Playing card fractions

Whilst playing yet another playing cards maths game, I had an idea for another way to use this versatile resource in another way. Converting irregular fractions! Just pair the children up and give them a deck. Place 2 cards one above the other. The top is the numerator and the bottom, the denominator.  Does the fraction require converting? If so children race to convert the irregular fraction and record their working. Simples :) 

Quiz and quieten

Sometimes a class is not necessarily off task but really loud. As a personal preference, I don't even mind if students are talking. It does not bother me at all but when those little voices turn into big voices it becomes a bit much. Naggy reminders and clapping patterns become like water off a ducks back after a while so I like to do something a bit different and keep it fun: quizzes! 

I just look up a list of trivia questions online about whatever theme they're learning about, eg space. And as the noise elevates, ask a question and tally the points on the board. This could even go towards their prize at the end of the day. 

Feet: Height Ratio

I love to be a bit silly with the classes I teach. 

Last week I had a lovely little Year 3 class with no work left for them and I was called in last minute so had zero time to prepare. I could have got them to do something in a textbook or shown a sight word clip to them to buy some time but I felt like taking some risks with "winging it". 

I looked at one of the kids bright pink shoes and said "Wow! Look at those. Can I try them on?" Obviously, they couldn't possibly fit (which the kids immediately told me). As the strange looks and giggles passed about I told them they have one minute to convince me why. They told me my feet were too big. Why were my feet big? What makes feet big? Eventually the conversation steered into the relationship between foot size and height. We went off, ordered ourselves according to height, measured our height and measured our feet. When we worked out the common factors, we went to our books and wrote up our little experiment. 

Science, Maths, English and PSED all in one lesson and just to fill in a few more minutes we wrote a cinquian poem about feet. 

Give me 6 seconds, please!

Every week I go to a French class. I love it so much and have a passion to keep improving. Last week we (the students) paired off and quizzed eachother on the content of the lesson. My partner continuously answered for me each and every time I paused. It was incredibly frustrating  and reminded me of something I'd heard from a literacy consultant: give someone at least six seconds to answer a question before offering to answer for them. Some kids may need longer and if they do ASK, frustrating situations do not facilitate learning.