Night Owl, Morning Magpie: FOUNDATION - Maths - Explore

One night, Little J hears the nocturnal Barking Owl and becomes fascinated by how the owl stays awake at night. In the morning, he is woken by the carolling of magpies and on the way to school, he is swooped by Maggie, the magpie, Miss Chen teaches the class about nocturnal animals.

Explore - Establish understanding of the language and processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences, initially to and from 20, moving from any starting point

Theme - TIME

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Night Owl and Moring Magpie”, revisit the information Nanna tells Little J about why the father Magpie swoops. Have students recall information about the time of day, nocturnal and diurnal animals.

Discuss with students how a clock has 12 numerals, and that the hour hand goes around the clock face twice in a day. Thus, there are 24 hours in the day.

As a class, view the following video clips to reinforce the concept of time

Activity games

On the IWB/board, write the numerals that present the quantities of time, e.g. 60 secs = 1 minute; 60 minutes = 1 hour; 24 hours = 1 day; 7 days = 1 week; 4 weeks = 1 month; 12 months = 1 year.

  • Create activity games based on sorting and counting that apply an understanding of the quantities of time. For example: Clapping hands, skipping, bean counting for 60 counts (6 x 10 piles) timed to the second-hand of a clock, or a digital counter.
  • Using a sand ‘hour glass’ egg timer to time activities such as, running around the oval, hopping from one side of the playground to the other, playing statues and freezing in action when the last grain runs through the funnel, etc.
  • Making a weekly and monthly calendar, counting the 31, 30 and 28 days of each month. Mark on the calendar the students’ birthdays or annual festivities and /public holidays, and count the days from now till then, etc. Discuss why the days of the month differ in length of days.

Invite students to play number-based games:

  • Climb the Snake
    Place a 5-metre-long version of ‘Warnayarra the Rainbow Snake’ on the floor. The snake is divided into 20 runs. Individually or in pairs, students place their counters on the number 10, in the middle of the snake. If the student/pair throws an ‘odd’ number the students/pair moves their counter to the tail of the snake. If the the students/pair throws an even number, they move the counter toward the head of the snake. Play continues until a student/pair throws the exact number to move to the head of the snake.
  • Starfish Game
    Make a 6-pronged starfish that can lay on the ground, with each prong being six counter spaces from the centre and each being labelled from 1 to 6. Children place themselves around the board and choose one number. They each have six counters each. Children take turns to throw the dice. If they throw their chosen number, they place their counter on one of the circles that is in the arm of the starfish allocated to that numeral. Do not put a counter on if someone else throws your number. First one to get six counters on reaching the middle is the winner. Play again but this time allow students to move to have a different number. Smaller numbers of children can monitor two arms of the starfish or leave some arms blank. Play this game with numerals 7 to 12 using two dice.
  • Make 24
    In groups of 3 or 4, students are given a pile of dot cards. Students place one card at a time on a pile in the middle, adding the total each time. When a student puts a card down that adds to exactly 24, they are the winner. If a student puts a card down that brings the total over 24, they must take it back and put it at the bottom of their pile. It is then the next students turn to try and make exactly 24.

Additional game suggestions and resources: