Math Game – 10 Little Ducks Went Out One Day

Math Expectations:
Overall
• Demonstrate an understanding of number, using concrete materials to explore and investigate counting, quantity, and number relationships.

Specific
• Use, read, and represent whole numbers to 10 in a variety of meaningful contexts.
• Investigate addition and subtraction in everyday activities through the use of manipulatives.

Health and Physical Activity Expectations:
Overall
• Develop control of small muscles (fine-motor control) in a variety of contexts.

Specific
• Begin to demonstrate control of small muscles in activities at a variety of learning centres.


Context:
This game can be carried out as a whole group activity or during small group learning centre time. The students would have experience and knowledge in recognizing numbers and counting from 1 to 10. They have learned the mathematic vocabulary of adding and have been practicing addition with different manipulative materials such as base ten blocks and linking cubes.


Rules of the Game:
Each student gets a “pond” and a set of numbered duckling cards placed in a paper bag, assorted with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, which add up to 10. A student picks a card from her paper bag, read the number, and then put the required number of ducklings in the pond. For example, if a student picks the number 2, then she’ll put 2 ducklings in her pond. Students take turns and repeat the same procedure. After each turn, the student would announce, “I had __ ducklings, I added __, now I have __.” The game continues until all the ducklings are sent to the pond, when the 10 circles are filled.


Materials for each student:
A Pond



10 Ducklings



Numbered Duckling Cards




Introducing the game to students:
To begin the lesson, I would sing the song “10 little ducks went out one day” with the students. I would put up the picture of the pond on the board, filled with 10 ducklings, and remove the ducklings one by one as I sing “…but 1 little duck didn’t come back”. After all the ducklings have been removed, I would tell the students that we need to help Mama Duck send all the ducklings back to the pond, explain the rules of the game, and ask a student to be my partner to demonstrate taking turns and picking out the numbers, then placing the correct number of ducks in the pond. I’d review how when we add ducklings to our pond, we’ll have more ducklings. After the demonstration, I would put students into small groups (3 or 4 students per group) and let them try playing!
 

Accommodation/Extension:
Dots are placed on the number cards as an aid for students who are still working on identifying the numbers. The number of ducklings can be reduced to 5 to accommodate specific students. It can also be expanded to 20, played with cards in bigger numbers (e.g. 8), as a challenge for students who are ready to move on.


Assessment:
As children play the game, I’d circulate the room to observe and make anecdotal notes. I would focus on their numeration skills (Do they recognize the numbers? Do they need to count the dots?), their counting (Are they putting the correct number of ducklings in the pond?), and their use of Mathematic language to express their understanding (Are they using the word adding and how well do they communicate to their friends about what they’re doing?).


Lyrics of 10 Little Ducks Went Out One Day

10 little ducks went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mama Duck says “quack quack quack quack”,
But 1 little duck didn’t come back.

9 little ducks went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mama Duck says “quack quack quack quack”,
But 1 little duck didn’t come back.

8 little ducks went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mama Duck says “quack quack quack quack”,
But 1 little duck didn’t come back.

7 little ducks went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mama Duck says “quack quack quack quack”,
But 1 little duck didn’t come back.

…and so on~


References:

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2003). The Early Math Strategy. Ontario Queenʼs Printer for Ontario.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2006). The Kindergarten Program. Ontario Queenʼs Printer for Ontario.