Today I am going to share a lot of new information with you but am going to talk mostly about my presentation. I presented and shared an activity with my fellow teacher candidates surrounding addition and subtraction! The presentation went very well and all students were engaged in the activity. I hope that you as a reader are just as engaged in the material as they are. If you are a fellow teacher candidate or already have a classroom of your own this activity is fantastic for grades 5 and up! The reason I include that the activity can be used in older grades is because elements of it can be altered and changed around to make the task more difficult and challenging for the students. This activity includes targets finding the missing variables, addition, subtracting and in a whole "building number sense".
At the beginning of the activity I presented to the class how I would carry it out if I were teaching it to a group of elementary students. I would first begin with providing the students with a clear learning goal that is to be achieved through the math activity. As a class I would brainstorm with the children all the different ways in which we could use to succeed, this creates their success criteria. Then i presented my fellow teacher candidates with my activity by splitting them up into groups (six table groups in total). After doing this they were instructed to look at the package on their tables. Within the packages consisted:
- four separate addition and subtraction problems ( 2 of each)
- paper tiles numbered from 0 - 9
- scrap/ extra paper (for those students who prefer writing and solving over manipulatives)
What is missing?
After the classmates pulled all the materials out they were instructed to find the missing variables in the problems provided. They could NOT use the tiles more than once. They were given a time limit and sent off to work as a group to solve the problems.
Below is the worksheet that I handed out for those students who wanted to keep it for their future as an educator or to use during the class time to document their answers.
I walked around the room and facilitated conversation with the groups and saw many different levels of math in one room. This is something that I enjoyed seeing because I saw other candidates helping each other and problem solving as a group. We had one very speedy group and they shared with the class how they resolved the problems so quickly. They won rights to brag for the rest of the class!! I saw some students saying it was difficult or it was easy, something that I am sure when I use this activity in the classroom I will hear as well. All students are at different levels and an option I could have had was to provide the quick and winning group with a multiplication question and division one to see if they could problem solve those together as well. Time did not permit it as I needed to make sure I covered the grounds of the Mathematical Process Expectations and the Overall and Specific Content Expectations of the Curriculum.
What did I learn?
Hope you enjoyed today's blog and keep coming back for more!
Please feel free to use this activity in your own classrooms as an educator and know that it is engaging, fun, educational and successful!
Cheers,
Emily
Hello Emily,
ReplyDeleteYou have great voice in your blog making it easy and fun to read. Your presentation was also fantastic, as I recall you were conformable speaking in front of the class. I also remember your activity being fun, interactive and just the right level of difficulty. Another aspect I enjoyed about your game was the interactive and collaborative portion, which I feel is necessary when teaching math today. I have to agree with your comment that using manipulatives can help anyone in math, regardless of age and level.
Really great job!
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteExcellent job on your presentation! I really enjoyed your game and would definitely use it in the future. I liked that you suggested how it could be a great way to teach kids about sudoku! I love sudoku and I remember when I first learned how to play it, but I never connected it to math before! We took a bit longer to solve our problem because we had made such a silly mistake early on! What would you suggest to students who are struggling with the question in order to help them feel encouraged to keep going?
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteExcellent job on your presentation! I really enjoyed your game and would definitely use it in the future. I liked that you suggested how it could be a great way to teach kids about sudoku! I love sudoku and I remember when I first learned how to play it, but I never connected it to math before! We took a bit longer to solve our problem because we had made such a silly mistake early on! What would you suggest to students who are struggling with the question in order to help them feel encouraged to keep going?