Introducing Arrays!

We began learning about arrays in math today!  Arrays are a foreign concept for us, they were added to our math curriculum this year due to switching over to the CCSS.  For my very first lesson ever teaching arrays, I thought it went great!  Here's how our lesson went down. 

1. We started off with a great Brain Pop Jr. Video to gain some knowledge of what exactly an array is and what it is used for. (Gotta love Moby and Annie!)

2. Then we made a colorful anchor chart to put on our math wall which will help us remember arrays for the rest of the week.

3. Next, we had some guided practice using white boards and pattern blocks under the Elmo. They had to make an addition equation but they figured out pretty quickly how to make multiplication equations, so I let them do both.  They thought they were so cool because they could understand multiplication.

4.  Lastly, we had some independent practice using an Array Match-Up center from my End-Of-Year Extravaganza Math pack.

My kiddos did great for our first day with arrays and I had very few who completed their independent work incorrectly.  The ones who did, only made very minor mistakes, overall I was very impressed with today's math lesson! Hope you find these ideas helpful!