Featuring the picture book Every Dog in the Neighborhood by Philip C. Stead
Strengthen your child’s mental math skills with this PF on the Go kit focused on the Using 10 as a Benchmark strategy. In the heartwarming story Every Dog in the Neighborhood, a young boy and his grandmother set out to count every dog nearby, discovering that there are many ways to organize and understand numbers. This story creates a great chance for families to practice using 10 as a friendly landmark. As you explore the neighborhood together, the "Interactive Read Aloud" moments turn counting dogs into a lesson in curiosity and critical thinking.
The math comes to life through games like Target Difference, where players use a 20-sided die and specialized cards to practice finding the distance between numbers. The kit also includes the Pup Puzzle card sort, an activity that invites children to categorize story problems and explain their mathematical reasoning. By discussing whether a problem is about “taking away" or "comparing," children build a deeper, more flexible understanding of how numbers work. Together, these activities show how using 10 as a benchmark provides a reliable path for solving math problems with fluency.
Included Materials:
- Every Dog in the Neighborhood by Philip C. Stead
- Target Difference cards
- 20-sided dice
- Pup Puzzle cards
- Strategy cards
- Four full-color activity cards printed on durable card stock, with clear, step-by-step instructions for every activity
Start with Kit A and progress in order to Kit J. Kits A–D are prerequisites for Kits E–J. Students should master the facts in the prerequisite kits before starting the later kits.