Sometimes I feel like if I have to look at/copy/grade/distribute/think about another darn worksheet, I'm going to gouge.my.eyes.out. WORKSHEETS ARE BORING AND I HATE THEM!!!! Okay, while I do think that worksheets do hold some value sometimes... I don't think they are always the answer... not by a long shot! I will admit, I do like a VERY quick worksheet to use as an assessment tool. Otherwise, not really so much. I prefer to use math labs in my classroom as much as possible because they allow for choice and differentiation, and they are much more math manipulative-friendly. I have created a few math labs, and while they were painfully time-consuming at first, I've found the sweet spot that lets me create them quickly! Let me share how I do that with you. 1. Start with your objective. What is it that you want students to be able to do? How will you be able to measure it? Work backwards from there. It sounds simple, but I think it's easy for us to get caught up in a fun activity we saw on Pinterest that might not always be the best use of our students' time. For example, maybe I want my students to be able to compare and order 4-, 5-, and 6- digit numbers. If that's my objective, now I need to think... how can I get my kids to practice that? 2. Create a problem that lets students meet your objective. Sometimes simple is better. It's easy for us to get super ambitious and bite off more than we can chew, but every single math lab won't be theatrical. I love how the teachers at Ron Clark academy completely transform their classrooms for particular units of study... but they even say themselves that they can't do this ALL THE TIME. It's just not possible! If something jumps out at you, take advantage of it and get creative. But it's OK to start simple too. Regardless, these are the things I like to think about when I plan a lab: How can the kids get manipulatives into their hands? How can I get the kids working with each other? What opportunities can I give the kids for proving/explaining their thinking? These 3 things will really allow for great problem solving skills to develop. With those things in mind and knowing how much time I wanted to spend on this skill, here's what I created for my class this year. WHOO HOO! Freebie for you right there if you're working on ordering and comparing numbers and/or place value right now!!! Seriously, go use it. I'm not selling it because it took me 5 minutes to make. I can't sell that in good conscience. FIVE! MINUTES!!! But my point is... if I can do it in five minutes, you can too. This is what I would consider REMARKABLE because it's not a worksheet, it's a differentiated, hands-on lab with manipulatives, cooperative learning, and student choice involved. The more students think about how to "stump" their partner, the more math they need to understand. The manipulatives in the above lab are the numbers that the kids cut out--they can be put on a broken number line that the kids make. You can also use base-ten blocks or digi-blocks to model each number if needed. It would be easy to adapt here for the different types of learners. It's differentiated because the kids get to decide how challenging they want to make this. They can make their numbers random or they can make their numbers 4,909 and 4,990, and 4,099, etc. (By the way, I did not suggest this, and a lot of kids tried it because they wanted to stump their partners later!). The kids are explaining their thinking because they are trying to stump their partner, and they are going to check each other. This is something I teach into all of the time in my classroom. Because they're trying to stump each other, they're motivated. They love working together! Now bonus points if you can make your problem have a real-life application, but just giving them a problem like this to solve is OK! It's definitely more meaningful and useful than a problem about 34,506 watermelons. Don't you think? THAT'S IT! I thought there would be more to this blog post, but I realized that this was all I do when I create my problems. Isn't that LOVELY?? Good math labs aren't ALWAYS complicated, though they can be if you feel like getting clever. I promise you that it took me 5 minutes to think up this lab and it can take you that long too. It took me another 5 minutes after that in Microsoft Word. THAT'S IT. 10 minutes of invested time gave me a lab I can use over and over again each year, and it's way easier to grade than a worksheet, and way more interesting and valuable than a worksheet. That's a win!!! Now, here's a lab that took me way more than 10 minutes to make... For Halloween every year, I work on this math lab with my students. This simulation lasts 5 days. I'm going to start using it in just a few weeks. IT'S SO MUCH FUN!! I wanted students to have a meaningful math lab that kept them focused during Halloween time, so I told them they were going to be responsible for planning a party. The problem I wrote describes that students need to buy food, decor, etc. and fit those purchases into a budget. This lets them be creative (they have lots of items to choose from when purchasing!), but use their problem-solving skills for a problem that they might actually encounter in real life. However, to make this lab more exciting for my students (and to get in the spirit of Halloween), I have "Teri Bull" and "Gob Lin" request my students' help. Teri Bull and Gob Lin leave notes for the class (which are included in my math lab). I put the notes in a spooky envelope that I decorate, and I leave it somewhere in the room for students to "find." When we open it together, I act like I'm not going to let the class help Teri Bull and Gob Lin since I have other math lessons planned already. In fact, I even leave fake math lesson plans on my desk since my students use my lesson plans to update our class schedule each day. I really ham this up and make it believable! Of course they beg me to abandon my plans and let them do this really cool project. I always "cave" and let them do it. By third grade, a few students know that I'm playing with them, but I always over-hear kids whispering things like, "Do you think Teri Bull really exists? Do you think we'll be invited to the math party we're helping them plan???" while they smile. I love letting kids be kids. While many of them think this is fake, there's still that shred of possibility that these two crazy characters planning a party could exist. Adding in the theatrics really make the kids excited about this stuff. So, while some teachers are just about ready to pull out their hair since it's so hard to get kids to focus during Halloween time, I'm thanking my lucky stars I have this in my bag of tricks!! At the end of this 5 day project, our party plans disappear... Teri Bull and Gob Lin must have stolen them for their party! If you love this idea and don't want to spend the time making this lab yourself, you can purchase it here in my TeachersPayTeachers store. AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's on sale from today until Sunday! It won't be on sale forever, though. This will be a difficult project for students. I suggest that you resist the urge to help them as much as you possibly can. They will learn a lot about problem solving if they complete this on their own. I recommend putting students in small groups and allowing them to work on this project for 3-5 days, depending on your students’ ability level and the problem you choose to use in your classroom. Included in this product, you will find: A teacher directions page to help you create your lesson plans quickly (with standards addressed included for quick copying and pasting into your personal lesson planning template) 1 letter introducing the problem to students 3 differentiated price list pages with different numbers to address different learners or grade levels 2 planning pages for students to use to solve the problem 2 pages for students to write their final decisions and keep track of/check calculations 1 follow-up letter thanking students for helping to solve the problem If you need more info, which I doubt you do, you can read more details about how I use this in my class here. So where do YOU go for your favorite math labs when you don't want to create them? I love using Terc Explorations, Nimble With Numbers, Front Row's IBL projects and browsing Howard County's math website (click on the standard you're teaching and then click on centers).
Using Math Stations in Middle School can be daunting but when you have tried and tested materials you know that they can and will work in your classroom.
The end of the school year is the perfect time to incorporate real world math and engaging activities. I love using projects to keep students focused the last few weeks of school. Below are some o…
It's all about solving problems in the STEM Lab! We do it every day with our designs and building! BUT...... recently I had a brain pop and came up with a fabulous invention! Keep reading and find out what we tried! It's called Towers and Task Cards! So, here's the basics! The kids had to
Try this simple activity with your child to guesstimate the age of a tree in your yard and nurture her developing math skills while you're at it!
Practice comparing coins with this fun money war game.
Check out this “un-bee-lieveably” cute preschool bee math activity (with a free printable!). You only need a marker and a die for math fun.
Engage your students in learning volume through creating their own 3D monsters! Throughout human history, people have created monsters to both instruct and entertain others. From the classic and colorful ghosts of Pac-Manto the contemporary zombies of Minecraft, the variety of monsters found in popular culture is truly remarkable. For this project, students will design and construct their own monster and calculate the volume of its parts. Have fun! This resource guides students through the process of designing and creating their own monsters to help students to develop a deep understanding of volume. After conducting research on monster design, students sketch their ideas on a practice design page. Next, students draw their monsters onto grid paper (3 different sizes are provided), construct their rectangular prisms, and make their calculations using the template provided. Afterwards, they glue their monsters onto construction paper along with the display labels showcasing their learning. Once complete, these projects look fantastic on hallway bulletin boards! This Project Package Includes: - Step by Step Instructions - Building Instructions - Rectangular Prisms - Minecraft "Creeper" instructions included (w/ Photos) - Research Notes Page - Practice Design Page - 1-Centimeter Grid Paper (8.5 x 11 - Letter) - 1-Centimeter Grid Paper (8.5 x 14 - Legal) - 1-Centimeter Grid Paper (11 x 17 - Tabloid) - Volume Calculations Template (2 pages) - Display Labels (3 Pages) - Project Example Photos - Project Rubric Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students are challenged to actively learn about a subject for an extended period of time. It is a form of active learning or inquiry-based learning. Project-Based Learning is in contrast to paper-based, rote memorization, or teacher-led instruction that presents established facts. Please be aware of what you are purchasing. Thanks so much, Creative Lab Your Feedback = Free Products We love your feedback. After leaving feedback on one of our products, email us at [email protected] and we will send you any Creative Lab product for free (excludes bundles). We look forward to hearing from you! Followers Get Premium Access • Look for the green star next to our store logo at the top right corner of this page and click it to become a follower. This will allow you to be notified each time we debut a new product or freebie! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tags: no prep, print and go, volume project, monsters, halloween, monster math, fun math project, 6th grade volume, 5th grade volume, 4th grade volume, creeper, creepers, minecraft
So you have a student (or two, or three) who have math gaps in skills from previous grade levels. It can be overwhelming to consider that you need to teach a
Explore measurement with this simple hands-on perimeter activity for kids, a Perimeter Lab math invitation. They'll measure, calculate, and have fun.
Implementing RTI can be a challenge, especially when you don't have the materials you need. I'm sharing my math RTI notebook in this blost post!
Provide engaging practice with order of operations with this set of free printable order of operations games-includes puzzles & fix the mistake.
Showing students that math is a flexible subject can be powerful. So many kids (and adults) believe that math is all about getting right answers. But it's not! When we can show students that there
I have to share this rockin' activity inspired by an awesome math teacher and blogger, To The Square Inch. In fourth grade, we learn about tenths and hundredths. It's a hard one for kids to get! Once we understand these place values, we turn them into fractions and put tenths on numberlines.... It's a lot. For students AND teacher.... Anyway, I saw this activity a few years ago on Pinterest and tweeked it for my kiddos since it originally had the students working with percents and fractions. It's now our "Hundredths Design Square". First, the students color a square hundredths model using four different colors. Then they count the colored squares and record each color as a decimal. After that, they turn it into a fraction. The kids LOVE IT! And it sure is fun! Check out these awesome designs!
Outdoor math activities for kids from preschool to high school. Engaging way to prevent summer slide with fun active STEM activities to learn numbers, shapes, angles, time, algebra, geometry using materials in nature.
This is an amazing art and math lesson that I got from a teacher at a conference who did teach a district over from me, but is now getting her PhD. She always had amazing stuff to present at conference. (You're amazing, Mary Franco!) Anyway, this lesson involves Paul Klee and multiplication. I made a little three page Smart Notebook lesson about Klee's work "Once Emerged From the Gray of Night" (where I used to show a poster of it) and have the students talk about what's more important--the words of the poem or the colors and composition? Then we talk about putting two things (like writing and art, or math and art together). It's SUCH an amazing lesson, here's a sneak peek: So, students get a little background knowledge of Klee, then we talk about tessellations and multiplication (and practice on the Smart Board). Then, students get a page of one-inch graph paper and write out a one digit by one digit multiplication problem with a two digit answer. I tell them to choose one that's hard for them to remember, or their favorite one. They then repeat that problem seven times, dropping down and over one square for 4 times, then down and back a square for three times, making them into interlocking tessellation shapes: After they've drawn it all out in pencil and I've checked it, they choose ONE color of fine-tip marker to trace it with, then use colored pencil or watercolor pencil to color. The coloring is a bit of a challenge for them, because they need to forget that they're numbers and only look at the space. They then color it in patterns/designs to make it visually interesting and play with people's minds ('math? I dont' see any math!') It's an awesome lesson that really challenges their thinking. This one really shows the patterns and designs. Oh, it's also important that their numbers COMPLETELY fill the one inch box of the graph paper. I always try to do this lesson at a time of the year when classroom teachers are complaining about students not remembering their math facts. I usually do it with fifth grade, but I did it with sixth one year at the teachers' request.
Use this ratios and proportions activity to help middle school math students see the application of ratio and proportion concepts.
Gradual release is a method of teaching where the teacher starts out by showing how to do a procedure. (I do.) Then, the class works on a problem together. (We do.) And then finally students do a problem themselves. (You do.) The teacher is gradually releasing the responsibility to the students, th
Jo Boaler has started a math revolution that has likely already made its way into your classroom. The Stanford Professor of Mathematics and author of Mathematical Mindsets is the co-founder of YouCubed.org , an organization dedicated to inspiring, educating, and empowering math teachers with
Learn how to provide math intervention that will make an impact in your classroom while making your life easier!
How to plan collaborative project-based learning activities in the math classroom. Check out these engaging PBL ideas for 3rd grade students!
Students will be performing rigid transformations: reflections, rotations, and translations. There are 3 activities: (1) Students will determine the type of transformation that was performed and color the hearts according to the color key code, (2) capture the lovebugs by performing transformations, and (3) a harder version of capturing the lovebugs by performing transformations.
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Looking for visuals to help your kids make sense of math? Grab this free set of printable math manipulatives for all the hands on resources your kids need.
Okay before we start digging into these Get to Know You activities I want to share a little bit of the “why”. When I first started teaching 5th grade math a few years ago I noticed right away that my students were coming to me with some math baggage, if you will. Both good and… Continue reading Getting to Know Your Students as Math Learners
Let’s face it, math is not everyone’s favorite subject. It can be challenging, sometimes overwhelming, but what if I told you that a simple tool could change your entire perspective on math? Enter the math affirmation mirror and the affirmation station mirror. So, what exactly is a math positive affirmation mirror? Picture this: a mirror...
Geometric Art
Worksheets are a snoozefest...try this Super Fun Engaging Activity for ANY SUBJECT + a freebie!
This math game helps fourth graders improve their understanding of positive and negative integers in a fun way.
Getting started with math workshop in the elementary classroom
As math teachers of littles we know our students need hands-on concrete experiences as mathematicians. Being able to quickly solve an addition or subtraction problem only comes after dozens of hand…
Here's a simple way to teacher less than, greater than: with toys! Free printable included.
When determining which students need a math intervention program, we to understand WHY they are struggling.
Use this fantastic pentomino exploration as a first day of math class activity in middle school. You'll learn so much about your students!
