Math Centers

These past few weeks our second graders have loved getting involved in math centers! Every once in a while for something extra engaging, we have math centers. This is so students have a chance to practice things we have learned, as well as participate in activities that will make them more fluent with certain math concepts.

One math center that students have really enjoyed is “fly swatter math”. Throughout this activity, I read off addition or subtraction problems, such as 9 + 3 or 10 – 6. After hearing the problem, students have to solve quickly and use their fly swatter to “swat” the right answer that is written on a piece of poster board. This activity promotes memorizing, rather than counting on their fingers to solve so that they can be the first one to “swat” the correct answer. Students have been doing an amazing job with becoming more fluent and faster at swatting the correct answers while memorizing these addition and subtraction problems.

Another math center that students have come to love is “popcorn math”. Throughout this activity students draw three pieces of paper out of a cup of popcorn. Students draw two pieces of white paper (the numbers) and one piece of yellow paper (the addition or subtraction symbol). Once they draw these three pieces of paper, students write down the problem and solve it. For example, if they drew 22, 35, and + they would be responsible for adding 22 and 35 together on their “popcorn math” worksheet. This activity allows students to differentiate between addition and subtraction as they use those two math concepts.

The last two math centers students participated in were addition and subtraction flash cards and using the computer to look through different math games. Through all of these math center activities students have become engaged in becoming more fluent with certain math concepts. Encourage your second grader at home by practicing these math concepts to further increase their fluency.

Glitter Galore!

Yesterday we really got in the Christmas spirit by creating ornaments! The students were extremely excited to have the opportunity to make their own ornaments. For this activity the students knew from the beginning to make sure to pay attention to the steps taken to create their ornament because after creating their ornament they were responsible for writing down the step-by-step process.

To start off, students took off the tops of their ornaments so that I could spray about seven sprays of floor wax into their ornaments. The students were then responsible for swirling the floor wax around, coating the inside of the ornament. After it was completely covered, the students dumped out the excess into a cup. The next step involved glitter…lots and lots of glitter. Students chose what color of glitter they would like and, using a funnel, we poured the glitter inside and students once again swirled the glitter around inside the ornament until it was completely covered. Once it was covered, students dumped out the excess glitter onto a plate and put the top of the ornament back on. The students’ final step was to choose what color ribbon they would like on the ornament and tie it on.

Once students had made their ornament their next job was to write out, step-by-step, how they created their ornament. Students made sure that they started with a beginning sentence, used transition words such as “first” and “last” in their steps, and closed their writing with an ending sentence. By writing out these steps, students got a better idea of each specific step they went through in order to make their ornament along with the importance of doing these steps in order. Plus, now they have a written down process so that, if they wanted, they may create more ornaments like the one they created today.

The last step of these gorgeous ornaments was my job, which was writing the students’ names on their ornaments using puffy paint. These beautiful ornaments are now hanging around our classroom, which lends a Christmas feel to our room.

Safety Town

Just yesterday our class had the opportunity to participate in a program called “safety town”. Safety town allowed students to navigate through a miniature-sized city on small bicycles. While traveling through the city, students stopped at different stations to learn about water safety, bike safety, pedestrian safety, dog bites, and fire safety.

Safety town was generous enough to provide free helmets for those students who did not already have helmets. After being given these helmets, students had the opportunity to ride around the gym on small bikes. While riding through the town in the gym, students were responsible for stopping at stoplights, watching for pedestrians, and stopping at the railroad crossing.

Students greatly enjoyed driving through this miniature-city and took great care in watching for stoplights, pedestrians, and railroad crossings. Through this program students learned many things about fire safety, water safety, pedestrian safety, bike safety, and dog bites. Thanks to safety town, our second graders now have more knowledge about these concepts.

Uncle Bob

Last Monday, just before Thanksgiving break, kindergarten through fourth graders had the opportunity to listen to a Bible story told by my father, Bob Beery. “Uncle Bob”, as children know him, has been traveling to schools throughout Michigan teaching Bible stories to thousands of students in the past 40 years. Our second graders had the privilege of listening to one of these Bible stories: the story of the good shepherd.

Uncle Bob began by singing, “We’ve got the Joy” along with the students and it was breathtaking to watch the students excitingly sing along to the music with him. As it became time for the Bible stories, students watched in awe as Uncle Bob told the story of the good shepherd along with multiple visuals to get the students eager to listen.

Uncle Bob explained to students how a shepherd was responsible for taking care of his flock of sheep. The shepherd took such good care of his sheep that he would endlessly search for a lost sheep that wandered from the flock. Just as this shepherd would rejoice when he found his lost sheep, so does God rejoice when one of his flock returns to him and places their faith in Jesus.

Once the story was finished, Uncle Bob had students participate in a review game of the Bible story. Students would raise their hand to answer a question about the Bible story. If the student answered the question correctly, they would then get to participate in the game: bobbing for apples. Students put a necklace on with a magnet on the end and would try to pick up as many apples as they could by connecting the magnets together. Overall, I believe the students enjoyed having Uncle Bob visit and we hope to hear another Bible story from him again!