Hands-on learning

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you've probably noticed that a lot of these blog posts consist of fun stuff we do during science or Bible. But we also try to make our core academic subjects fun too. Here are some examples ...

During a recent math unit on place value (namely tens and ones), we "scooped and grouped." After scooping out a number of round plastic chips, the students gathered them into groups of 10 and put them on the 10's side of their organizing sheet. Any leftovers went onto the ones side. We then converted these tens and ones into a double-digit number. Using hands-on objects like these chips is a good way to help students visualize what it means to say, for example, that three groups of 10 is the same thing as 30.

During Dr. Seuss week, we used different sized feet to show how our results vary when we measure using a small unit of measurement vs. a larger one.

"Write the Room" is always a favorite ... as long as they don't have to write too many words, LOL! One day I added a reading component -- I hung sight words all over the room, and the students had to read them out loud before writing them down. It was like a fun game of hide-and-seek, and I was so proud every time I heard someone shriek, "I found here! I found what!"  ☺

There's a time for worksheets and "lectures," but we find that the students remember more -- and have more fun! -- when we do hands-on activities!