Stepping up my Math Game

What we've been learning: Last year I struggled a lot teaching math.  It is not my favorite subject, and I felt like I was drowning trying to figure out projects and activities and standards for the rest of the classes.  Spring semester the boys were using Teaching Textbooks.  It is a great computer program for learning math.  I only had them doing the program.  We never took notes or did any projects.  It was a challenge because I was trying to fit in a whole year into 4 months.  We covered two years of math content in one.

This year I knew I wanted to make some changes to math.  I wanted to incorporate games, projects, and a math notebook.

MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT

We started off the year talking about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers.  This was a good review for the boys.  I wanted to connect this to the real world.  I gave them each a million dollars.  I wish I had million dollar bills to give them, but I wasn't thinking that far ahead this summer to buy some.  :)  I created my own rubric and guide, but pulled ideas from here.

They had to figure out how to spend the money.  They needed to buy a house, car, college tutition, etc.  They realized the expensive cost of college, they got to think about what kind of house and transportation they would like to have, and they thought about a charity to donate.  It was very interesting to see how much of their million dollars they would give to others.

They also got to splurge and use the rest of their money to buy whatever they wanted.  They realized it is challenging to spend money sometimes.  Isaac bought a wild tiger, Joseph bought an indoor pool, and Andrew splurged on a four-wheeler.

DECIMAL MENU PROJECT

I wanted the boys to see connections between money and decimals.  I had them each come up with their own restaurant.  They each went with a pizza place, but with different themes.  Isaac's restaurant was called Zapped!  He used a clever lightning theme that carried into the names of his options.  Andrew's restaurant was all about the video games.

I had them do some math with eachother's menus.  They had to calculate by hand how much their ideal meal from the restaurant would cost.  They had to calculate how much it would cost if their friend also bought the same meal.  They also needed to figure out how much it would cost if they bought everything from the place.  If I were to redo this project, I would cut that part because it is a challenge to add all those numbers.  I wish the boys would have done a better job slowing down and adding correctly, though.

PERCENT PROJECT

This was the most recent project the boys completed.  I loved it because it got them out of the classroom, and it got them to interact with adults.  I had them think of a question to ask people, a survey of sorts.  Isaac asked "Who is your favorite superhero?"  Joseph asked people what their favorite Dominican food item is, and Andrew asked about their favorite sport.  The boys struggled with talking to strangers and grown ups, which  is part of the reason I created the project.  They need to be stretched outside of their comfort zones.  We walked around the neighborhood, polling people.  We talked to 15 people as a group, and they needed to ask 15 more over the evening.

Here were some of their final products.  They learned how to create a pie chart in Microsoft Excel, which was a good computer/technology task.  These projects looked a bit better than their menus from the decimal project.

MATH NOTEBOOKS

I've been trying to create a math interactive notebook.  I searched quite a bit online for ideas.  I am hoping that taking notes is helping the boys remember the information.  The more times the hear it, the more ways they use it, the more it will stick in their math brains.

MATH GAMES

We were learning about prime and composite numbers.  We also were learning about equivalent fractions.  We had a game day.  One of the games I found online, the equivalent fraction race.  The boys liked that one because it involved dice.

The other game I created myself.  I used a Guess Who game board that I purchased last year.  I put a bunch of numbers on it, and we played Guess Who with numbers.  Ex: Is your number a composite number?  Is your number a multiple of 3?  Is your number a product of 4?  Is your number prime?  It was super fun, and even included a chocolate bar prize for the winner.

FRACTION FOOD

I found this PowerPoint on Teachers Pay Teachers that uses chocolate bars with fractions.  I took her idea and modified it for the specific standards and ideas I wanted the boys to practice.  It took all their willpower to wait until the end of the class period to eat their candy.

What are your favorite math games and activities?