Teach math with art!
For Art today, we mixed in a little Math. The students created name art with their first names, then found the fractions of the colors they used. We practiced writing in block letters to take the curves out of our first names. The students were given 10x10 grids in which to write each letter. After they had planned out each letter in pencil, we added a little color! The students colored in their letters block by block. They chose one color for their letters and one color for the background. We cut out the letters and mounted them. Then the students counted the squares of each color and labeled the fractions. Because it is a 10x10 grid, the denominator for each fractions is 100, making the subtractions a bit easier :) Teacher Version:
When I was subbing in 6th grade I was able to teach a fun lesson about metric conversions. We read a story and introduced a sentence to help students remember the order of the metric units. The original story was a little different than the one below. It used the sentence "King Henry Does Usually Drink Chocolate Milk," but the students and I decided that was a boring sentence and we preferred the more interesting one that read, "King Henry Died Unusually Drinking Chocolate Milk." So I edited the story to fit our memorization tool sentence. Then when I subbed in 4th grade and taught the same lesson, I decided to make this detailed chart which is a mix from the math textbook and things I've learned from other teachers. Click HERE to go to Google Drive and print the PDF file. (Note, I do not allow people to access the PDF for editing) Click HERE to access this chart in Google Slides for editing purposes. PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN COPY BEFORE EDITING IT. The arrows at the bottom of the chart show kids that you DIVIDE by ten when you are converting toward the larger units (I say "toward the giant") and that you MULTIPLY by ten when you are converting toward the smaller units (I say "toward the tiny bug"). I gave each student a copy of this chart. The giant and tiny bug references are from the story listed at the end of this post. Another trick to show the kids when to multiply or divide by ten involves using your arms. True, I probably looked like a crazy person teaching the kids, but it really worked. When you are converting from the smaller units to the larger units, you stick your arms out wide (like you are stretching bigger). The outstretched arms look like a division symbol. When you are converting from larger units to smaller units, you cross your arms in front of you putting one arm on each shoulder so that it looks like an "x" for multiplication. For each square you move in whichever direction you will either multiply or divide by 10. I tell them that 10 is the magic metric number. I put the chart up on the smartboard/doc cam and literally did the arm motions and walked back and front of it to show kids how to do it. The following story about Metric Conversion may help students understand how to convert between the different metric units. I had personally always struggled with metric conversions (probably from lack of interest and from lack of a clear explanation from my teachers when I was young). This story and technique clicked in my brain and I TOTALLY get it now, as did the kids in the class. So I had to share. King Henry's Story Once upon a time in a faraway land there lived a king who loved chocolate milk. His name was King Henry. Throughout his kingdom, King Henry made sure that all of the cows were fed great supplies of chocolate to continue to provide him with his beloved chocolate milk drink. King Henry drank chocolate milk with his breakfast. He drank chocolate milk with his lunch. He drank chocolate milk with his dinner. He even drank chocolate milk for his bedtime snack. King Henry drank chocolate milk by the liters! King Henry wanted all living creatures in his kingdom to enjoy chocolate milk as much as he enjoyed chocolate milk. However, a liter was not the best serving size for every creature. The Royal Carpenter was called for and the command was given for new serving vessels to be created to fit every creature in the kingdom. For the creatures smaller than the king, the Royal Carpenter designed deciliters that were 1/10th the size of a liter, centiliters that were 1/100th the size of a liter, and milliliters that were 1/1000th the size of a liter. The milliliters were just right for the Royal Beetles and Bugs of the kingdom. For the creatures greater than the king, the Royal Carpenter designed dekaliters that were 10 times the size of a liter, hectoliters that were 100 times the size of a liter, and kiloliters that were 1000 times the size of a liter. The kiloliters were just right for the Royal Giants of the kingdom. The Royal Carpenter lined the vessels up in his workroom from largest to smallest to show the king. The king’s vessel was in the center of the line, for the king was the center of the kingdom. The vessels were arranged in the following order: kiloliter hectoliter dekaliter liter deciliter centiliter milliliter King Henry loved the new vessels that were designed larger and smaller than his own for all of the living creatures in his kingdom. The Royal Carpenter explained that the sizes increased and decreased from the king’s liter, the original unit of measurement, by multiples of ten. He explained how to convert between the sizes by multiplying by ten or dividing by ten. Well, King Henry tragically died not long after that. The cause of death was very unusual.... he died of drinking way too much chocolate milk. From then on, all living creatures in the kingdom had no trouble remembering the order of the vessels. They just thought to themselves: King Henry Died Unusually Drinking Chocolate Milk Click HERE to get the story on Google Drive
Worksheets are a snoozefest...try this Super Fun Engaging Activity for ANY SUBJECT + a freebie!
My 9-year-old son is a whiz at math facts. He's had them all down since before he started fourth grade. But fractions can be tough. I wanted to test his multiplication fact skills by playing a game to make equivalent fractions. The game I made is simple. (Those always seem to be the most fun.) You can download the 5-page PDF for free from Google Drive here. I printed two sets of cards. We used two LEGO minifigures as game pieces. Players advance around the game board by finding the missing numerator on playing cards printed with equivalent fraction equations. The missing numerator is the number of spaces the player moves. If they STOP (i.e. the last space in their count) on a space with GO BACK instructions, they must move toward the start the number of spaces noted. If a player STOPs on a space that has the back-end of an arrow, they can follow the arrow and skip spaces on the board. The first player to make it to the finish wins.
After teaching middle school math for almost five years, I have found that one of the biggest hurdles and misconceptions for students is their attitude and confidence in their own math abilities. As a math teacher, one huge challenge is changing the "I'm bad at math" attitude that some students enter the year with. Of course, not all students carry this attitude with them. Many students are confident in their math skills. However, I think that making a dent in the attitude of students who lack that confidence might be the most important, and challenging, part of teaching math. Here are a few classroom routines and ideas that I have found to help repair and change the "I'm bad at math" mindset. (1) Make Math Fun After reflecting on my first year of teaching 6th grade math, I found out very quickly that I needed to make math fun and engaging. I think the first step in changing the attitude of students who have struggled in math is making math class a place they enjoy coming to. One of the classroom routines I started is the Math Joke of the Week. It takes about 10 minutes per week to look up a fun (or corny) math joke and get it up on the board. Students love it when the joke is something they can try to guess, and I always hear about it quickly when I forget to get a new joke up. Incorporating some random fun routines and things around the classroom can also start to get these students to enjoy coming into math class. Last year, I blogged about some of the fun things around my classroom. Although a lot of these aren't math related, I think they can help the general attitude of the students who come into the class! I also have tried to make the learning process more fun for my students. In 6th grade math, we play a lot of math games that reinforce the concepts we are learning about. I've created many of these, but have also found a ton of awesome ideas floating around as well. My students love playing this Kaboom (also called Zap) game, which I adapted to practice solving equations. One of the other favorites are the Connect Four games that I created for various topics. My Connect Four: Multiplying Decimals is a freebie in my TpT store! As much as possible, I have tried to make learning and practicing our math concepts into some sort of game or engaging activity. (2) Get Kids Moving Many of my lessons during my first year of teaching involved me at the overhead projector (yes, I was still using an old-school overhead projector) and students at their seats watching me do examples. Reflecting on that first year, I discovered a few things. Number one, I probably damaged my eyesight by looking into that dang projector all day. Two, I was doing most of the work while students sat and watched. And three, a lot of the time students weren't sitting and watching... they were doing something they weren't supposed to be doing, not paying attention, or just flat out bored (and looking back I don't blame them). This structure made it difficult for me to reach the students who felt they were bad at math. I switched to a math workshop structure, where students rotate around the room to different stations each class period. This structure allows me to meet in a small group with all students, which helps me reach the students that normally struggle. Whether it's math workshop, or some other structure, I feel like it is important to get students out of their seats. Of course that's not to say we never have stretches where we are taking notes, watching me do problems, etc., but I have tried to limit the length and amount of these. More details about how I run the math workshop are at the tab at the top of my blog! (3) Challenge Students All students enjoy a challenge and some competition... at least if there is a prize involved! Although my Challenge of the Week problems are often completed by my students who are very confident and strong in math, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of students who try these problems. There is nothing more rewarding than when a student who usually finds math difficult, gets the challenge problem. I put up a new problem every Monday. Students have until Thursday to enter (it's optional). On Friday, we go over and discuss the answer as a class - any correct answers get a mint! This is another routine that is pretty easy to set up, takes minimal time each week, and is a great way to stretch students thinking! If you are looking for some 5th/6th grade level problems, a full-year set is free in my store. The optional, low-risk, nature of the Challenge of the Week really encourages everybody to try it since there isn't any penalty for getting it wrong. An InLinkz Link-up
Every now and then certain ideas come to us as teachers that we silently say to ourselves, "That's brilliant!!" It doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but EVERY now and then...it does! I have done this with my students a couple of times over the years and it has really worked out so well each time. :) I call it "Constellation Math." Overall, it's super simple and extremely effective lesson in teaching angles to your kiddos! :) First, find, print, and enlarge the size of a bunch of constellations. I made sure to have a variety that ranged from simple to complex, so that I could maintain a basic level for my struggling students, while still challenging my more advanced students. :) Next, I had the students choose a constellation of their choice and trace it with a black Sharpie onto white construction paper. We added some "stars" to each angle, named each, and then got to work with our protractors. :) I started with a whole group demonstration on my Smart Board, using my HoverCam for a super close look at the process, then worked in small groups to get them started. I would say that 85% of my students dug right in and had no problems at all! 10% of them needed a little more guidance, then found independent success, and about 5% needed one-on-one support throughout the project. In the end...they all practiced, perfected, and learned a little more about angles! Mission. Accomplished. All the while...they're learning about the constellations...double score! Now that's a good lesson! I'm linking up this week with my friend Meg from "The Teacher Studio." Stop by for some more great go-to lesson ideas! Have a great one you guys! Follow my blog with Bloglovin
This math art collaboration project comes from Incredible Art! Kids show their knowledge of geometry terms by creating art! Each child is given a piece of paper. They are given an instruction (such as make 3 dots). Then, they pass their sheet of paper. Another instruction is given (ex: use a compass to create 3 circles from the 3 dots). Students draw on their peers' paper. Then, they pass the paper. Papers get passed around until they reach their "owner." The owner embellishes the line drawing to create a unique piece of art!
Have you wanted to give math pennants a try? Here is a blog post with links to three free math pennants for you to print today.
Get ready! Your vocabulary word wall is about to grow big time... I have posted them before one at a time, but now I am just going to plunk ...
A few weeks ago I had the idea to incorporate sports into a vocabulary review. Many of my students play basketball on a team and/or play at recess, so I incorporated basketball into our review. My son received this over the door basketball set for Christmas so we brought it to school one day. He told me to "make sure they don't break it, but you CAN show them how to dunk it." Although I didn't share my dunking skills, my fifth graders LOVED this! I knew they'd notice the goal as soon as they walked in so I wrote a little message beside the board: "Are you ready for vocabulary basketball?" It was a fun way to review vocabulary in an engaging way. We split into two teams. I had the vocabulary words written on the board and I'd call out definitions. If they told me the correct word, they earned 1 point for their team. Then, they could earn 2 points or 3 points by making a basket. I had ribbon on the floor to show what would count as 2 points vs. 3 points. They had a BLAST! Most of our vocabulary words come from our read alouds, but most of the words in this unit were student generated. I kept a sheet of paper that students could add words to as they read independently. If they found a word they didn't know or one that they thought would be a good vocabulary word, they could write it down. Vocabulary review - basketball style - was a HIT!
Geometric Art
Capturing your students’ interest and curiosity during the first few minutes of class is the key to keeping them engaged for your entire lesson. But not all math warm up activities are created equally. Math teachers miss out on activating their students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills when
Students make sense of multiplying decimals when they explore with manipulatives and draw or look at pictorial representations.
We were still talking about plate tectonics on Friday. We talked about how scientists theorize that the continents were once connected as one giant super-continent, Pangaea. I cut out South America and Africa and asked them to fit them together as best the could. When they didn't fit together perfectly I asked the kids why the continents wouldn't match perfectly after 250 million years? We talked about erosion and the power of water (waves, storms and such--like the poor people who endured the cyclone in the Cairns region of Australia in the past week or so). Next we did a little activity to show how continents could move without some giant hand pulling them apart. This was perfect for the kids, since it let them "see" the continents move without our touching them. I cut the continents out of foam. The kids folded construction paper. First we set the continents close together with a piece of playdough to weight the continents down. As the kids pulled each side of the construction paper, they could see the continents move apart. We got this idea from Robert Gardners" Earth-Shaking Science Projects About Planet Earth. (affiliate link) The red paper represents the mantle and the next experiment helps the kids understand how and why magma flows. The mantle is hotter than the crust. This is a terrible picture, but it helped the kids see that heat rises. We took ice cold water and poured it into a jar. We dyed some water green and heated it up. Then LD sucked the hot water with a turkey baster (but I think a eye dropper might work better) and slowly let out the hot/green water. The kids could see the green water streaming upwards toward the surface. This helped the kids understand why magma/lava from the mantle would move up/out of the crust and/or shift about to affect the earth's plates. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Be sure to check out our 150+ page Earth Science Packet! Our Earth Science Unit (post) is here to find out more!! Learn how to make a earthquake shake table, more than a dozen hands-on activities on the layers of the earth, plate movement, convection currents, earthquakes, volcanoes, and more! Topics include: Solar System, Layers of the Earth, Earth’s Axis and the Seasons, Latitude and Longitude, Plate Tectonics, Faults, Earthquakes, Earthquake Waves, Volcanoes, 4 Types of Mountains We have a 150+ page Earth Science Unit! Here is a Quick Preview of the Earth Science Packet. Our Earth Science Unit covers the solar system, the layers of the Earth, plate tectonics, the ring of fire, faults, earthquakes, volcanoes and more. It also includes instructions for more than a dozen hands-on activities we did with this unit. This includes activities about plate tectonics, convection currents, using a compass, earthquakes, volcanoes, instructions on how to make a shake table and more! Our packet is $9.99. We did this unit twice: My kids were in Grades 1, 4, and 6 when we did this unit the first time. They were in Grades 4, 7 and 9 when we covered it again (and added to the packet!). Scroll down for more pictures and information! When you click on the Buy Now button below, it will take you to Paypal. Upon receipt of payment you will immediately get a link to download this pdf in your browser. You will also receive an email from SendOwl Downloads to your PayPal email address which will give you a link to download. Be sure to check your spam folder if that email doesn't appear. Remember, you do not have to have a Paypal account to make a payment. Just click on the line that says, "Pay with a debit or credit card or PayPal credit." That gives you the option of paying with a credit card even if you don't have an actual Paypal account. If you have any trouble with your order, please contact me (Liesl) via email liesl at homeschoolden dot com or via our contact page or by replying to the email you receive from Sendowl. ~Liesl Purchase the Earth Science Packet $9.99 Don't forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link! More pictures of what is included: Pangaea and Plate Movement Activities Types of Plate Boundaries Faults The types of earthquake waves Volcanoes In this unit, we especially liked these resources. These are affiliate links: Geology Rocks How the Earth Works: 60 Fun Activities for exploring Volcanoes, Fossils, Earthquakes and More Janice VanCleave's Earthquakes Earth-Shaking Science Projects about Planet Earth (Rockin' Earth Science Experiments) See how to make a shake table here: See our Gelatin Volcano Earth Science Activity here: Se our Tissue Paper Volcano Activity here: Hope you visit our new location at homeschoolden.com (the links above take you there!) or come visit us at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page. :) ~Liesl Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. P.S. We have lots of other units. Here are the links to check those out Characteristics of Animals - Vertebrates and Invertebrates Unit Simple Machines Skeletal System Digestive System Unit A Study of Cells Civics and Government States of Matter- Changing States of Matter Unit Solids, Liquids, Gases Animal Unit Biology Unit Ocean Unit Packet Electricity and Circuits: STEM Unit Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
Are you looking for fun, hands-on activities to teach factoring quadratics or the quadratic formula? In this post are lots of ideas and free resources for helping students when teaching lessons on quadratics.
Hello everyone! Today is my day to post over at All Things Upper Elementary! Today I have posted about a SUPER fun lesson we did Monday using area, perimeter, problem solving and art! Stop by and check it out! Here is a “teaser” photo! Here is the link directly to the post . . . […]
K-6 Elementary art blog, crafts and DIY
I am so excited to be linking up with Holly’s FIRST EVER Tried It Tuesday Linky!! This is one I’ll definitely be consistently linking up to! 🙂 The rules are to write about anything you have tried and describe what worked (and maybe what didn’t). This week, we are wrapping up area and perimeter, so […]
I created my own version of math Rotations a few years ago when I just couldn’t meet the needs of all of my students doing whole group instruction. I found that my high kids were bored and not listening, my middle of the road kids were mostly listening (I mean, I was teaching to them!!), and my low kids were staring off in space. Not good. That’s when I did some research and decided to do Differentiated Math Rotations. Here is a quick overview of what I do. I am NOT claiming to be an expert at all!! This is just works for me (and my kiddos’ state test scores) I will also add that I DO NOT do rotations EVERY SINGLE DAY! I still find it incredibly valuable to have students participating in Math Talks, completing Performance Events, playing Games, and figuring out difficult problems with students who are not on their level. Their conversations are so important This blog post describes the majority of my time. So.. how does it work you ask? I pre-assess my students at the beginning of each unit. Make it easy on yourself and just give them a five question multiple choice sheet that covers the topics of the unit. That way you can QUICKLY assess their strengths and weaknesses. I have to use our district Common Assessments, but it accomplishes the same thing. Next, I group them according to the results. I use the Cardinal Directions as groups because it is a Compass Rose, shaped like a cross. There is not really a top or bottom because all four sides are important to find your way. All 5 correct: West (advanced) 3-4 correct: East 2 correct: South 0-1 correct: North (low) I usually play around a little bit with the East and South groups to even out the number of kiddos. I also assign each student a partner who is in their group to play at the game station. Now remember, these groups are flexible. I am constantly monitoring my students to see if they need to change groups. I will usually get a few kids who can move up to West (advanced) and some kiddos who move up from North. I have had a student or two who has moved down to North for a few lessons. You are meeting your kids where they are. I also DON’T do stations EVERY Day. I do it MOST days!! Notice that North group begins with the Teacher. This is so your low group is the first group of the day and they go directly to their desk to practice after meeting with you. West group on the other hand, meets with you last. The first thing that they do is practice. These kiddos can usually start an inquiry based activity alone and then meet with you later to discuss it. Or you can have them practice something from yesterday’s lesson. Since the groups are flexible, I use a sticky note to record the group members’ names. I also use pencil so that I can erase. Your groups will not always be even. You may have to have two low groups for example. I hot glue the other labels to a white board. I write the materials needed and assignments students will complete at each station. Once I have all my little honey buns in groups, I teach them about the rotations they will be making each day. Each rotation is "supposed" to last for 10 mins. I have been "flexible" with my timing for each group, depending on their understanding of the lesson. There are four rotations: Teacher, Desk, Game, Fast Facts. While I don’t do a whole group lesson at the beginning, we do come back for share time to talk about our new learning. This is when the kiddos come to me at the carpet or small group table for the actual lesson that is presented on their level. Your middle groups are easy to plan. You just use your Math Program. North and West are more tricky. You have to plan specifically for them. I do A LOT of hands-on activities with my North group. While I am teaching a modified version of the curriculum, I am still expecting to get them to be successful on the grade level assessment. This takes flexible planning on your part. I KNOW my end goal and how I need to get them there, but I have no idea if this group will “get” the lesson or if I will need to reteach in a different way. I am prepared either way. West group needs a challenge. These are most likely your gifted learners. They do NOT need MORE work. They have already proven to you that they have met the grade level expectation. These kiddos can work on performance events and projects. You will still be teaching them, but something more advanced. Where do I get my resources? My TPT Store www.commoncoresheets.com www.superteacherworksheets.com http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me5l/html/math5.html www.frontrowed.com At practice kiddos work on the practice assignment at their desks after the lesson. This is usually a worksheet that students work on to continue the learning they just had. (West group starts here first since they are the advanced group. They get an assignment before the lesson.) I have a game for each skill. I usually keep the same game for one week so that I only have to explain it once. Some games are differentiated and some games are not. We may play a game from the current unit or we may play a game from a previous unit to review skills. I play around with a couple of different activities for Fast Facts and what you do will depend on the availability of technology in your building. If you have tech, keep reading, if not, scroll down. For those with tech I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Prodigy! It is AMAZING! My kids beg me to play it and they even go home, call each other, and play online! This is a computer program that allows you to choose the standards, assign quizzes, and it grades it for you. The kids love it because it lets them create a wizard avatar and they go around a magical world battling and earning coins and pets! It’s free unless parents want to pay for their kiddos to be able to “win” more things. Some have purchased it but most have not. I have also had students use www.xtramath.org for math facts. I highly recommend this site. We use it for homework now instead. Before Prodigy I would have recommended www.frontrowed.com This site is AMAZING! It gives pretests for all CCSS standards and builds a program for each student! If you do not have technology, We create these Fact Folders. We create them at the beginning of the year and use them for Fast Finishers. Watch this ten second video. You can pause if you need to! I really hope this helps give you some ideas for Math Rotations! If you want the already created board, check it out by clicking the pic below! Have a great year!
Well a MUCH better week this week and a long weekend! Whoohoooo! Here are some of my math interactive notes, I love how math is coming tog...
Happy Fall! I have been super busy, and waiting so patiently for my new blog design that should be up hopefully very soon! I cannot believe that it is already October, where has the year gone? In math we just wrapped up our unit on adding and subtracting decimals. With our scope and sequence we had entire week of problem solving. I was racking my brain for ideas on how to make this engaging for my kids. Enter my idea for Miss Schaar's Diner. Our math block is right after specials. So lucky me, I had plenty of time to turn my room into a diner. I started off very simple this year. I bought the red and white table cloths from Party City and the red diner baskets at SAMs Club. Simple as that. When my kids came in the oohs and ahhs began. Just a simple table cloth thrown over their desks got them that much more excited about what we were going to do! As they entered the room I handed out menus to my diner. The students got a chance to look over it and talk about what they would order with their partners. We started with our "appetizer" which was doing 2 practice problems on the board and the kids did on white boards. Once we had completed our appetizer round, it was on to the main course. For the main course, they were invited back to their tables with their math groups. The main course was the task cards at their desk in the red baskets. I made these task cards with my students' names on them and differentiated for each group. They worked together to complete the task cards. At the end, they had to pay for their meal, AKA the receipt which was their exit ticket. This was a quick and easy way to see how the kids were doing with adding and subtracting decimals. The students had a great time feeling like they were taken to a diner away from school. I have ideas for next year when I do this activity to add more to it, but this year was a success! If this is something that will work for your class, I have posted it to TPT as an editable product so you can personalize it for your class! Find it here.
Life has been crazy busy lately as always, but I am so proud of myself today! I left school at 4 PM, stopped at the grocery store for a few...
Happy Friday! :) We just wrapped up our geometry unit this week so we thought we would post what we've been doing! Here are the anchor charts from the last two weeks: Some highlights from our week studying coordinate grid: Students plot ordered pairs of well-known characters,teachers, administrators, and sports teams During teacher station, students plotted ordered pairs on their slates. Some highlights from our week studying symmetry and congruence: During one of our independent stations, students completed a tiered activity. The objective was the same: All students will compare and contrast lines of symmetry in the alphabet. Students were given cardstock letters (cut from a dye cut) to manipulate. High and High-Medium groups completed a Venn Diagram to sort capital letters by vertical and/or horizontal lines of symmetry. The Low-Medium group sorted capital letters by how many lines of symmetry each letter has. The Low group simply determined whether or not a letter had a line of symmetry. Then they drew the line of symmetry. Have a great 3 day weekend! :)
Add a bit of fun and creativity when teaching area and perimeter. Students get the chance to create their own robots using grid paper, solve for the body parts' areas and perimeters, and record them in the robot's speech bubble. Once your students complete the math work, let them get as creative a...
EngageNY 5th grade math anchor charts for adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.
Learning on Halloween Day Getting kids to learn on Halloween is hard enough but on a Monday it's even harder! Thankfully it was a half day and we did this while waiting for the parade to start. I put together a couple of ideas I gathered from Instagram and came up with Math or Treating! I needed something fun because the content was not easy since we were working with word problems. The Hook I started by writing a hook on my chalkboard the Friday before Halloween. They really wanted to know what it was and I said they had to wait until Monday. I knew I had them hooked! Preparation I bought 8 different treats or little goodies from the Dollar Store and Target. I had treats like Smarties and goodies like stickers. I placed them in containers that I already had and set up my small group table. I used orange sticky notes to label each container with a letter. We've been working on multiplication so I had already created 8 multiplication word problem task cards using the same format they might see on the state test. Each card had a letter which corresponded with one of the containers of treats. I made copies on orange paper and gave each kid a set. When the kids came in I gave them a paper to decorate that they would be attaching to a brown paper bag. This would serve as their goody bag which would hold their finished math cards and treats. Solving Math Problems for Treats The kids had to solve one of their word problem cards with their math partner. After solving a problem, they brought it back to me so I could check their answer. If it was right they could get a treat from the container that matched the letter on their card. (Next year I will be numbering the cards because some of the kids got confused with the mutliple choice question letters and the card letter.) They placed their treat and the solved problem in their goody bag and went off to solve another one. If they had gotten an answer wrong I helped them figure it out. I also helped those that needed it during the activity. This was review for our test tomorrow and I wanted them to be able to do the problems correctly. After solving all 8 problems, they completed a Halloween word search while we waited for others to finish and the parade to start. It was the perfect activity to do on this half day of Halloween! I will definitely be doing this again next year. I am sharing the sheet I created for the bags. Even though Halloween is over, with all the leftover candy you might have, this would be a great activity to do one day this week! Just click on the picture below to grab it. I hope you all survived Halloween day and even more so, will survive the aftermath on Tuesday!
Even though I believe there's a lot of learning going on when kids are involved in creative play, crafting, games, cooking, and a...
Learn how to make spirolaterals, fun math art projects for kids that helps them practice their multiplication and patterning skills.
