Making maths fun!
I realised this year that my children needed to boost their number knowledge in maths. Ideally each student's number knowledge should be a stage above their strategy stage. This was not evident for many of my students.
Using our topic of the Olympics, and encouraging a competition to boost engagement, I started Mathlympics in Room 9. The children were encouraged to take ownership of their learning. I gave them a number knowledge sheet for their maths book and their homework book. The first stage given was a stage below their strategy stage.
Once the students worked on each learning intention, they would be assesed by a buddy and then by the teacher. When all of the learning intentions were complete, for homework or in class time, the students would be awarded a medal.
Gold - if completed in one week. Silver - if complete in three weeks. Bronze - if completed after three weeks.
WOW! What a hit it was! The students went maths mad. It was time consuming for me to monitor, but ten to twenty mins a day would give me enough time to award them for their hard work.
