Takin' Out the Trash
This activity could be a project for the whole family! All you will need is a clean waste basket, small pieces of paper (Post-its will work!), and pencils/pens. Throughout the week whenever any of the members of your family get frustrated with a math problem, or are confused about something related to mathematics, have them write their frustration on one of the pieces of paper and put it in the waste basket. Once (or more!) a week your family should agree on a night to Take Out the Trash! On "trash" night, gather around the table and read the pieces of paper that are in the waste basket. Take this opportunity to discuss each other's mathematical frustratons and find solutions! If someone in the family does not have the answer to one of the written frustrations, assign someone to ask one of their teachers or get on the internet to learn more!
PA Standard Alignment:
1.5.2.A: Write with a focus, with an understanding of topic and
audience.
1.2.2.E: Read, understand, and respond to essential content of
text in all academic areas.
2.5.2.B: Use appropriate mathematical vocabulary when
explaining how to solve a problem.
PA Standard Alignment:
1.5.2.A: Write with a focus, with an understanding of topic and
audience.
1.2.2.E: Read, understand, and respond to essential content of
text in all academic areas.
2.5.2.B: Use appropriate mathematical vocabulary when
explaining how to solve a problem.
Here Comes Sally Walker
Have you ever heard of the children's cheer "Litte Sally Walker?" This activity is a spin off of that. The orginial words are: Little Sally Walker was walking down the street, she didn't know what to do, so she stopped in front of me and said, come on (insert name) shake your thing, shake your thing, now switch. One person volunteers to be "Little Sally Walker" while everyone else forms a circle around that person. "Little Sally Walker" then dances around the circle while everyone else says the above cheers. When the cheer says "so she stopped in front of me", Sally will stop in front of someone and do a silly dance. When the cheer says "no switch", whoever she stopped in front of will give up his/her spot in the circle to her and will become the new Sally.
The math version of this game has the same rules but different words. The math words are:
Little Sally Walker was walking down the street
She knew her math so well that she stopped in front of me
She said (insert math term & definition or fact)
Now switch
You can play with version of the game with just your child, or a group of friends or family! You can use it to practice math vocabulary or practice fast math facts. Get up, get dancing, and have some fun with subtraction!
PA Standards Alignment:
2.2.2.A: Develop fluency in the use of basic facts for
addition and subtraction
The math version of this game has the same rules but different words. The math words are:
Little Sally Walker was walking down the street
She knew her math so well that she stopped in front of me
She said (insert math term & definition or fact)
Now switch
You can play with version of the game with just your child, or a group of friends or family! You can use it to practice math vocabulary or practice fast math facts. Get up, get dancing, and have some fun with subtraction!
PA Standards Alignment:
2.2.2.A: Develop fluency in the use of basic facts for
addition and subtraction
Math Libs
This activity requires some creativity! Math Libs is a spin-off of Mad Libs, a literacy game where words are removed and players insert their own words. Underneath each missing spot is the part of speech that each new word must be in order for the sentences to make sense (grammatically speaking anyway!). Math Libs can be played a few different ways.
You and your child can play like the picture on the left. Give your child two or three terms that he/she often gets confused and create a worksheet to practice the different ways and forms to see that term.
You could also create a math paragraph or riddle with missing numbers. It might look like this:
Miss Wallen had (insert a number between 60-80) students, and that was (insert a number greater than 80) too many. How many students does Miss Wallen need to move to (insert a grade between 3rd-8th) so she doesn't go crazy?
Like I said, get creative and have fun with it! Let me know of what silly sentences you come up with!
PA Standards Alignment:
1.5.2.A: Write with a focus, with an understanding of topic and
audience.
2.1.2.A: Demonstrate the relationship between numbers and quantities, including place
value; one-to-one correspondence; rote counting; counting by twos, fives and
tens; and comparing values of whole numbers up to 500.
2.2.2.A: Develop fluency in the use of basic facts for addition
and subtraction
You and your child can play like the picture on the left. Give your child two or three terms that he/she often gets confused and create a worksheet to practice the different ways and forms to see that term.
You could also create a math paragraph or riddle with missing numbers. It might look like this:
Miss Wallen had (insert a number between 60-80) students, and that was (insert a number greater than 80) too many. How many students does Miss Wallen need to move to (insert a grade between 3rd-8th) so she doesn't go crazy?
Like I said, get creative and have fun with it! Let me know of what silly sentences you come up with!
PA Standards Alignment:
1.5.2.A: Write with a focus, with an understanding of topic and
audience.
2.1.2.A: Demonstrate the relationship between numbers and quantities, including place
value; one-to-one correspondence; rote counting; counting by twos, fives and
tens; and comparing values of whole numbers up to 500.
2.2.2.A: Develop fluency in the use of basic facts for addition
and subtraction
References: The activity "Here Comes Sally Walker" was
adapted & retrieved on November 18th, 2012 from www.graniteschools.org.
adapted & retrieved on November 18th, 2012 from www.graniteschools.org.