Fractions, decimals and percentages

Not all of my games are for the younger children.  This is a version of "lay the table" that is aimed at my Stage 6 and Stage 7 students.  It can be a simple matching game - the decimal and the fraction that go together - or it can be an ordering activity as well.  You will see that I have included some of the more common equivalent fractions as well.

I use this game before I bring out the Splat Attack fractions/decimals/percentages version.  Some of the students who are confident with this are now timing each other to see how quickly they can pair the cutlery up properly, and of course they have to check that the other person is correct.
I have housed the cutlery in a plastic takeaway container with a lid, so it can be stored on a shelf easily, and because all the pieces were donated and recycled it is easy to replace any that are lost or broken.

Place value activity

Place value is one of the things that many children struggle with in maths.  I found that when my students were moving between Stage 5 and Stage 6 they got confused with the bigger numbers, particularly when it came to adding them up.
I used the place value houses frequently, and students got good at reading big numbers and writing big numbers, but applying this to a strategy was a whole new ball-game for those who were not secure.

I found the answer in an unusual place - coloured plastic shot-glasses!

The shot-glasses have digits on, and the correct number of beads in them.

Use the colours to reinforce the place value - hundreds are orange regardless of which house they're in.

The students start by setting up each number from their sum (one near the top of the house, and the other near the bottom of the house) so that all they're concentrating on at first is reading and interpreting the digits.

Then they tip the beads out - keeping them in the correct column in the place value house.  Move the shot-glasses out of the way and put the beads together.

This is where the next discussion takes place, especially if there are more than 9 beads in a column.

The last step is to read the new number, and then to write it down.

Planning Maths Cafe

I have had a few queries about how I track students and their participation in the Dish of the Day during a cycle of learning.
This is the format I use to see who has ordered which Dish of the day, the days that I have taught each one and some ongoing formative assessments about how the children have performed during the lesson.

The children are named down the left hand side (not their real names here, I hasten to add!), and those working below (orange) or well below (red) are highlighted so I am always aware of the target students school-wide.  Yellow indicates that they have ordered a Dish of the Day, and they get / if they attended but really didn't understand it, 2 sides of a triangle if they are on the way, and a full triangle if they have cracked it.  @ indicates an absence from a teaching time.  More than one assessment might reflect more than one teaching time, or it might be an assessment of doggy bag work to see how the ideas have stuck.

I hope this is helpful - as always, please email me or leave a comment if there's something I can do to clarify what's going on.

More games for number recognition

I'm not normally a New Entrant teacher, but since my school made Maths Cafe a schoolwide initiative I teach every student in school.  I was at a bit of a loss to begin with (the rugrats have never been a big part of my teaching experience up until now, beyond singing practises!) but I went to an awesome workshop at the 10th Teachers Matter conference in January, led by the very talented Libby Slaughter, and I haven't looked back since!
Here are some of the games I have made this term - they're all very simple, but were designed to reinforce the connection between words, symbols and amounts.

First you match the cups (digits) with their plate (words)

Then you put the right number of pompoms in each cup.

This game can be extended by using plastic cutler as well - I have a knife with dots on and a fork with the digit at the top and the word on the handle that go with each plate.  Put them all together and call it "Lay the table" - our NE class love it!

I also have a game called "Peg the petals", which is also very simple.  Each flower has the digit on one leaf and the word on the other.  Children put the correct number of pegs around the circle to act as petals on the flower.  They can check each other's work to make sure they are correct, and there is lots of potential for aural counting as this happens.  Once the pegs are on you could order the flowers or talk about odd and even numbers (2 colours of pegs work well for this).

   

For numbers larger than 10 it may be easier to use those little wooden pegs you can get in packs where they sell craft things,  (I got some from our local gold coin shop)  but they can be more difficult for little fingers to manipulate.

Games in action

I hope that you're all enjoying your non-contact time at the moment, and not doing too much school work during what non-teachers call "holidays".
Having said that, here I am collating photographs of my children in action using the games that I have been making for them during the term.  And later this week I will be spending a couple of days at school making more games using the things that have been donated by our parents - plastic cutlery, plates and cups, old toy cars, egg boxes and other bits and bobs.  Photos of those too will be forthcoming when they're done.

I posted the pdf of Splat Attack earlier this term.  It takes a lot of time to make the whole 1 - 100 with flowers and bees/bugs, but I split it into smaller games so I have lots of children playing with it at the same time.  I have a 1 - 20 set, and then I split them across the tens (22 - 45, for example).

I've also adapted Splat Attack for fraction, decimal and percentage conversions, which is a game with a couple of variations.  I'll post the pdf for that later on, promise!

My younger students are still getting to grips with number recognition and matching numbers with symbols, amounts and words.  I've got a couple of games that they love.  One is simply to put the right number of pegs on each plate - basic, but they still enjoy it.

Children can check each other's plates.

You can use symbols, words or even dots!

More pictures tomorrow - make sure you visit again!