I am a Reggio Emilia inspired Full Day Kindergarten teacher and mother to three young children. This blog is meant as a communication tool for the families of our children and as a learning tool for the many educators who follow us. Please feel free to comment on posts and participate in our collective understanding of emergent curriculum.
Due to the great feedback I've received I have turned the 'Stand Up Sit Down' slides into a video that educators can use in their physical or virtual classrooms. This fun activity can be an icebreaker for a new group of students, a minds-on activity before a main lesson, or used during transition times.
Interactive videos can be a great way to engage children in virtual learning spaces, or can be used in the physical classroom as warm ups to lessons, during transition times, or even during lunch times when children are finished eating (especially during Covid when only half the children can be eating at once and the other half of the class requires something to work on).
I have created some simple math-ercise videos that educators and families can use to help engage children in exploring math concepts. These ask children to look at a math equation and complete the exercise that corresponds to the answer they feel is correct. Children complete the exercise for 20 seconds and then get 5 seconds of rest as the correct answer is displayed. I feel that the physical nature of the videos will be engaging for children and add a kinesthetic feature to math learning. Videos can be paused and mini number talks can occur if educators wish.
I will continue to create videos and add them to this blog post over time. I am hoping to explore subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Educators may wish to create their own videos/presentations to explore other math concepts (e.g., number patterns, doubles).
Get a copy of the files here to use at your own pace in your physical or virtual classroom. This gives you the option to pause the power point and explore each slide or personalize it to best meet the needs of your students. Music and transition times are embedded within the presentation so all educators need to do is change the equations and answers on each slide. Playing the presentation should run it without the need to manually forward each slide.
Here is a fun activity to get children moving as they respond to a prompt. Look at the photo and respond to the 'stand up if you..." prompt accordingly. Children can then create their own statements for their peers to consider. Providing time for children to reflect upon and discuss their ideas regarding the stand up/sit down prompts can encourage rich oral language as children consider the photos and verbal prompts and make connections to their own lives and experience.
Get a copy of the slides to use in your classroom here: Stand Up Sit Down
In our school hallway we have a dry erase board that asks rich, low floor high ceiling questions. Students and staff that walk by are encouraged to consider the question for a few days and then contribute their ideas using dry erase markers.
It's an excellent way to create a culture of mathematical thinking and growth mindset as we learn together with one another! I've created something similar on this blog. The padlet image below is actually an interactive virtual 'whiteboard' where you can share ideas in an online space. Our class is hoping you might consider asking your students the question "If 24 is the answer, then what might the question have been?" and then posting your ideas, along with your location, to the padlet. We can't wait to see what you discover and also the reach that our blog has!