I am going to say a honest truth …
Maths is often the type of subject you love or hate.
In primary school I enjoyed Math because I
understood it but when I got into high school I really struggled with Math and
consequently had a really negative attitude towards it.
As we all know Maths come into our lives every
day so it is SO IMPORTANT that kids enjoy math so they do not switch off!!!
In light of this - it is my life mission to have
as many (if not ALL) students in my class loving math!!!
What I am about to say is not anything new but I
cannot stress enough how important and rewarding it is to go through a topic
using the: concrete to pictorial to abstract phases but it can be hard due to a
number of factors including:
Resources
- 3 classes makes resource availability not easy but I have two super star peer
teachers so we manage!
Students - to
be able to handle manipulatives students need to learn clear routines, how to
share and how to look after resources.
Time
- that’s a big one! I feel like the war will be won but I will keep fighting!
;)
Despite
the challenges the process is well worth the benefits but it can be hard to fit
it in within the teaching time of a lesson.
There are many different ways to spice up a maths lessons these are my small tips to make maths as fun as possible. . .
Dance and Sing
Dance
and sing at any and EVERY opportunity possible!
It
is very easy to sing and dance during a lesson by warm up to some skip counting
or place value videos but it can further than that!
You
can sing your lesson objective or make up songs and chants to go with a
particular topic!
When
we looked at patterns we did the chicken dance!!
There
are plenty of YouTube clips for many math concepts if you don’t want to make up
your own ones!
One
of my good teacher friends teachers Pre-Primary and she sings songs to teach
sight words like ‘the’ and ‘because’!
ACTIONS ACTIONS ACTIONS
As
far as I am concerned anything that gets people moving is a GREAT thing!
I
am very big on kinaesthetic activities - as an adult I find it hard to sit
still for longer than 5 mins so I try my best to keep my kids moving as much as
possible!
Actions
are great to go along with a verbal and/or visual message!
They
just provide another way to receive and more importantly remember a message.
I
usually team actions up with my WALT and WILF so it becomes easier to
remember!! J
Bring the Magic
Some
people hate gimmicks but I LOVE them!
I
love themes!!
I
love puns!!!
I
love FUN! J
It
doesn’t need to be a big huzzah!!! I
honestly think it is the little things that make a lesson exciting!
Dress up!
Serving
up some synonyms come as a chef!
Looking
at a particular story book - dress up as a character!
Pick a theme!
Buy
some plastic tongs, bowls and salad tossers for centres to create an instant
picnic theme!
Pirate
theme for mapping!
Cloudy
with a chance of meatballs for a chance unit!
Use manipulatives!
Not
just math manipulatives - use toy animals as counters or pasta as a base ten
and ones! Food is a great one! Use cookies and cereal to represent multiplication
arrays!
Get creative!!!! Think outside the square!!! Pinterest is your friend here people!
Learning Can Be Fun!
Sometimes
it is about the process over the product. Not every lesson requires a
worksheet. You can show what you know in
multiple ways!
- Paint!
- Draw a picture!
- Use Playdough
- Take photos!
- Play games!
- Cook something!
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