These are just a handful of the headlines I came across when I searched for articles related to screen time and our current pandemic situation. My district, like nearly every other district in the nation, relies on an online platform to deliver instruction and instructional materials during this learn-from-home emergency. We are producing some great activities that is helping to maintain continuity of learning, but I do worry that students are being asked to spend too much time in front of a computer – which comes with its own laundry list of concerns: eye strain, inactivity, passive engagement, etc.... In these uncharted times, let's embrace opportunities for whole families to engage in mathematical discussions and "thinking outside the (internet-connected) box".
REFRIGERATOR DRY ERASE CHALLENGE
When I started this activity with my kids, all three of them said something to the effect of "Really, mom, you're not serious?" But you wanna know what happened before I even left the kitchen? – they stopped rolling their eyes, slowly gravitated toward the numbers written on the refrigerator door, and became fully engaged in finding solutions. Getting started is as easy as 1-2-3!
- Post 3 number cards on the refrigerator (I used randomly selected cards from our Phase 10 deck)
- Write the numbers 1-20 with an equal sign and line following each one.
- Put some dry erase markers nearby and watch the magic happen!
RULES for PLAY: You can only use each of the three numbers once per equation. You do not have to use all three numbers. All mathematical symbols are permitted. Proper notation for Order of Operations is, of course, required when needed.
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| If your refrigerator is textured or filled with artwork, try the front of the washing machine! |
Do you notice how this activity is well-suited to many readiness levels working together at the same time? I have played this with 7 year olds and 7th graders. For this home version, my college-aged son contributed to the board with square roots and factorial notation. I love that this activity has no time limits and isn't a competitive event (unless you want it to be). It reminds me of doing jigsaw puzzles with my auntie at the beach. Each summer, one of my aunts rents a beach cottage for several weeks where members of our family come and go throughout the week. She always has a jigsaw puzzle set up on the coffee table that we add pieces to as the week goes on. These refrigerator problems have the same sense of relaxed collaboration. When I put problems like this one on my refrigerator, my kids add answers as they think of them throughout the day/week until the puzzle is completed – and the refrigerator is the perfect spot with all the snacking happening these days. The first few equations are added very quickly, but as we get to the tougher numbers (like 19!), we find ourselves gathering around the refrigerator contemplating possibilities together – sometimes leaving it and coming back later, often times discovering the final solution together. Today I found my son (one of the original eye rollers), camped out in front of the refrigerator – he pulled a stool over and was all in. He is determined to find the last two solutions, 16 and 19, before the end of the day [update: It's 9pm and still no solution for these two remaining values].
Maybe you know a solution for 16 & 19. Frankly, we're stuck.... Tweet your solution and tag me @HelloMrsCaine. We'd love to see what you discovered.
23 STEPS
A simple concept. Try to guess which things are 23 steps away.
The steps can be of any size, but all 23 steps must be the same size. So if you take "tiny mouse steps", all 23 steps must be "tiny mouse steps".
This activity builds the mathematical understanding that when we change the size of the measurement unit (tiny steps vs. giant steps), the number of units needed changes (2.MD.A.2).
Once you've mastered this version of the game, try a modification. You might change it to a "how many steps" activity. Players guess how many steps it will take to get to the end of the driveway using regular-sized steps. Whoever gets the closest to the actual value wins!
This activity builds the mathematical understanding that when we change the size of the measurement unit (tiny steps vs. giant steps), the number of units needed changes (2.MD.A.2).
Once you've mastered this version of the game, try a modification. You might change it to a "how many steps" activity. Players guess how many steps it will take to get to the end of the driveway using regular-sized steps. Whoever gets the closest to the actual value wins!
SIDEWALK MATH
Take your math play outside! Each week, I look forward to the Twitter posts of @traciteacher. Traci Jackson has been engaging her neighbors with some sidewalk math since mid-March when most of the country's school buildings closed and we were advised to practice social distancing. When her neighbors emerge from their homes to get a bit of exercise, they are greeted with her sidewalk art as they pass her home. What fun it must be to live in Traci's neighborhood! To see the whole collection from @traciteacher, visit bit.ly/mathwalks2020.
EGG CARTON 10-FRAME
Another simple idea (this time focused on our youngest mathematicians) involves unitizing.
Unitizing is an essential skill that extends well beyond primary school – beyond all formal schooling, actually. Think about the retail giant Amazon. Do you think they count items one by one? No. They unitize them on pallets and efficiently count the inventory in groups of 10, 120, 1000.... Learning how to unitize begins at a very young age and, like any other skill, it needs to be taught and practiced.
Here's a simple idea for building skill in unitizing:
- Get an empty egg carton and cut off two of the sections to make a 10-Frame.
I like to leave the lid on the egg carton when I cut off the last section allowing me to close the lid and hide the contents inside. - Place objects in some of the spots - the items should be large enough to be seen easily (blocks, pom pons, etc.)
- Open the lid for 2 seconds. Close the lid. Ask "How many did you see?"
- After an answer is given, follow up with "How do you know there are (7)?"
- Child explains how they saw the seven (perhaps they used subitizing skills and saw 4 and 3 or 5 and 2 or maybe they saw that 3 spaces were empty and since 3 + 7 = 10, there must be 7 objects).
- Reveal how many are in the carton.
- Discuss.
- Play another round.
What variations could you make to expand this activity?
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| Image Source: https://www.schooltimesnippets.com/ |
BEDTIME STORIES
Bedtime stories (or "anytime stories" for that matter!) are not reserved for building literary knowledge. The next time you read a storybook, think about what mathematical ideas could be supported by the story or the pictures? There are many ways to incorporate mathematical thinking into story time. One approach would be to read the story all the way through, THEN go back to the beginning of the story and have a mathematical scavenger hunt. As you peruse the pages a second time, ask questions that support mathematical thinking, like "how many" and "which is more". When my children were small, they always begged to have books read again (and again and again). By approaching the second reading of the book from a mathematical standpoint, we interact with the book in a different way.
Another way to bring math into the discussion during story time is to stop along the way. As you are reading, stop on interesting pages and ask a mathematical question about the story or the picture. These questions can be easily tailored to the child's readiness level – even when reading to a multi-age audience.
Let's imagine that we are reading the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. As you may know, this book was not written for the purpose of supporting mathematical thinking (like Even Steven and Odd Todd by Kathryn Cristald used in many 2nd grade math classrooms), but that shouldn't stop us from using Where the Wild Things Are to focus on numbers and patterns. Consider how these questions support mathematical thinking:
- How many teeth does this Wild Thing have? Let's count.
- How many claws does this Wild Thing have on each hand?
- Is that more or less than the number of fingers that you have on your hand?
- Let's skip count to see how many claws the Wild Thing has in all: 4, 8, 12, 16.
- Which is more? The number of teeth the Wild Thing has or the number of claws? How do you know?
- What shape are the Wild Thing's teeth?
- How many more buttons does Max need on his pajamas to have ten buttons?
...So many possibilities - Have fun with it!
DAILY CALENDAR
One of the best things about the whole world moving to a learn-from-home instructional model during our current pandemic situation is that many educators and educational company's are sharing resources like never before! Most of them are free. I recently came across Zorbit's Math daily calendar. Honestly, I had never heard of Zorbit's Math before learn-from-home teaching forced me to seek alternative resources, and one of the things I found was this daily math calendar of simple things that families can do at home to support mathematical thinking.
Click HERE to see the full May calendar of daily mathematical activities from Zorbit's Math Home-Learning Kit
GAMES THAT REINFORCE MATH CONCEPTS
I just love the math practice that young Nash is getting every day playing games with dad. What an amazing opportunity this is for Nash!- Go Fish! (Near Doubles)
I have played Go Fish Make Ten and Go Fish Doubles, this version focuses on near doubles, too - Combo Dominoes
I just love this creative version - even played it with my nearly-grown children! - 100 Laughs
This one is delightfully challenging and requires participants to laugh once they make a sum of 100
NOW GO AWAY and PLAY!
I hope you found several great ideas that you want to try at home or share with others, but even more, I am hoping that you were inspired to look around and to find ways to incorporate math and math discussions in places that may, at first, seem unlikely. And yes... I get the irony of you reading a blog post on your online device that encourages you to get off your device to do more live-action math – so get offline and go find some UNPLUGGED opportunities!
