Symmetry Made Simple: Engage your Students with Hands-On Activities

You're probably here to find new activities to add to your symmetry unit, so let's begin!

Symmetry Provocation

Moment of Truth: I am an old soul.  An old fart.  I'm quite resistant to change so I haven't fully embraced the play and inquiry model.  For now I'm introducing bits and pieces to create more of a balance.

My first foray was a symmetry provocation.  Without explicitly defining symmetry, I put out a set of books which they flocked to.  Check them out below!  The kids quickly picked up the concept and the center became a hit!

If it's not clear, I put a thin layer of sand in a baking tin and added a small mirror.  I held up the mirror with one hand and made a design in the sand with the other.  The kids thought that it was the coolest thing looking at the reflection in the mirror!

Pegs and Pegboards

I got a bucket of pegs and a set of pegboards from a clearance center when I first started teaching.  Like most teachers would, I had to buy it because it was a great deal!  The small pegs and pegboards (4x6 inches) came from a local dollar store.  I challenged my students to make symmetrical designs or pictures. 

Butterfly Art

In grade one (first grade), paint makes everything better!  These were super easy and quick - a few drops on one side of the butterfly, press down and voilà! 

Math Journals

For their journal entries, I asked students to create both symmetrical and non-symmetrical designs and find the line of symmetry in letters of the alphabet.  These pages are part of my resource: Open-Ended Math Questions - Geometry. It is found in my TPT Store and BP Shop.

I hope that you found some new ideas to try with your own kiddos! 

Making Math Meaningful: Showing Kids How Math is Useful in the Real World

If you’ve been teaching long enough, you know about the pendulum-swinging phenomenon. You’ve seen the pendulum swing especially in literacy and math. In my district, the pendulum also swings between literacy and math. When math scores are down, all of our PD is focused on teaching and learning in math. After a few years of math, math, math, literacy scores drop. Then, predictably, all of our PD is focused on reading and writing instruction. At the time of writing this post, all of our staff meetings and professional development sessions are focused on numeracy - rich tasks, open-ended questions, parallel questions, attitudes to math (Growth Mindset), and so on.

Our math blocks increased from 1 period to 2 so I played around with a guided math format for a part of the year.  Naturally, a few of my students asked, "Why are we doing so much math?" and "Why do we have to learn this?" And by ask, I mean whined! :(  I definitely needed to change our attitudes towards math!

At the beginning of each unit I would try to explain its application to our daily lives.  This helped a bit.  Check out this article, Teaching Kids Why Math Matters.

This discussion led to the creation of posters to help connect math to everyday activities and occupations.

There are every day scenarios that involve math...

Then there are occupations that require a knowledge of a particular math topic...

And then some math motivation...

I'm super excited to use these posters in the upcoming year to help make math "real".

This poster pack is available in my TPT store or BP Shop.

How do you get your students excited about math?

Shape Up your Classroom: 8 Hands-On Activities for Teaching 2D Shapes

I recently wrapped up a unit on 2D shapes and thought I'd share some of the fun activities we did as a class.

Problem solving and rich tasks are key in math.  I pulled together some ideas from different sources for 2 weeks of hands-on activities. 

Making Shapes with Popsicle Sticks 

My students had to use Popsicle sticks to make shapes with different numbers of sides.  The more the sides increased, the trickier it was to create.

 Shape (and Color) Bingo

To keep the peace, I had to assign the caller, but they had fun with this little game.  I've had it for years and probably only cost me a few dollars.

Shape Puzzles

The first was plain and simple, but always engaging.  A little bit trickier...they had to look at the complete picture and recognize the composite parts.

Shape Pictures

We used Pattern blocks and foam shapes to create the pictures.  I loved watching them trying to solve the pictures that didn't show the outlines of the shapes.  Lots of trial and error in their spatial reasoning. 

Play Doh and Mats

Using mats from Sparklebox, they had tons if fun forming shapes.  It was the first time we used play dough in my class so they really looked forward to "Math Center Time"!  

GeoBoards

Another new favourite!  I made a pentagon as an example and you'd think I performed a magic trick!  They were so amazed and impressed!

Pattern Blocks

I used an activity from Kindergarten Works.  After covering the triangle, I asked them to show me another way. They were excited to come up with more new arrangements/shapes.  

Team Teaching Session

We combined our classes and did the problem from Kindergarten Works.  We had them work in pairs and set out pattern blocks, tangrams, and attribute blocks for them to use.  We charted some of their responses.  

They did really well and some realized that a triangle would always be needed. 

Then we gave a similar problem and put them in groups of four.  This time they had to show their work and draw their shapes. 

The following day, I gave them a similar problem to complete independently but changed the number of sides.  Depending on their ability, I required 7, 10, 12, 14 or 16 sides.  I asked them to show me at least 3 ways.  

My students really looked forward to math centres during these weeks!  Definitely a keeper!

Christmas Fractions Fun: Crafting Holiday Cheer in Math Class

Ahhh...Christmas time!  I know that I'm not the only teacher who sometimes struggles with fitting in all of the curriculum as well as allowing for some "fun" throughout the year, especially around certain holidays and celebrations. 

Years ago, I was teaching my first-grade students about structures in science class and I didn't have the money (nor the patience!) to build gingerbread houses.  I should mention that we did have a classroom budget, but I didn't want to spend a huge chunk on one day's activities.

In math, we were learning about fractions so I headed to my go-to resource sites - TPT and Pinterest - to look for a craftivity for fractions and Christmas.  I didn't find any that would work for my kids so (gasp!) I made one myself! 

I am really happy with how it turned out and had a hard time deciding which craftivity to do with my class!  I went with the Christmas tree.  All of the cutting and gluing took awhile, but at least they were practicing math facts and making a cute Christmas craft at the same time!

Check out my samples.

I put both the Christmas Tree and Christmas Gift together as one resource available for purchase in my TPT Store and BP Shop.  If you already have your Christmas projects planned, you may want to consider it for next year!  If you do try it out, I would love feedback - let me know how it went!  Good or bad :)

Here's to making it to Christmas Break! 

8 Simple Ways for Kids to Represent Numbers

Children need opportunities to learn about numbers. Counting, identifying numbers, and understanding quantity are foundational concepts that students build upon. Check out this blog post to see how I introduce different representations.

Join the Numberock crew as they learn about different representations of numbers.

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Number Representation Cards

I have created a set of number cards that help to build or reinforce number sense and number representation!

This resource is perfect for Number of the Day and for practicing subitizing, counting, sorting, ordering, and comparing. You can use the cards for assessment, whole group, small groups, math centers, and card games.

Card Games

• Match - Match 2 representation of a number

• Memory or Concentration - Like Match, but the cards are turned over!

• War - How to play

• Snap - How to play

Ways to Sort

• Sort by number

• Odd versus Even

• Number/Not the number (if you’re focusing on the number 4, sort the representations of 4 and numbers that are not 4)

We used these cards on the pocket chart together as a class and some students were already grasping the concept of telling time to the hour and adding coin amounts. 

8 Number Representations:

1. Numeral

2. Word

3. Dots (Dice)

4. Tally Marks

5. Ten Frame

6. Fingers

7. Clock

8. Coin Value

I’ve created 2 versions of this resource: Number Representation 1-10 (TPT Store or BP Shop) and Number Representation 1-20 (TPT Store or BP Shop)

How to Represent Numbers in Different Ways (and a Free Anchor Chart)

Knowing that numbers can be represented in different ways is key to building a strong foundation in number sense.  Beyond the ability of identifying a number, is the understanding of each number as a quantity. 

This catchy song by Jack Hartmann  shows different ways numbers can be represented.

Model representing numbers in different ways

Demonstrate the following number representations:

• Numeral

• Word

• Pictures

• Tally Marks

• Ordinal Number

• Number Line

• Ten Frame

Plus:

• Coin Value

• Clock

• Before and After

Most of my kiddies quickly grasped these concepts, especially by the time we got to number 10. 

We completed the chart as a class and then went on to complete a page from my Number Printing Practice resource which can be found in my TPT store or BP Shop. I introduced my Number Representation and Subitizing Cards as a center activity (TPT Store or BP Shop). Here’s a blog post with more information about the cards.

This anchor chart is a free product available on TPT!  You can get it by clicking on the picture below.