Math Reflection Week 4: Math Games and Activities

Over the past week I have had the chance to try some new math related activities.  I have completed playing and writing about my first math game.  I chose to write about a game called Spider Match which focuses on teaching children integers at a grade 7 level.  The concept is quite simply, you are given a sum which may or may not be a negative number, and then you must find a pair of number that when combined equal that sum.  The numbers given to combine can also be negatives.  What makes it more challenging is that this game is multiplayer where you compete against three other people or bots.  As far as math games go I found this one surprisingly enjoyable, I kept getting into a "one more try" mentality of wanting to try and get more combinations than last time.  I will defiantly look into integrating online math games in my classroom as an extra tool to help with automatizing mathematical processes.

 In terms of in class activities there were two that I really enjoyed.  The first one was the dice game, which at first I thought was a probability activity, but in actually an exercise in place values.  Our version used 4 dice, and when a die was rolled you had to decide where to place the number in terms of the 4 place values.  The overall goal was to create either the highest or lowest 4 digit number possible.  So for example if the goal was to create the lowest number and a 2 was rolled, you might consider placing it in the thousandths place value.  I quite liked this activity as it is both an exercise in place values and a little probability, as you have to weigh the likelihood of getting certain numbers in only a few die rolls.  I think this game could be further enhanced with the use of a ten-sided die though, just so the options are not just 1-6.  That is one thing I like about this game however, it is highly modifiable to suit your lesson and class, so I will certainly consider using it.

The second in class activity I wanted to discuss was the tarsia puzzle.  A tarsia puzzle is basically a puzzle where all the pieces have math problems on them, and you fit them together by connecting the problem with a solution.  For our class the tarsia puzzle was focused around equivalent fractions, so you had to connect a fraction with its equivalent.  I have to admit it was harder than it sounded, and the picture below of our progress should make it evident how tricky it was.  That being said it was still a fun and challenging activity.  The only concern I have with it for a classroom is that if students are working on solving it in a group or even pairs they might have a partner that solves the problems much faster, giving the others little time to think of solutions or exercise their knowledge of the topic.  Making this activity individual would also take up a lot of paper and may also take far longer if you're waiting on all students to finish.  That being said there are many different variations of this puzzle, in terms of topic, amount of pieces, and final shape all of which can be found here.  Really enjoyed the in class activities this week and am looking forward to what we will do next. 

 

Michael Feagan. (Sept, 30 2016).  Tarsia Puzzle [Photo].

Tech Class Reflection

So it has been four weeks of classes now in my tech class and thus far I have learned a lot.  We had the chance to use a lot of different tools so I thought I would take the time to talk a bit about my experiences using them and which ones I liked and how I would use them in my classroom.  Obviously the big class activity has been genius hour.  I've talked quite a bit about my personal genius hour on this blog but I'll give some of my thoughts on the activity overall.  I think it's a great way of engaging student's interests, making a inclusive activity, and relinquishing some responsibility to the students for their own learning.  I feel like for a classroom say for example of grades 7s or 8s, it would be best to show them a lot of examples and clear step by step instructions of what is expected of them for their genius hour project.  If you're interested in genius hour and how it could be used for your class or in a class with low access to tech then check out this helpful guide here.

As for some specific tools that we used, I've loved both Google Slide and Google Form.  I've been aware of Google Slide now for a while but have just never got around to using it, so I'm quite grateful that this class finally gave me the incentive to try it.  For me it is basically an easier and more accessible version of Power Point.  As a teacher I love the idea of Google Slides as my students wont have to be reliant on a specific program to finish their presentations but can just sign into their Google account at home to work on it.  As for Google Form it seems an excellent tool for teachers.  It essentially allows you to quickly make tests or quizzes for your students online.  You can even embed videos and images if they're relevant to the quiz.  I made a simple multiple choice quiz based on the story book book Thank You Mr. Falker.  You can find my quiz, along with a story time reading of the book here.  Google Forms also allows you to easily track the answers your students give as well as the average and questions frequently answered as incorrect. 

Overall I've really appreciated my time spent in tech class when it comes to all these useful tools I've been exposed to.  There were of course many resources and tools that we have used in class, far too many for me to list them all and talk about what I liked about all of them.  Just real quickly and briefly I'll say I've enjoyed using Powtoon for its ease of use and high quality presentation, Popplet for how easy and clean it makes flow charts, and Timetoast because I love timelines.  All I can say is that I'll remember them all I would wholeheartedly recommend them to any teachers.  I personally look forward to getting the chance to use them in my own classes.