Grade 1 Math Activity: My Animal Stories

This project uses the context of animals to build an understanding of numbers within 10. Have your child draw a picture of their favorite animal on the cover page of the book. On pages 2 and 3, your child can fill in the missing numbers to complete each story. Ask if your child sees any number patterns on page 3.

You can use dried beans as counters to model the stories.

On page 4, your child should supply their own numbers to complete each of the two stories. You might encourage writing numbers greater than 1.

Materials Needed

• Crayons or colored pencils
• Dried beans
• Teacher guide
• Student storybook sheet

Print the pages of the student sheet and fold the pages in half to make a storybook. Have your child write their work on the printed pages.

Extend the Lesson

Explore other animals in books or on television, or online by taking a virtual tour of a farm or zoo.

Using a blank sheet of paper, have your child draw some of the animals they have researched. Your child can write a number story about each by highlighting the number of legs, or wings, or any other feature of the animal.