Typically you won't hear Math and Party in the same sentence. But let's admit it, not every student feels excited when they have to do Math and as an educator it our responsibility to create a fun and motivating environment. While the STAAR session is going on in full swing, my colleagues at Briarmeadow Charter School designed an innovative way for the regular afternoon Math practice. Last week we did Math practice with glow sticks and what fun we had! There was of course of lot of planning and preparation behind the scenes! As the children came back from their lunch, they were not allowed to directly enter their classrooms, anticipation started building up!!! Each student was given three pieces of glow sticks and three pieces of connectors to make a necklace. They were also given a finger light. As they entered the class room it looked like a dark party. Lights had been switched off and the windows were completely sealed off! The children went ecstatic as they had never experienced something like this before. We had set up three Math stations. The stations had themes of Basketball, Bowling Alley and Golf. The students were divided into three teams and as they played ( or, hit their target) they got to open a question packet and solve them. Each team got to spend 25 minutes in each station and rotated to the next. The room looked like a perfect night party, with the glowing necklaces , finger lights, glowing balloons and some music in the background. There was lots of ruckus, but hey we solved Math as well. Another way to extend this idea at home is to have glow sticks during bedtime story session. Our toddler absolutely loves to make his glowing necklace, put on the finger light and read his books! Some of the most exciting experience can come when we start thinking outside the box. The Math Party with glow sticks is a fun twist to combine sensory play and STEM activities.
Go play!!!
1 Comment
5/22/2018 10:32:06 am
I love that your team made math fun! I am curious about the types of math problems that the students were solving. Were they related to the three sports that comprised your centers? I bet the students loved this!
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