Tens Frame Games

I love using games in the classroom especially to help teach math.

You set up the 'game' you teach the rules and then you let them go for it.  They race, they compete and they try and beat each other, and they have fun.

But what they often don't realize is they are learning, and the learning is really getting in.

I mean, it ticks all the boxes, its doing, seeing, and hearing.

So for me it's a win win.  Engaged happy students who are having fun while they are learning and best of all want to play the games again and again (even outside of math lessons).

With my tens frame games, the set up is easy.  Each student gets a tens frame, ten counters, a recording sheet and a means of spinning a spinner (this can be done via a pencil and paper clip or brad or by attaching a spinner.

You start with 5 monkeys on the tens frame.

Spin the spinner and see what it lands on.  You then follow the instructions e.g minus 3, so you remove 3 monkeys from your tens frame and write the equation on the recording sheet.

The answer then becomes your starting point for your next equation

So you keep spinning and adding and subtracting the monkeys until you reach ten monkey's in your tens frame.

The game can be played without the tens frame and monkeys but it does help your students see the equation and help them answer the equations.

Best part is it can be played by yourself as practice or in pairs as a race to see who can fill their frame the fastest.


If you would like to check out my tens frame games I have a few listed in my TPT store just click HERE where you can find this a more tens and twenty frame games for your classroom.

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Teaching the Family of Facts

I thought I had this concept down pat, thought I knew how to teach it...

Wrong!

Well to be fair I did not do too bad, I really had them hooked in the concept.  But I'm jumping ahead of myself lets step back a little.

I was able to pick up four days work in the one class (teachers husband had taken sick and had been flown to hospital) but there was no planning what so ever as the teacher had her planning home but had not yet gotten around to it....

So I had four days of teaching a class of 6 year olds with no knowledge of where they were at what levels they were operating at or anything.

I was so excited :), it felt like I was actually going to be a teacher.

So day one I went in armed with heaps of stuff, several maths options and spent the first half hour before the day started going through everything I could find to let me in on just what they were doing.

Reading and writing no problems, knew the age group, knew what I could do (sort of).

Maths I decided on family of facts.

I knew no matter what the level it should work and those at the lower level I would give them additional support.

I introduced the concept, I started with 5, we went through all the ways of making 5 - they did good here including the reversing the addends ( 3+2 and 2+3)

I told them I was going to show them a maths magic trick.... but first I sent them off to go and grab 7 objects (their choosing) they were quite quick and this - they wanted to know the trick.

We worked together with 3 + 4 with everyone showing me with their items.  I loved watching the ones in the lower group get the answer and get it quick and their face light up with delight at getting it.   When I introduced the magic of how we know that 3 + 4 = 7 then we know that 7 - 3 = 4.

They were amazed
They could not believe it
They had to do it themselves
We had to repeat it again and again with different numbers
They were hooked!!!!!

I was able to do this for the week with different numbers,  those who needed extra help sat together (it was a mix of levels) and they had objects to count so they could physically see what we were doing.  They were getting it.  They were rocking it.   They were so impressed with themselves.  I patted myself on the back for good teaching

On day four we were going to do a craft to show our understanding.  I gave each child their own equation to work through (without my help) based on what I had observed through the week, I knew this would help form an assessment of their understanding.

They didn't get it, they were not rocking it,  I was not impressed with myself!

The advantage of subbing you get time to reflect on your teaching, analyze what you did great and what not so great.  What I realized is although I called it the family of facts I never showed them the numbers as a family.

I felt like such a twit, I have even made a pack with all the family of facts up to 20 (although I haven't printed it as yet) and with every card the family of facts is grouped together and the kiddo's are meant to work them into an equation.  Did I introduce it that way to the class - nope.  Will I remember in the future - sure will.  Made the point this school holidays to write up a quick lesson plan so I know what to do in the future - although I doubt I will forget again.

I just need to chalk it up to my inexperience and finding my feet.  While they did not learn it as well as they should they were well on their way and if I had had a few more days we would have gotten there.  But then again that's the role of a teacher, while we teach we learn and as we learn we teach and I have certainly learnt.  I just wish I could go back and start again - if only

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Creating my first resource - maths fact familes

One of the biggest things I have learnt about myself as a teacher over the last three years while studying, is that I have a real passion for teaching maths.

Our school system in New Zealand means you need to be a good all round teacher as we teach all subjects until students are 12 years old.  So while I love literacy and reading and making reading enjoyable for students, for me Maths is where it is at.

I love finding ways that will help students understand and make sense of a concept for themselves so it goes beyond being able to do it to understanding what they are doing and why.

The blogging world and Pinterest has been an amazing source of inspiration and learning, and sometimes I feel like I learn more from them than I have from my lecturers at being able to engage and assist students in their learning journey.

One of the things that has inspired me is the resources that other teachers have created to use within their classrooms (many of which are on my wish list for when I finally have my own classroom) and the fact they put their hard work out their for others to use.

It has lead to me starting to create my own resources.  I already have a list a mile long but have only managed to create one - Fact Families up to 20.   Using clip art from the wonderful MelonHeadz as my base I created 42 slides worth of facts with a cute little girl from Educlips and fonts from KG Fonts.

What surprised me was the amount of work involved to make them and include all the facts from 2 to 20.  This only made me appreciate even more the hard work the wonderful people on TPT have done!!

They are non themed so that it does not matter when I get to teach them with my relieving work.

I wanted to make this first as a lot of the relieving work that I am getting is in the junior classrooms and you can never practice these facts enough.  Helping them understand the multiple ways you can make a number and the commutative property of how if 2 + 3 = 5 then 3 + 2 = 5 and then to switch it around to know the subtraction properties is big in developing their foundation for all their future learning.  It is also one that I keep finding again and again that students do not know as quick knowledge, so I also want to build on this with more stuff for my tool box.

Of course now it requires the expense of printing them and laminating so they can be used again and again.

It makes me silly happy to have been able to do this, even though they are only for me :) as I can not see anyone else being interested in them.

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