Sunday 26 July 2015

Rosie's Walk for Maths


This book is amazing in the way it will assist with directional language. 
You can act it out and use the words like across, around through etc to model using your playground.



It gives you so many ideas to use as well as video to help with the concepts of direction

Image result for rosies walk

Pinterest has so many links too - click here to find them 

Have a great week everyone.

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Crossing the Decades Concentration

Last week we discussed the difficulties many students experience when beginning to explore larger numbers and the problems associated with 'crossing the decades' - moving from a digit ending in 9 to the next ten.

This week we have added a 'Crossing the Decades Concentration' game to our store to assist students to develop and practise this skill.
 
Crossing the Decades Concentration cards help students practise this concept while playing a game. Cards include all pairs of 9 to 10 numbers up to 100 in 3 formats - digits, number names and pictures.
 
Teachers can select the cards that are appropriate for use with the students they are working with. Cards may be selected to include a specific number range (e.g. cards between 9 and 20) or particular sets of cards to make the task simpler or more challenging (e.g. digits and picture cards, digits and number names or number names and picture cards). Students look for the correctly sequenced numbers and find a ‘Crossing the Decades’ pair. For example: 29 and 30 or 69 and 70. Cards can be selected so that students match digits with digits or can be selected so that any combination is acceptable as a pair.
 
 
The cards can be printed in colour or black and white, and then laminated for long term use. Cut along the dotted lines to create 6 individual cards per page.
 
We hope this helps your students to develop the skills to successfully 'cross the decades'!
 

Sunday 19 July 2015

Returning to school...

After the school holidays, it is lovely to return to school and see happy smiling faces.
At our school assembly, we regularly celebrate student achievements and look for ways we can encourage our students to be the best they can be.
 
A young Foundation (Prep) student was recently awarded a 'Student of the Week' certificate for bouncing into class on the first day back and proudly telling his teachers he can now count to 109 (no small feat for such a young man!). However, his teachers did not stop there... in conjunction with recognising his efforts in front of the whole school, they had also given him the opportunity to show off his new skill in front of the class and encouraged him to count on even further (which he could!).
 
 
Our love of mathematics is contageous!
(Or as the old saying goes... if you don't feel that way - fake it 'till you make it!).
Our enthusiasm for the growth we see in our students makes them glow!
I am sure you have many creative ways of appreciating your students' many talents in all areas of the curriculum. If you feel like sharing... feel free to leave a comment or email us at kpisurf@gmail.com.
 

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Crossing the Decades

As students develop their ability to count, a common problem often occurs when they begin to explore numbers that 'cross the decades'. This refers to moving from a digit ending in a 9 to the next group of 10. For example: 29 to 30 or 79 to 80. 
 
When counting, students can struggle to identify the next number in the sequence, not know what number comes next or select a random number that they think might work!
 
There are lots of counting and place value games that support students to build their skills in this area. The use of 10s frames and counting charts are a great place to start, along with bead frames in groups of 10.
 
Next week we will be publishing a concentration game that can be used to support students to learn and practise these counting sequences. This game will include concentration cards in 3 different formats: written numerals, digits and a number representation (10s frames for smaller numbers & base 10 blocks for larger numbers).
 
 
 
If you have any great tips for supporting students to successfully 'cross the decades', please feel free to leave a comment or let us know at kpisurf@gmail.com.
 

Sunday 12 July 2015

Welcome back!

In Victoria, our students, families and school communities are about to begin Term 3... welcome back!
We hope everyone has had a restful break (no matter where you are!) and are ready to go, in what is sure to be another action packed term!
One way to get our students back into the swing of school is to ease them back in with an engaging and fun game. Here is a throwback to one of my favourites to get student's maths brains ticking over again...
 

 GREEDY GOATS

(also known as Greedy Pigs).
This is a whole class game that develops student's mental addition skills and thereby improves both fluency and accuracy. This game also provides great opportunities to to discuss strategies (reasoning) used for mental computation - counting on, building to 10, doubles and near doubles etc.
 
What you will need...
  • Students - paper and a pencil
  • Teacher - six sided dice
 How to play...
  • The class decides upon a 'Greedy Goat' number (for example... 2)
  • All students stand up (at their tables), the teacher rolls the dice & calls out the number
  • Students record the number that has been rolled (for example 5)
  • The teacher rolls again, students mentally add this number on to the first number and record the result (for example, if the teacher rolled a 3, students would now have 5, 8 recorded)
  • The teacher continues to roll the dice and students continue to add on and record their next answer (for example, 5, 8, 12, 18, 19, 22...)
  • Students can choose to sit down at any time - when they sit down they put a circle around their tally and cannot join back in that round
  • If the Greedy Goat number is rolled - any students still standing are out and their tally does not count - their total score for that round is 0
  • Play three rounds and all students add up their three final round scores - the student with the highest overall score is the winner
Variations...
  • When introducing the game - play together and teacher also records numbers for students to see
  • Stop after every 5 rolls and check what number students are up to - anyone who is not correct, is out
  • Use a dice with larger numbers (eg 10 sided dice/20 sided dice)
  • Select two Greedy Goat numbers
  • To support students who find mental calculations difficult - allow them to use a calculator
  • Only say the number once (if students are not listening - they will miss the number and will be out)
  • Choose a starting number (for example 100) and get students to subtract from this number, rather than adding on. Students with the lowest number at the end of three rounds will be the winner
  • For extension - use a dice with fractions/decimals
 
 I am sure we all have a favourite maths game! If you would like to share - feel free to email us at kpisurf@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
To all of our followers who are about to start back at school - have a great week!