Supplementary Homework in Maths

Here are a dozen links to Maths Activities

that you might like to try:

 

Many of these games were sourced from 

Maths Primary National Strategy – Maths Activities

This is easy; practising ‘counting on’ with 

Online ‘Snakes and Ladders’

Snakes and Ladders
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: John Johnston via Compfight

As an alternative to the

Balloon Popping Game to practice tables,

you can practice addition tables on Circus Climber

 

This activity teaches about Data

 

These are more challenging:

Practising computation with

Swimming Lengths

Long Jump

 

Measurement;

Reading measure with Javelin Throwing

 

Measuring angles;

estimating or using an online protractor with Sailing

 

Practicing Addition using ‘Who Wants To Be A Mathionaire?’

 

This is a more challenging game;

 ‘Who Wants to Be A Mathonaire?’

Mastermind
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Steve Berry via Compfight

Like the game Mastermind this is an online game

called Code Breaker

Here is another version from Creativity Games.net

1000 Question Challenge: Level 3

Have you completed Level Two

Are you ready for the challenge of Level Three?

1. What would happen if there was no TV? Why would this be good? bad?

2. What would happen if everyone lived in space? What type of houses would they live in?

What type of clothing would they wear?

What type of food would they eat?

How would they travel?

3. What if cows gave orange juice instead of milk?

4. What if all the streets were rivers? What would be different?

5. What would happen if people never co-operated?

Why do you think it is important to co-operate?

6. What would happen if it really did rain cats and dogs?

7. What would happen if animals could talk?

8. What are some of the questions you would like to ask animals?

9. What would happen if you could become invisible whenever you wanted to?

10. What are some of the things you could do that you cannot do now?

11. What would happen if everyone wore the same clothes?

12. What would happen if you threw litter? What if everyone did?

13. What if you could walk up walls and across ceilings?

14. How do you feel on a warm sunny day?

15. What would happen if you grew taller than trees? How would this change your life?

16. What would happen if children ruled the world?

17. What would happen if there were no transport;

no cars, buses, trains, boats, or planes?

18. What if everyone lived under water? Where would people live?

What games would children play? What would school be like?

19. What would happen if you found treasure in your back yard?

20.What would happen if you found a bean stalk in your garden?

21. What is a bully?

22. What would you do if a bully bothered you on your way home?

23. When do you feel proud?

24. What would you do if a friend borrows things from you but never returns them?

25. What would you do if you were the teacher and everyone forgot his homework?

26. What would you do if you were in the middle of the lake and your boat began to leak?

27. What would you do if your friend had a broken leg? How would you cheer him up?

28. What would you do if you saw little bugs in your salad?

29. What would you do if you woke up in another country and no one could understand you?

30. What would you do if you ordered an ice cream cone and you forgot to bring money?

31. What would you do if someone got in front of you when you were waiting

to be served in a shop?

32. What would you do if your jam  sandwich fell upside down on the floor?

33. What would you do if only one biscuit is left

and neither you nor your friend have had one?

34. What would you do if two of your best friends

went to the cinema without inviting you?

35. What would you do if the surprise party was for you but you knew already

and so you weren’t surprised?

36. What would you do if you got a present you didn’t like?

37. What would you do if you were at home and your homework was at school?

38. What would you do if you dropped a glass and it broke?

39. What would you do if you were invited to two parties on the same day?

40. What would you do if you promised to feed your pet and you forgot?

41. What would you do if someone said you did something wrong and you didn’t?

42. What would you do if your new shoes felt fine in the shop but now they are hurting?

43. What would you do if someone told you a joke that you don’t think is funny?

44. When you have a problem who do you talk to? Why?

45. 

46. What would you do if Teacher marked six sums wrong that were right?

47. What would you do if you found fifty euro in the street?

48. What would you do if you found a magic wand?

49. What would you say if your friend told you that he or she had magic powers?

50. What would you do if you wanted to be friends with someone

who didn’t speak the same language as you?

51. What would you say if someone told you it was all right to steal from a shop?

52. Where do you think we should go on our school tour this year? Why?

53. If you could have been someone in history, who would you have been?

54. If you could only take 3 people with you on a trip around the world,

who would you take and why?

55. If you could give any gift in the world, what would you give and to whom?

56. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

57. If you received money as a present, what would you do with it?

58. If you could do whatever you wanted to right now, what would you do?

59. If you were principal of this school, what would you do?

60. If you were a mouse in your house in the evening,

what would you see your family doing?

61. If you were five years older you what would you do?

62. If you were lost in the woods and it got dark, what would you do?

63. If it were your job to decide what shows can be on TV, how would you choose?

64. If there were no rules, what do you think would happen?

65. If you owned a shop, what would you do to discourage people from stealing from you?

66. If you could be in the Olympics, which event would you choose and why?

67. If you could break the Guinness Book of Records it would be for?

68. If you had to describe yourself as a colour, which would you choose?

69. If your friend told you of a secret plan to run away from home,

what would you do and why?

70. What do you think of 3D movies?

71. What do you think someone your age can do to help

reduce the amount of pollution in our environment?

72. What do you think the world needs now?

73. Should you have to do chores around the house? Why or why not?

74. What do you think about people polluting the environment?

75. What do you think about having set rules and laws for people to follow?

What would happen without them?

76. What do you think about people who are unkind to others?

77. What do you think the world will be like when you are a grown up?

78. What do you think about when you can’t fall asleep?

79. What do you think courage means? Look it up in the dictionary if you are not sure.

80. What do you think makes a good friend?

81. What do you think makes a happy family?

82. What things do you think are beautiful?

83.What do you think about students having to wear school uniforms?

84.What is something you do well?

85. What is your favourite room in your home and why?

86. What is a good neighbour?

87. What is your favourite time of day?

88. What is your idea of a dull evening?

89. What is your favourite song and why?

90. What is the best birthday present you ever received?

91. What is your favourite book and why?

92. What annoys you?

93. When something annoys you what do you do to calm down.

94. What is the best advice you ever received?

95. What is your favourite holiday? What makes this holiday special?

96. What is your favourite day of the week?

97. What is your favourite month? Why?

98. How do you feel when it’s your birthday? Why?

99. How do you feel on the first day of winter? Why?

100. How do you feel when you do something that is very good?

face-grin
Photo Credit: Jakub Steiner via Compfight

1000 Question Challenge: Level Two

This is Level Two of the 1,000 Question Mega Challenge:

 

Have you completed Level One. You will find it here.

Write about:

1…. one of the five senses (taste, smell, touch, taste, hearing)

2…. your house

3…. the best kind of pet

4… why you are proud of your school?

5… favorite things about your school

6… your favorite animal

7… something you did over the weekend

8… your favourite memory

9… your favourite book

10… your favourite movie

11… a visit to the doctor or dentist

12… why you like skateboarding, skiing, bicycling, etc…

13… places to go in Greystones

14… things to do when you’re sick to pass the time

15… your grandmother or grandfather

16… your favorite toy, or video game

17. In school I do my best when …

18. If I were a teacher I would …

19. I don’t like to eat …

20. If I were five years older I would …

21. If I had a million dollar I would …

22. I get angry when …

23. On Saturdays I like to …

24. My family likes to …

25. I love to eat …

26. Something I do well is …

27. At school I like to …

28. I feel silly when …

29. If I could be invisible I would …

30. An important person to me is …

31. When I become a parent I …

32. I once got hurt when …

33. I’d like to solve the problem of …

34. I don’t like it when …

35. I love to give …

36. I like going home because …

37. If I were very small I would …

38. I get attention by …

39. I would hate to lose …

40. As a friend, I can be counted on to …

41. Once somebody helped me by …

42. I wish people would stop …

43. I look best when …

44. People hurt my feelings when …

45. I need to improve in …

46. A good friend is someone who …

47. If I were a giant I would …

48. School would be better if …

49. I would like a great big …

50. If I had a magic ring …

51. An important thing in my life is …

52. Something my parents like about me is …

53. I wish I could …

54. Something I like about adults is …

55. When I want attention from my parents, I …

56. When I want attention from my teacher, I …

57. I would be happier if …

58. One of the best things about me is …

59. I like to play …

60. My best holiday ever was …

61. Families are important because …

62. The best thing about my family is ..

63. Some of the rules of my family are …

64. With my best friend I like to …

65. One of the happiest things that ever happened to me was …

66. Something I could teach to someone else is …

67. If I could break the Guiness Book of Records it would be for …

68. What is something about yourself that you are proud of?

69. What is something that your parents say they love about you?

70. What famous person would you like to meet and why?

71. If you could be any animal, what one would you be and why?

72. Write about your favorite pet–one you have now or have had in the past.

(If you have never had a pet, write about one you would like to have.)

73. What are the good things and not so good things about where you live?

74. Write about the bravest thing you have ever done.

75. List the things you worry about.

76. If you could be a super hero, what powers would you give yourself?

77. Would you rather be a dog or a cat? Why

78. If you could be a superstar in any sport, what sport would you choose?

79. Who or what makes you laugh? Why?

80. Imagine that you drank a magic potion and then started to grow smaller and smaller.

Finally you were no larger than a fly. What would you do?

81. Imagine that all the television stations stopped broadcasting and the internet went

down for one week.

What would you do instead?

82. What is special about you?

83. Who is a hero of yours? Explain why you think this person is wonderful.

84. Write something nice someone said to you. How did that make you feel.

85. If you could be someone else, who would that person be.

86. Invent the best dessert in the whole world.

87. What would you do if you woke up at night to find your room was filled with smoke?

88. If I could change places with my parents for one day, I would …

89. The best day I ever spent was …

90. One thing that really makes me angry is …

91. If I had three wishes I would wish for …

92. If I had things my way I would …

93. What is the best present you ever received (or gave) and why?

94. If you could decorate your room any way possible, what would you do?

95. Who would you like to ‘hang out with’ for a day and why?

96. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

97. Tell a story about one of your parents as a child.

98. If you could choose your name, what would you be called?

99. Name one sport you would like to be really good at and why.

100. What would happen if you could fly whenever you wanted?

When would you use this ability?

 

Congratulations. This is the end of Level Two

Level Three is here.

 

Smiley Face
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Ashwan Lewis via Compfight

 

The 1000 Question Challenge – The First 100 Prompts

The 1,000 Question Mega Challenge

Read the question.

Then write an answer

using the question as part of the answer

as you have been shown in school.

Use a page of your copybook for each question.

Draw a smiley face 🙂 if you really enjoyed

answering a particular question.

For example:

Question: What is your favourite animal?

Answer: My favourite animal is the dog.

I love dogs because they are good friends to people.

They are loyal and faithful.

Do not just answer ….. ‘Dog’

 

Draw a sad face 🙁 if you thought

the question wasn’t a very interesting one.

 

Colour in a square of the hundred square provided

each time you answer a question.

When you have 100 questions answered

you can move on to the next level.

Level One.

1. What did you do during the holidays?

2. What is your favourite animal?

3. What do you wish for?

4. Tell me about your family?

5. What do you like to do on the weekend?

Write about…

6. Your favourite toy

7. Something you have made

8. Your favourite computer game

9. What you want to be when you grow up

10. Your favourite sport

11. If you had super powers…..

12. Your favourite and least liked food

13. The best present you have ever received

14. The scariest thing that ever happened to you

15. The strangest dream you ever had

16. Your favourite subject at school

17. Your favourite movie

18. Your favourite television show

19. If you could wish for 3 things what would they be?

20. If you were an animal, what would you be?

21. What was the best book that you ever read?

22. What you would do if you could change the world?

23. If you were the leader of the government what would you do?

24. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

25. Name some things that you do very well

26. Who is your favourite singer?

27. What is your favourite song?

28. What is the best thing about school?

29. What is the best thing about holidays?

30. What do you know a lot about?

Now write about

31. How you help around the house

32. Games you play with your friends

33. A joke that makes everybody laugh

34. A “knock, knock” joke

35. Something you don’t understand

36. Games you like to play

37. Your best birthday ever

38. Your favorite family story

39. Some amazing facts you know

40. Book characters you’d like to meet

41. A place you’d like to visit

42. A song that means a lot to you

43. What if you were the teacher?

44. What this school really needs . . .

45. If you were principal for the day what would you do?

46. An unforgettable dream

47. The most fun you’ve had recently

48. If you could be someone else, who would you be?

49. The hardest thing you’ve ever done

50. A trip on a rocket ship

You are half way to your first 100. Well done.

51. Things that are not a good idea !

52. A day in the rain forest

53. Buying something with your own money

54. A kind thing some one said to you

55. The last time you laughed

56. The funniest zoo animal

57. Your favourite board game

58. If you could fly

59. What invention would you like to see in your lifetime?

60. What if there was no electricity?

61. Something you wish would happen

62. Some things you like about the museum

63. A trip in a submarine

64. A special photograph

65. A cartoon character you like

66. Your favorite clothes

67. What machine would you like to invent

68. The worst food you ever ate

69. A time in history you would have liked to live in.

70. What different colors mean to you

What if …

71…. there were no colors except white?

72… children were the parents?

73… we had no pencils?

74… there were no clocks?

75… we had no guards?

76… we went to school at night?

77… there were only children in the world?

78… there were no school at all?

79… it never stopped raining?

80… we had no cars?

81… insects were as big as people?

82… there were no books?

83… our parents never said ‘no’?

84… there were no music?

85… we were never hungry?

86… we all looked the same?

87 … we didn’t have holidays?

88 … smiling was against the law?

89 … every wish came true?

90 … the world was flat?

91 … we never recycled anything?

92… people could fly?

93… there was no gravity?

94… no one had manners?

95… there were no teachers?

96… our shadows were alive?

97… there were no wars?

98… we used cookies instead of money?

99… trees grew candy?

100… we never slept?

Well done. You have completed Level One!

Level Two is here.!

 

Having said that, since I wrote this post

I have found an even better resource: Thinking Cards:

a free resource from TES.

You can find them on page 4 of this excellent website:

www.freewebs.com/laset/

Cool emoticon
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: wstera2 via Compfight

Some online educational language games & activities that 2nd Class, Room 6 enjoy.

I ch-ch-choose you
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Michael Verhoef via Compfight

This game became a class favourite:

Brian P Cleary’s ‘Word Train’

Try it and see how high a score you can get.

 

And here are some more:

Words

Quiz

Noun Quiz

Plurals

Nouns and Verbs Icecream game

Identifying parts of speech

 

This is a clever vocabulary exercise that

adjusts itself to the student’s ability:

 

Vocabulary Multiple Choice

 

These are story writing activities.

The first one is a bit of a novelty

but ‘Story Maker’ is a very good site indeed.

Write A Crazy Story

Story Maker

Online Games to practice Addition,Subtraction & Clock Time for 1st/2nd Class

We have been using these games to practice our maths in class

 

1. Great Subtraction Practice

Try The Subtraction Wall

We are really enjoying this one.

 

2. Another game to practice subtraction.

Key in the correct security code

by completing a number of take away sums

and as a reward the student gets to design a superhero.

Super Hero Costume Game

This game certainly has its fans in 2nd Class Room 6.

 

3. Challenge: Football Themed Two Digit Addition

Looks like fun

Our football fans enjoy this one.

4. This one is a new addition.

Watch out because it gets quicker

and quicker as you go up the levels.

Maths Barge Game from Ohio Distinctive.com

5. Clock time game

Have fun with clock time

 

6. Another game to revise clock time

Telling the time

 

7. Lots more maths games from BBC

Lots more maths games

Try one!

They’re fun!

Acknowledging the help of this great accumulation of websites on Ms. Horst’s Class Blog

Ms.Horst’s Class Website

To know another teacher has found a website useful

is very helpful when sourcing

age appropriate educational websites.

My child is not getting enough homework. What should I do?

Those of you with older children know

how the amount of homework

will build up over their years at school,

but if you feel your child

needs more of a challenge, 

here are some suggestions:

1. If you haven’t already, join the local library

and visit it weekly.

2. On this blog click on the link for ‘Educational Websites’

at the top of the page.

3. Try games such as scrabble, draughts, chess,

Monopoly and card games

4. Perhaps start an ‘extra work’ copybook.

I would be very interested any extra work done

and if your child brings these in will correct them.  

In this copy you could try some of the following:

5. Write a book review or a film review.

What was it? What happened in it?

Was it enjoyable?

What mark would you give it out of 10? Why?

6. Make a bookmark for your favourite book

or the most recent book that you have read.

7. Make a card or write a letter

to a family member or friend.

8. Beginning with the letter ‘A”

list in alphabetical order

as many names you can think of.

(Other lists can include: places, animals, foods, sports,

past times, jobs people have, things you would find in school,

in the kitchen etc.)

9. Write a story or poem.

10. Compose tune. Write the words to this song.

11. Write down all the things you are good at.

12. Describe how to play your favourite sport.

13. Write down 5 facts about something that interests you.

14. Listen to some music and draw what you see.

15. List as many adjectives or describing words that

you can think of to describe yourself

16. Describe yourself for an alien.

17. Who is the person you would most like to meet?

What would you like to ask this person?

18. Design a useful invention.

19. Draw yourself as a cartoon character.

20. Make up to quiz questions you know the answer to

and write them down.

Bring them into school and we will have a quiz.

21. List all the verbs (doing/action activities) you will do today.

22. Paint how you are feeling using colours.

23. What would you do with 3 wishes?

24. Invent your own super hero. Describe and illustrate.

If none of these appeal to you,

read or

read or ….

then again

…. read  🙂

 

Future bookworm
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: talkingplant via Compfight

Finally; some food for thought:

The following link tells the story of a school

that abolished homework and had the children read instead!

The School That Abolished Homework … and asked children TO READ instead.

It would seem to have had a positive effect.

Rainy Day pastimes

Save it for a rainy day.
Save it for a rainy day by Neal on Flickr

I am going to make a collection of websites

that you might find passes the time on a rainy day.

 

Every year I ask the children in my class,

if you were an animal what animal would you be,

and why ?

We draw a picture of ourselves as that animal.

This results in some interesting self portraits.

Online I found an art activity where you can do something similar:

Draw a self portrait

and then make it even more original

by adding animal ears and tail etc.

Build Your Wild Self

 

I am reposting the following link

from earlier this year.

It contains many creative online art activities:

Online interactive art activities

 

Try this one.

I think you will like it.

Draw a Stickman: An Animation Adventure

 

Here is another one:

Scribbler for beautiful pictures

 

As well as art there are websites where you can create your own music.

I like this one:

Have fun making music with inudge.net”

Just use your mouse to click in the small squares

and see what happens.

 

If you enjoy Word Games you will enjoy this site:

Word Games from School Time Games

 

If you like playing with Lego,

you may like playing this:

Lego games online

 

There are other activities on the following link

which the children in my class have found entertaining,

so I am posting the link here:

Somethings that are fun to do!

If you are looking for more,

look on the right hand side of this page

and click on the words

‘Educational Websites’.

 

Scroll down the page 

to find many more excellent websites

or

put the keywords ‘Educational Websites’

into the search box.

What a summer! All that rain!

Here comes the rain again
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: World of Oddy via Compfight

It rained and rained and rained and rained,
The average was well maintained;
And when our fields were simply bogs,
It started raining cats and dogs.

After a drought of half an hour,
There came a most refreshing shower;
And then the queerest thing of all,
A gentle rain began to fall.

Next day ’twas pretty fairly dry,
Save for a deluge from the sky.
This wetted people to the skin,
But after that the rain set in.

Anonymous

Looking forward to a good September.

A sunny start to the new school term,

would be good.

A Collection of Wonderful Websites: Everything but the kitchen sink!

Literacy

I hope to get a lot of use out of this magical,

inspirational and innovative website next year.

The Literacy Shed

The Literacy Shed

These are other useful websites for literacy

and contain online books to listen to and to read.

We Give Books

Storyline Online

Zingertales

Tumblebooks

 

Picture books:

A number of stories about a dinosaur

Short stories on Learn English Kids British Council

CBeebies: Picture Stories for Infant Classes

 

Animated books (no reading involved!

Would be good for oral comprehension

perhaps to end of First Class) @ We do listen

 

Comprehension will be a focus of this school year.

Inference is a useful skill.

Here are fifteen riddles that require the student to infer:

http://www.philtulga.com/Riddles.html

 

Prediction is another skill which assists comprehension.

This visual puzzle gives students the opportunity to predict.

http://www.philtulga.com/Prediction.html

You will see that the excellent website  

from which these two activities come from

has all sorts of other original ideas for

the teaching of reading, maths, science and music. 

 

Maths

This is a good site for literacy and maths:

Oxford Owls

 

Sumdog comes highly recommended for learning maths.

One has to register to join.

Link to Sumdog

 

One has to register to get the best from this site too.  

The content is cross curricular but this is a maths index for children aged 7-9

TES iboard.co maths 7-9

 

These are the strategies we are learning

to speed up our understanding of this computation.

Strategies for Learning Tables

 

The following is a site where the children can practice

computation, which tracks individual progress

ADDieMath.com

 

Problem Solving

Recently in school we talked very briefly about this problem.

Perhaps the children would like to experiment with solutions at home:

The River Crossing

 

Pokemon

For fans of Pokemon:

This activity involves reading, comprehension and decision making:

A Pokemon Adventure from Woodlands Junior Kent

The Arts

Here are some useful suggestions for integrating art and drama:

Games that integrate art and drama

These ideas are from a great art blog that I discovered recently

Drydenart.weebly.com

The author is a specialist art teacher, teaching at primary level in the US.

The standard she is reaching with the children is exceptional.

Reading quickly through her philosophy it appears that she would prefer

five fully finished masterpieces from a child over a year

rather than a weekly unfinished one.

 

Included in this blog are a series of short videos (on Vimeo)

for use in class.

‘White Spot Inspector’ is an inventive approach

to getting the children not to leave spaces in the picture unfinished.

Other videos include advice about

sketching lightly with a pencil instead of digging down onto the page,

being kind to paintbrushes and glue pots,

concentrating,

being neat,

avoiding careless brushwork

and using black marker to tidy up untidy paintwork.

There is also one on craftmanship i.e. touching up your work, ‘redrafting’ etc.

Index of Instructional Art Videos

There is also a link to an extensive archive of artwork.

Art Archive

I would be doing this wonderful blogger a disservice

if I didn’t mention that she also uses a lot of IT in her work.

This is presently beyond me, but it is something to be inspired by and to aspire to.

 

25th August 2012:

I have been adding to this post all summer.

As a result it seems to contain everything but the kitchen sink.

Here are some more!

They are classroom tools for timing/counting down and picking names:

Countdown Timer

Dartboard Student Selector

Fruit Machine Word or Name Picker

Picking A Name Out Of A Hat

 

Memory Games

Room 6 play memory games in class. Some of them are online:

Find the Suspect, memory game

Memory Game: Flip

Number Sequences

Simon – The Memory Game

We play a memory game in class called ‘As I went into Tesco’s. It is good for developing concentration and memory. It is explained on the following link:

I went shopping and I bought a…

The following is a game I enjoy playing in class because for me as a teacher it is a useful reminder of the amount of information a child may retain from a lesson depending on
level of concentration
the children’s ability to retain information
and certainly how engaged or active the child has been in the lesson.

It is a reminder to me as a teacher not to forget the wise saying:

We remember 90% of what we do…

75% of what we see…

and 20% of what we hear…

This game also illustrates how stories can evolve as they are passed
from person to person;
how myths and legends were added to from generation to generation.
It can also show children how rumours start or misinformation be passed.

I choose four children.
Three wait where they can’t hear what is being said.

I tell a short story to the first child.
We then invite one of the waiting children to come back
and the first child tells the second the story.

Then child number three returns and is told the story by child number two.
Child number three in turns tells the story to child number four.
Child number four tells the story they have just heard to the class.

In general the story becomes much shorter.
A lot of the detail is lost and there are many inaccuracies.
But with practice the children improve. It is a game the children enjoy

Even with your own child, tell them a short story
and see if they can relate the story back accurately.
I often use the ‘blurb’ on the back of a book for this activity
or a simple recipe.

A picture by Alexandra, to put us in a summery mood 🙂

Add Like Mad

Add Like Mad was a very popular game in 2nd Class, Room 6.
We have been playing it on the Interactive Whiteboard.

Here is the link if any of the children would like to try it at home.

ADD LIKE MAD

This is a picture of a family of owls that Jessica did 🙂

New games for learning maths in 2nd Class.

Square Root of 558919216881Creative Commons License Bill Smith via Compfight

Here are some of our favourite games

for learning maths

This one is called Number Eaters.

It helps us learn our addition tables

and it is fun to play.

1. CLICK HERE FOR NUMBER EATERS

 

There are lots of other maths games on this site.

If Numbereaters is’nt for you why not try

2. PRINCESS MATH

 

3. BALLOON POPPING GAME FOR ADDING AND TAKING AWAY from earlier in the term
is also good.

 

4. Don’t forget the ‘Crossing The Swamp’ game also from earlier this year.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY:)

 

5. If you get tired of popping balloons you could try this one

MATHS MAGICIAN

 

6. THIS ADDING GAME IS BASED ON THE TV SHOW ‘WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?’

 

7. In 2nd class we also learn about halving numbers and doubling them. This game is good practice

Halves and Doubles

English Language and Vocabulary Games

Moon & Sun
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Lutz-R. Frank via Compfight

We have been posting a lot of maths games here recently

so we thought we would post some English language and vocabulary ones.

1. A NEW ONE; THE FROG GAME IS GOOD FOR PRACTISING ‘OPPOSITES’

2. THIS GAME ‘DANCE MAT’ TEACHES YOU TO TYPE 🙂

New games to help you learn your addition and take away tables

Here are some new games for checking

if you know your addition tables.

This one is called Number Eaters

and it is fun to play.

1. CLICK HERE FOR NUMBER EATERS

There are lots of other maths games on this site.

If Numbereaters is’nt for you why not try

2. PRINCESS MATH

3. GOOD FOR CHECKING THAT YOU KNOW YOUR ADDITION TABLES

4. BALLOON POPPING GAME FOR ADDING AND TAKING AWAY from earlier in the term

is also good.

5. Don’t forget the ‘Crossing The Swamp’ game

also from earlier this year.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY:)

6. If you get tired of popping balloons

you could try MATHS MAGICIAN

7. THIS ADDING GAME IS BASED ON THE TV SHOW ‘WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?’


A detail from Ryan’s colourful picture of the Northern Lights.

You may find the following useful…Answers to questions asked at the P/T meetings

I was asked these questions at parent teacher meetings to date, and thought parents in general would find the answers of interest.

Are the children sight reading when they play the recorder?
I am teaching the children to sight read and read the ‘lines and spaces’
but generally, at the moment, I feel the children are playing ‘by ear’.

Could books be sent home more regularly for parents to see progress?
Certainly.
As you know the ‘Mental Maths’ and ‘Spellbound’ go home almost daily.
Occasionally I have sent exercises in ‘What A Wonderful World’, ‘A Way with Words’ and ‘Modern Handwriting’ home for homework. I have sent Alive-o home too.
The difficulty has been that the next time we go to work in a particular book, a number of children may be without it because it is left at home.
Certainly I will send home textbooks from time to time. Just don’t forget to send them back!

How can you help your child with problem solving in Maths?
Problem Solving:

The following strategies are useful in relation to problem solving
• Discussing the problem
• Rephrasing to make the meaning clearer
• Using concrete materials where possible
• Using smaller numbers
• Setting out problem on paper using diagrams, drawings etc.
• Estimating

Some teachers use the word RUDE to remind the children of problem solving strategies.
So the children are encouraged to Read, Underline key words, Draw, Estimate (Answer).
This is the simplest approach. ‘Drawing’ the problem can be very effective. It gives the child time to think and ptocess the information.

Another approach is
We LUV 2 C word stories!
Look, Underline (the key word), Visualise(draw), Calculate and Check.

In tandem with these approaches you could ask your child:

What do I have? (what info is given?)

What do I want to have at the end? (What am I being asked to do?)

How do I get there? (add or subtract or a combination)
From next year this will include the options to multiply or divide

When I am teaching addition and take away number facts, the children will have opportunities to compose problems based on the number facts. The children choose one number fact and express it as a number problem. These problems can be turn expressed as number facts by their class mates.

1. Number fact 10-7=3
Turn this into a problem
Problem: Ten ducks on a pond. A fox came along and frightened away seven of them. How many were left?

2. Problem: Seven bats hunting for insects.
Three went home to roost. How many were left?
This can be turned into a number sentence.

When children get used to doing these, they find word problems much less daunting.

This is a good website. It teaches a visual strategy for problem solving:
Problem Solving with Thinking Blocks

4. How do I help my child with comprehension?

When you read with your child check that they understand what they are reading by asking them questions.
I have noticed that when children aren’t observing the punctuation on a page they lose the meaning of what they are reading.
Sometimes, in the early days when children are doing comprehension exercises in school, they attempt to answer the questions without reading the piece!

1. To start with, I ask the children to read a piece of comprehension.
2. To read the questions underlining what they are being asked.
This means they will be reading the piece with the questions in mind. They will be reading with a purpose.
3. To read the piece again with the questions in mind…underlining what they think would be useful.
4. Then to go through the questions one by one, looking for the answers in the comprehension piece and writing down the answers.
As they get good at this, there is less need for underlining.

TRY THIS WEBSITE FOR GRADED COMPREHENSION EXERCISES
You could even do them orally. Try the Second Grade Ones. When these are complete have a go at some of the Third Grade ones.

PLEASE CLICK FOR AN EVEN MORE COMPREHENSIVE SITE ON STRATEGIES FOR COMPREHENSION

We are learning about maps and plans

The children enjoyed this activity in school today.

Maybe they would like to try it at home and you can see the kind of work we are doing.

‘A Game about using Keys or Legends on a Map from the National Geographic Website’

Maths – Simple Computation: Addition & Subtraction in Second Class.

Maths – simple computation: addition/subtraction in Second Class

If you feel the need to supplement homework, these are some suggestions.

Learning simple computation (addition/subtraction tables to 10+10) really benefits the student in second class. Because when they go on to learn how to add tens and units with renaming they can concentrate on this new methodology because the addition and subtraction come easy to them.

We will be doing this in class. These websites may help you help your child.

The first  is an addition speed test.

http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/ttadd.html

http://www.ohio-distinctive.com/toybox/mathbarge/mathbarge.html

In preparation for adding tens and units with renaming, this game might be useful.

http://www.ictgames.com/sharknumbers.html

This is a good site for practicing number facts and computation:

TUTPUP.COM

Finally this site has games that practice addition and take aways at speed.

SKILL BUILDERS

Finally following a recent recommendation I will be using the following site in class.

Problem Solving with Thinking Blocks

The Thinking Blocks website teaches a visual strategy for problem solving.

Hope you find these helpful.

Teacher