Lids and kids

 KM have been pretty mad on lids. We began collecting them after I watched a Maths consultant demonstrate a great Lids Kit activity* she made for emergent Maths students. I collected them originally intending to make Lid Kits but then the collection just took on a life of its own...

Everyone I knew was giving me lids. I put a sign up on the staff room whiteboard, which was a real boon. But my biggest stroke of genius was getting the students involved. Every lunchtime was spent scoping out the playground for lid potential. While I sure didn't want to pick up grubby lids I found in the playground (despite the temptation), the kids really didn't mind. They would come and show me their haul if I was on playground duty and I would just encourage them to go and give them a little wash. I like to think it kept them out of trouble.

 The lids provided quite a scope for Maths lessons. Instead of counting from the 100s chart, we counted lids. We graphed them. We ordered them. We sorted. We made videos about the lids. The kids made castles and snakes from the lids during developmental play sessions. And yes, I did make the Lid Kits, but we've hardly touched them.

Eventually, we made our final graph, using catagories the students chose themselves. We stuck the lids on with blue tac and then I put sticky tape over the top of them. With great difficulty (and with the help of a colleague) I got them up on the wall. Every now and again, a lid pops off. Worth it though.







*Lid Kits, in case you do want to make them:

Make numeral cards, 1-6 and the corresponding number of lids. Eg: 1 red lid, 2 blue lids, 3 white lids etc. The students have to order the numeral cards, then match the groups of lids to the correct number. Good for numeral ID, ordering, 1:1 counting, etc. I stored them in press-sealed bags. Quite good, except be sure to sit the students far enough away so that the lids don't get mixed up into other kits! Learned that one the hard way....