Math Activity to Teach Counting On: Piggy Bank Wars

Math Game: Piggy Bank Wars

Strand: Number Sense and Numeration, Addition
Math Strategy: Counting On

Video French:

Video English: 

Materials: 
• 1 deck of cards with 10, J, Q and K removed
• counters
• 2 cups
• 2 players

Overview: 
In this twist on the classic War game, students work to find the difference in value between the two cards that are drawn. They are deepening their understanding of the part whole relationship and developing the counting on strategy, as they count on of from the lower card until they reach the value of the higher card. Students use counters to represent the difference.
How this Supports Student Learning: 
Students are able to practice the counting on strategy in this game. Through this activity they construct their understanding of part whole relationships as they recognize the higher value card being the “whole”, the lower card being one “part” and the difference being another “part”. This game supports students in moving from counting all, or counting backwards into counting on.

Reflection & Consolidation
Which questions might you ask students to help connect their learning and consolidate their understanding?

Where to next?
For students that require more practice to master the counting on strategy activities like Salute, Riddles with Tiles and Dots and Number Dice provide excellent opportunities to strengthen this strategy. Once the student has mastered this strategy they are ready to begin playing games that promote the use of the 5 and 10 anchor, like Go Fish to Ten, Steal the Bundle and Make 10 Concentration.

Math Activity to Teach Skip Counting: Circles and Stars

Math Game:  Circles and Stars

Math Strand:  Number Sense and Numeration
Math Strategy:  Skip Counting

English video:

Video french:



Materials:  One die, whiteboard and whiteboard marker
                  (Extension: colour tiles)

Overview:
This game is very engaging for students and helps to prepare students to move from using repeated addition to using grouping of numbers when modeling arrays when solving multiplication problems. After completing this lesson you would then begin a lesson using arrays for equal groups.

On each turn, students roll a 1–6 number cube to find out how many circles to draw and then roll the cube again to find out how many stars to draw in each circle. For example, for a first roll of 4 and a second roll of 3, the student would draw this:

How this activity supports student learning?
Playing Circles and Stars helps students understand that multiplication
can be thought of as combining equal groups and is, therefore, related to addition when the same number is added multiple times. From playing, students become familiar with multiplying numbers from 1X1 to 6X6.
As an extension, you could use try using an 8 sided die.

After students know how to play the game, they learn to represent each
of their turns with addition and multiplication equations. This helps them connect the standard symbols to their experience and also strengthens the connection between addition and multiplication.

Where to next?
In the Alex Lawson text, What To Look For there are several other games that can be played to support unitizing, such as:
- How Long? How Many?, which uses Cuisenaire rods
- Skip Counting Race
- Target 75
- Multiplication Challenge

These can all be found on page 185-189.


Share your classroom experiences with us on Instagram and Twitter at @LKelempro #EngageLK!

Math Activity to Teach Using Familiar Facts: Quiz Quiz Trade

Math Game: Quiz Quiz Trade

Strand: Number Sense Numeration multiplication
Math Strategy: Using Familiar Facts

Materials: variety of Arrays cards, corresponding multiplication fact cards

Overview:
During this activity, each student has a different card. Each card shows a different array on one side and the corresponding multiplication fact on the back. Student will ‘mill about the room’ finding another student to Quiz, by showing them their array picture and having the opponent say the multiplication fact on the back. Then the other student will Quiz (show) his/her array and have their opponent say the multiplication fact. Before finding another opponent, the two students trade their cards and move on.  The activity ends when students have had a chance to subitizing a few different arrays and time is up.

How this supports students learning: 
This activity supports students developing a conceptual understanding of math facts by giving them the opportunity to represent multiplication facts pictorially. Using models,  students can use various objects and materials that will help them make sense of operations such as array formations.

“Arrays are powerful models for representing multiplication, division, and area. Many objects in real life can be arranged in arrays, and such arrays provide visual, concrete contexts for multiplication and division. The construction and understanding of an array as a model is an important concept for students to develop over time and with experience.” (GEIM., vol.5 pg. 35)


Where to next: once students have mastered arrays, they will be able to break multi-digit factors into smaller parts for easier solutions such as; 14 x 9 = 4 x 9 + 10 x 9. The student can further their understanding of breaking arrays into smaller factors by using base ten blocks to represent larger numbers and breaking them into smaller factors.

Math Activity to Teach Up and Over 10: Making 10 & Keep the Change

Math Game: Making 10 & Keep the Change 

Strand: Number Sense & Numeration
Strategy: Up Over 10



Adapted from the updated e-text by Alex Lawson, ‘What to Look For’

Materials:

• A deck of cards (Only use the 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9s) 
• Counters 

Overview:
The goal is to be the player with the most ‘change’ at the end of the game. With 2 or more players, split a deck of cards made up of the numbers 5-9. On each players turn, the player flips over 2 cards. They keep one number whole and decompose the other to make a ten with the number that was kept whole. The remaining amount is ‘change’. The change is the player’s points for that round. Students then take counters for that amount. This helps the students keep track of their score.



How This Supports Student Learning:
This game will help solidify the Anchors of 10 and the Up Over 10 strategies. By decomposing one number to create a ten students’ will increase their flexibility with numbers and strengthen their understanding of the part-whole relationship between numbers. As well, the Up Over 10 strategy is a precursor to grasping ‘carrying’ that happens in the standard algorithm for addition.



Where to Next:
When students are ready to extend this strategy, make the values of the cards drawn worth ten times the amount, as seen in the video. This will help them use the strategy with bigger numbers.



If your students are grasping the Up Over 10 strategy, encourage them to transfer the skill to Up Over other decade numbers. For example,

27 + 8

=27 + 3 + 5

= 30 + 5

= 35



Want a home extension?
Send this link home with students and ask them to play Break Apart!

https://gregtangmath.com/games

More on Land Acknowledgements

A territorial or land acknowledgment is an act of reconciliation that involves making a statement recognizing the traditional territory of the Indigenous people who called the land home before the arrival of settlers, and in many cases, still, do call it home.

Over the past few months, many conversations have arisen on social media and in the news around the land acknowledgments that are given in schools and other public places. How can we make sure that the acknowledgments are a meaningful practice rather than just a token gesture?

I see the land acknowledgment as a recurring opportunity to learn. As teachers, we can act on this learning opportunity and help to fulfill education’s responsibilities outlined in the TRC calls to action. You can read all 94 calls to action HERE.

I always encourage teachers to use the land acknowledgment that is recited each day in our schools as a learning tool or a conversation starter. Students and teachers and the rest of the school community should understand why we say them.

If you’re wondering why we say Land Acknowledgements in our schools please refer back to my blog post from November. You can find it here: Why the Land Acknowledgement is Important


Where to next?

Jen Gilpin, a teacher at PE McGibbon has created land acknowledgement videos that include the treaty area where her school is located. She has made sure to include visuals that are relevant and meaningful to the land and the people of Treaty 29 (Also known as the Huron Tract). These videos are played daily as part of PE McGibbon’s announcements, prior to signing O Canada. They can spark conversations in Social Studies around mapping, treaties and the history of the areas in which we live. Please feel free to use these videos in your classroom or your school.

Sarnia Area and North Lambton Area schools are within the Treaty 29 area. I am inviting teachers and their classes to create their own videos for the treaty area in which their school is found. Please share these videos with me (gretchen.sands-gamble@lkdsb.com) or tag me on Twitter @msgambleLKDSB) so I can share them with other teachers who may be interested in using them!

You may be asking, “In which treaty area can my school be found?” I’m glad you asked!

Teachers can use the map at https://native-land.ca/ to find out more about the area in which their school is located.

You can also use this interactive map in your classroom! Show your students the map found at https://native-land.ca/ You can change what is displayed by choosing language, territories, and treaties. Show them where their school is located. Ask your students what they notice about where the lines are drawn on the map.



(from https://native-land.ca/)

CBC Unreserved recently aired a podcast called “Redrawing the Lines” You can find the episode here: CBC Unreserved: Redrawing the Lines

This is a great episode that talks about land, land acknowledgments and maps.

Sharing podcasts created by Indigenous people is a great way to share Indigenous perspectives with your students.

I highly recommend Unreserved as a podcast for deepening your own (teacher) understanding of many issues that are important to Indigenous people. With each episode, some really great stories are shared and the conversations often provide views from multiple perspectives along with an opportunity to learn. In fact, there is a recent episode all about integrating Indigenous content into classrooms. It can be found here: CBC Unreserved Indigenous Education Episode

It is important for all students and teachers to understand that hundreds of years before today, the land looked very different. The places we call our schools, our homes, our recreation areas, our business/economic areas, and our natural resource areas have been impacted by treaties.

School communities should understand that the treaties with the Indigenous people who called this land their traditional territory have allowed the landscape and who inhabits this land to change drastically. This might be a conversation that is difficult or messy, but it is a conversation that needs to be had in order for our students to truly understand Canada and its history.

Resource Review: Turtle's Race with Beaver by Joseph and James Bruchac

Turtle's Race with Beaver by Joseph and James Bruchac

In this video, Sydney reviews Turtle’s Race with Beaver by Joseph Bruchac, of the Abenaki Nation. He wrote this story along with his son, James. Joseph has written many excellent books for children and young adults.

This story is one you may have heard other places as it is, according to Joseph, a traditional Iroquois story, but many other Nations also tell it. This is a story of a smaller and weaker (but very wise) animal winning a race, much like in The Tortoise and the Hare.

When reading this story it is easy to make lots of connections. This book has a great connection to treaties and can be used as a conversation starter to include treaty education in your classroom. After Beaver leaves the pond because he has lost the race he comes upon another pond with a turtle living in it. I am left with many questions about this relationship. Why did this relationship between a beaver and a turtle work, when the other didn’t? Did Beaver and this new turtle agree upon a treaty? What were the responsibilities and agreements present in this treaty? Is there a story beyond this book? I think there probably is.


Where to next?
Your students could work on writing a treaty between Beaver and the new turtle. What do these characters need to do to uphold this treaty so they can live happily together in the pond?

What agreements do you have in your classroom? How do you know if these agreements are working? What can you do as a classroom to represent these agreements and hold each other accountable?

Check out Joseph Bruchac’s website for more resources to use in your classroom.

http://josephbruchac.com/

Transitioning Your Library To A Learning Commons: The Physical Space

Transitioning Your Library To A Learning Commons: The Physical Space 

What is a Learning Commons and how is it different from a library?
The school library is not a separate entity to a Learning Commons, rather it is embedded within. The school library has always existed as a space that brings students together to access information and provide networking opportunities.

Why is the transition to a Learning Commons important?
The emergence of the Learning Commons model has evolved out of the need to provide our students with the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century. Our world continues to change and evolve with information and technology, and this means that the way we educate and prepare our students for the future must change as well.

While we could be confident in naming certain careers that will still be around in the future, imagine for a minute what careers are still unknown. This leaves the question, ‘How do we prepare our students for the unknown?’ What remains constant in the research, is that transferable skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, innovation and decision-making are skills that are more critical than ever.

The Learning Commons then exists as a hub for our students, teaching them how to learn by integrating all curricular-areas and providing opportunities that permeate far beyond its walls. LLC (Library Learning Commons) teachers create relationships with students, classroom teachers, community members and experts, all working together to create authentic opportunities for students to be active participants in their leaning.


Where do I start?
It all starts with a vision. If our goal is to help students become effective collaborators, critical thinkers, problem-solvers, innovators and decision-makers then we need a physical space that promotes this learning and a means to make it happen.

How do I transform my space?
Transforming your space does not need to involve unlimited funds from your school budget. Each school’s budget is unique, and this may mean an investment can be made for restructuring, furniture, shelving, etc. However, if this is not the case, we must work within our means to create change with what we have.

Your Learning Commons space should be inviting, open, flexible, safe, inclusive and promote inquiry and collaboration.

In consultation with your school administrator:

1. De-clutter! Scan your space for unused or bulky furniture, and eliminate it. You will be surprised at just how much this one change can make. If it has been a number of years since weeding your book collection, this will also help to free up space on your shelves or even eliminate one.
2. Get Creative with your design and/or Seek Student Input for the Re-Design of your Learning Commons. Students love to be included, and feeling ownership over their learning space could be very empowering.
3. Organize your furniture to promote active, participatory learning. Classroom carpets can be used to define spaces and are easy to move. Table heights could be adjusted to accommodate your youngest learners all the way to your oldest learners. Open spaces on the floor are important for S.T.E.A.M., Coding and Building activities.
4. Incorporate flexible seating into your LLC. Flexible seating is inclusive, relaxing, comfortable and promotes talk. These seating options seem endless, ranging from mini floor carpets, a large utility ball in a crate and beanbag chairs to wobble chairs, nesting chairs or couches.
5. Update the visual appeal of your library. Remove any posters, displays or objects that are no longer current. Replace these with engaging book displays (e.g. ‘Let’s Celebrate Black History Month’) and bulletin boards or walls could have terminology reflective of skills or learning experiences (e.g. Create, Collaborate, Inquiry, Innovation, Explore, Question, Problem-solve, S.T.E.A.M., Maker Space, Coding, etc.)
6. Know what is in your cupboards. Purge materials that have not been used in years to make room for new materials such as: Technology (e.g. Dash & Dots, Sphero, OSMO, Ozobots, etc.) Maker Space Bins or S.T.E.M. Bins. 

Starting from the beginning can be a daunting task among your other teaching responsibilities. Make the most of your release time and remember that you are not alone. You have a Learning Commons Coach that is ready to support you! @NicoleHooperLCC


Where to next?
If you are looking for more information to help you transform your space to a Learning Commons, please follow the links below.




Together For Learning: School Libraries and the Emergence of the Learning Commons
Twitter @T4LOntario




Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada
Twitter @CSL_Learning


Check back for our next Learning Commons Blog.


Share your journey with us as you transition your Library to a Learning Commons on Instagram and Twitter @LKelempro #EngageLK