubles. For example, “Double 1" might be a face with two eyes or a bicycle with two wheels. “Double 2" might be a an animal with four legs or a car with four tires. “Double 3" was a funny insect with three legs on each side.
In all of these activities, the children were very supportive of each other as we built understanding together. Bravo!