Supporting Creativity, Inclusiveness and Positivity in the Primary Mathematics Classroom
Teaching mathematics is like the tardis. On the outside it looks like a neat package but when you open it up there is a whole new wonderful world to discover.
Wendy Liddell: Tirimoana School
Tena Koutou katoa
Ko Kumeu ahau e noho ana
Ko Te Kura o Tirimoana
e mahi ana
Ko Wendy ahau
So very lovely to be here
and share some of my
gems with you.
A Great Maths Lesson ……….. (just my thoughts)
An enthusiastic and positive teacher
Rich Learning opportunities and accessibility for all.
Relevant games and visual resources
Hands on approach and great problem solving
Opportunity for questioning and investigating
Opportunity to make mistakes and feel good about it.
Opportunity to wonder, laugh and explore
Real Life applications
Self Reflection (teacher)
Our Students are Unique and Diverse
Our students come to school with different life experiences
and different degrees of number knowledge.
Children are aware of the knowledge and capabilities of their peers and will often label the child who is good at maths as the one who can answer all the number questions correctly. The assumptions about maths capability and attitude to maths will often start at Year 1. Mathematics is much more than timetables and basic facts although these are undeniably extremely important and vital tools to have in the kete. (I teach them explicitly)
With a programme that includes opportunity for logical reasoning, numberless problems, puzzles and games all students can be active participants.
Mathematics is a Language:
Mathematics isn’t just about numbers – rather, it’s a language. The numbers are only part of the tool set we use to communicate absolute ideas of our world. Like learning vocabulary words of our verbal language, only learning how to spell and define words without learning how to creatively use them in communication does not enhance our ability to fully comprehend their potential power, nor our ability to share ideas with others.
Puzzles allow students to combine their hands and minds to explore the challenges. There are no F’s for failure or A’s for success; only more opportunities to try new strategies towards solving the puzzle. Students engaging in puzzles can explore for themselves about what information matters, how to break the solution down into smaller steps, and how to reason in favor of certain strategies over others. These skills are mathematical skills.
Which Candy is the Heaviest ?
What steps will you use to solve this
problem?
What do you already know?
What do you not know?
https://www.grabarchukpuzzles.com/
Ukrainian family (Grabachuks)
Identical Poles Odd One Out
What strategy would you use?
What are your first thoughts?
Identical Blobs How Many Squares?
Students could create their own and challenge each other.
What is the best way to approach this problem?
Visible Area Surface Area
I would have the students make these models.
This could work well by modelling with counters.
Tents Puzzles
I have used these puzzles from Year 3 to year 6. Great!
Dice, Dice Dice
Dice are a fabulous tool to use in Digital Dice
the classroom. They are versatile
give you the opportunity to scaffold
and present many opportunities
to create games and challenges.
The students can also create their own
dice games and share them
Four Star Game
An engaging game for two players.
Each payer takes turns to place
one counter on the board until
each player has four.
Then take turns to move the counters around the
lines of the stars until one player has four
in a row.
My students repeatedly ask for this game.
Traffic Lights:
Traffic Lights What you need:
1. Two players
2. An 3 x 3 empty grid
3. 6 red counters
4. 6 yellow or orange counters
5. 6 green counters
3. The rules
My students cannot get enough of this game
Traffic Lights:
Number Fill Ins
The students thoroughly enjoy these and
they come in several different levels. The site
above has PDF options.
These puzzles offer a great opportunity for discussion
and logical reasoning.
https://www.math-salamanders.com/
This really is a very good website.
Simple and approachable.
These are fun are enjoyed by all students. A great partner activity.
Two Colour Game
Intriguing and engaging and promotes loads of decision about strategies.
Two Colour Game
Eight Queens
Place eight counters on the board
where no counter is in the same row,
column or diagonal as another counter.
This puzzle really appeals to some students and they won't give up until the puzzle is solved.
The Game of Queah: A Game from Liberia
Another game of logic and skill.So easy to prepare and engaging for students.
Skyscraper Puzzles
These are great puzzles, simple to print off and cater for
several different levels. All you need are connecting blocks
and the templates. I have collated the 4 x 4 beginner
templates below for you. The site is at the
bottom of the page and well worth exploring
Here you will find the puzzles at a higher level
and much more…….
I always get the children to make the towers first and use the same colour for each number of towers.
So what is going on here?
There was much excitement and animated conversation when I shared this with my Year 5 classes.
They tested it out!!
A French Perspective
These puzzles come
from a French puzzle site.
The ones in the link below I have
tried with years 2 to 6
with success. The students
loved them.
The puzzle below is very engaging. Lots of discussion
There are similar puzzles to this provided on a link on the next slide.
Star Battle: Julia Robinson Math Festival
Star Battle Guide and Puzzle Boards
These are one of my great favourites.
quick to print out and suitable for all levels
as there are 26 puzzles.The students
love them and once again give an
opportunity for all students to participate.
The web site bottom left is the link to the entire math festival. Amazing!!
Other Useful Resources and Links
Chrome Music Lab https://solveme.edc.org/
A site where students can experiment with This is a great site where students can go
Making their own musical patterns through and solve algebraic problems at
Board Games from around the world their own pace.
A great collection of printable board
games.
The Ultimate Collection of Brain Teasers To Keep You Thinking All Day
This is really fun. Excellent for those extra minutes. Each brain teaser comes
with a great visual. Well worth a look.
https://mathforlove.com/websites-we-like/ https://www.mathslink.org/mathematic
Probably the best selection of websites Math for Love.
and interactive teaching tools that I have
come across.
wendy.liddell@tirimoana.school.nz Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Enjoy