In the busyness of classroom teaching, do you find math lessons becoming a bit stale? Are textbook lessons getting you and your students down a bit?
I believe that students crave interesting, relevant lessons, especially in math. How can we provide such lessons?
It’s a simple idea: find real math going on in the world around you and bring it to the children’s attention.
In the video I talk a bit about the new kitchen we’re having put in. There’s a heap of math that the builders have to get right, including measurement, simple arithmetic and three-dimensional geometry.
What can you talk about with your students? Here are some ideas:
Real-Life Contexts for K-6 Math: Some Suggestions
- Take photos with your smartphone, add them to PowerPoint slides, ask students “What do you notice?” or “What questions are you thinking of?”
- Talk about shopping experiences where you had to figure out a best buy, someone gave you the wrong change or something cool happened
- Explain how you adapted a recipe for a different number of servings
- Talk about your favourite sport and how rankings work, and how many points teams have to win to come out on top this season
- Talk about designing something cool, such as a garden, a craft project, a greeting card or a decorated cake
What ideas have you used to bring classroom math to life? Leave a comment below.
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