Mak's Math Maddness!

INTRODUCTION We all know and love the song "What does the fox say?!" Do do do do. It goes something like that. If you are like me, you probably do not love this song. It gets stuck in your head for hours and it's pretty hard to get it out of your head. BUT, the kids love it! Going off this, I was thinking about how I always personally struggled with geometry in school. I came across this really creative and engaging way to help introduce shapes and basic geometry concepts to students at the elementary level! WHAT DOES THE SHAPE SAY?! This lesson would first start out with playing the song for the kids! Then after this, the teacher and students would work together to create an interactive chart like the one above. This would help students identify properties of various shapes. It is also fun and interactive and can get students up and moving around the classroom. The next step of this lesson would be these super cute little attribute booklets. The student...

INTRODUCTION When it comes to multiplication and division there are just some facts that students need to know. This fluency is addressed in Common Core standard 3.0A.C.7 Operations & Algebraic Thinking: "Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as knowing the relationship between multiplication and division." PARTY MONSTERS DIVISION MAKER This game works on the standard above, and is played with partners. How it works- partner  #1 will try to make a division equation using all three of the columns. Once a number is used, it is covered with a counter. Once a counter is placed over a number, it stays there and that number can't be used. Both partners will keep going until the last person can make an equation- that person is the winner. Teaching Points: If the students are struggling- you can remind them to go from the right to left, using multiplication to help them. This will help them see the relationship between multiplication and div...

INTRODUCTION I swear the internet is really creepy sometimes! We had been talking about subtraction and my mom had just sent me a lesson with subtracting with zeros- and then the next morning I wake up and the first image I see on Pinterest is a cool chart that applies to all of subtraction! I really loved this chart, because it really covers all of the basics of subtraction! I thought this would be a great chart to display in the classroom for students to remember. I know as a kid, it was always easier for me to remember things when they were either in a pneumonic device or rhymed. I thought this was too good not to share! 3 DIGIT SUBTRACTION WITH ZEROS Going off this great chart, I thought I would continue with another trick that my mom was saying she uses with her students, which is this concept of "boxing out." In this concept, students must ask themselves 2 questions: 1) Is there a middle zero? 2) Does the ones column need help? If the answer is Y...

ORDER OF OPERATIONS! I always found order of operations to be really fun. It was a very concrete and simple way to remember how to solve algebraic expressions. After of course teaching the students the meaning of PEMDAS- or as the kids love to say, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, I thought it would be fun to have the students get creative and do some acting. The students would first be taught the meaning and review all of the different operations. The students could then do a simple worksheet like the one below. NOW FOR THE FUN! The next step of this lesson is for students get in groups of 4 and they will be given a problem that they have to act out. Each student will be assigned to a letter/letters either 1. P 2. E 3. M/D 4. A/S the students will have to figure out the order in which that person will solve their part of the problem. After this, students will be required to create their own problem and act it out in front of the class. Students who are watching the s...