This blog post is not about the weather, but I must ask… What’s the weather like this week for you? I’ve heard from many teachers that they were either dealing with snow or tons of rain. Not only can this bring us and our students down into a gloomy mood, but we also start to crave sunshine and outdoor fun. Were you feeling the same way this week?
Today on the blog, I’m providing a little fun inspiration to your rainy, or snowy, day! There are many ways to get moving in our classrooms when we just can’t make it outside. If you want to help your students get rid of the wiggles or need a full fledge math movement activity, keep reading! These activities work great indoors or out! Math and movement help students who learn best through a kinesthetic learning style. Some of these can be adapted for use with virtual learning.
Sit & Move Math
Getting your students moving does not have to mean that you need to move all of the desks in your classroom or have a ton of room. When your students just can’t sit still, use a simple counting activity to keep their hands busy for a few minutes and let out the wiggles. Students can tap out their counting on their desk. This is a great time for them to practice skip counting. You can also use this activity to transition to another lesson.
This next activity provides a little more math and movement for your students. With students at their desk, instruct them to stand or sit when a multiple of a certain number is called out. Call out numbers in multiples of 2, 3, or any number of your choosing. This could be even more challenging by calling out a math sentence with an answer and have the students only sit or stand if the answer is correct. So much fun!
Let’s Skip Count!
Skip counting is a fundamental math skill that not only prepares students for multiplication facts, but it also helps students see patterns in numbers. It is great for building number sense. As many teachers know, skip counting is easily learned through repetition and song. All teachers know children love to move when music is played. So, why not combine movement with some skip-counting singing?
For example, one fun way to do this is to place students in a circle, turn on some fun music in the background on a low volume, and have them skip count around the circle. Start with having them count by 2s and move to 3s. Think of it as a math version of Duck, Duck, Goose!
Hopscotch makes another appearance on the blog this week (Click here to read that week’s post). If your weather is good and you can make it outside, draw your traditional Hopscotch squares and fill them in with skip-counting numbers. Provide children with number choices along their path for more of a challenge. For younger students, you can write in the numbers in order and even call them out in the correct skip-counting order. This also helps with recognizing numbers. Can’t get outdoors? Tape out squares on your classroom floor.
Math Mats
I recently was scrolling through Amazon, again. 😊 I was searching for items that could be used for hands-on math and movement activities. I found an electronic math mat that encourages children to stomp on the right answer when a math sentence is called out. It wasn’t too expensive, but I thought I might be able to do something like this with materials an average teacher would have on hand.
For small groups, tape squares on the floor in an area that can be used by the group. Write the numbers from one to ten on the squares and place them in a circle. Have a child in the group read aloud a math sentence from a card, and another child uses their feet and hands to “touch” the answer. The students take turns being the reader and the mover.
Extend Learning through Math Movement
If you are lucky enough to have great weather to go outside, create a shape scavenger hunt for your students! Have them work in pairs or small groups to actively seek and find shapes on the playground or on a nature walk. Instruct students to check off the shape after finding each one. Or, make a bingo card with shapes and play a movement-style bingo. Learning about shapes can be fun!
Let’s use Hopscotch again to extend learning into the hallway. Design a Hopscotch grid in the hallway for students to “hop” their way down the hall while skip counting. Comment below if you use a Hopscotch grid any other place in your school.
Math & Yoga
Yoga is a relaxing activity that can help refocus your students and bring some calm into the classroom at just the right time. 😉 As you should know by now if you have read this blog for any length of time, I like to find ways to teach and practice math through any classroom activity. Yoga is no exception.
Breathing is an important part of practicing yoga. Pair students together and have them sit, or stand, facing each other. Model yoga breathing and have the students practice with you. Next, have one student of the pair watch and count the breaths of the other student. This is a simple activity that is great for young students, but you can also extend the activity and have the students graph their total number of breaths that they take for a specified time. Use a timer to call out a certain amount of time for the students to count each other’s breaths.
Yoga & Movement
Another fun activity is to provide your students with yoga cards that display a pose along with a math sentence resulting in a number that represents the amount of time to hold that pose. Instruct your students to count the time as they hold the pose. In addition, this can be adapted for all skill levels. For young students, use a group activity for all to practice their yoga poses and have students practice their counting.
To sum up, I hope these activities will bring a little “sunshine” and fun into your classroom. 😊 Comment below and let me know which activity you have tried and if you have a new one to add.
Talk to you next week!
Jess @ Savvy Apple
If you haven’t already, sign up for my free workbook for tips and strategies to help you create your own digital math resources. You’ll have an actionable plan for your very own digital resource! And, as always, I’m here to help you on your journey to creating digital math resources!
Click here to download it for free!