Volume Math Centers

Math centers can help teach students about volume.

Every summer I go through the process of canning jams and various vegetables from our garden. This year, as I am preparing the jars I need for each recipe, I am reminded that I may have the opportunity to teach students about units of measuring liquids. I get excited when I think of several hands on activities that would help them grasp this concept.

As teachers, we need to cater to different learning styles. One way this can be accomplished is through math centers. Math centers get students out of their desk and moving around. Each student is responsible to perform at each station.  For third graders learning about measuring liquids, three stations in particular would help students grasp the concept.

At one station, students will cut out and construct a gallon man. Fellow teacher Angela Owens has created a free template in which students will cut out cups, pints, quarts and gallons. The gallon man template is free—who doesn't love free. Students at this math center will color, cut, and construct gallon man. I like this visual because gallon man shows that each unit of measurement can be equal to another unit of measurement.

At another station, students will listen to the Capacity song by NUMBERROCK. The song is about three minutes long. Student will listen to the song, trying to get the words down as well as come up with dance moves to go along with the song. This would be a group effort that the group will eventually perform for the class. 

At the last station, students will solve real life story problems using tools such as measuring cups, pint and quart jars, and a gallon jug. Oh yes, this station will get messy because students will actually be measuring water through these various units. For example, if I need to divide one gallon of punch into one cup glasses, how many glasses of water will I have. I can picture students working together trying to pour the water precisely into the cups, then counting up how many cups they have.

Though it takes a bit of work to design math centers, students really learn the concepts better by doing. One second grade teacher has set up a blog in which she talks about her math centers.  Amy Lemons's blog Step Into Second Grade talks about various math centers and gives some great ideas. Another blog--The Math Maniac--has several freebies that can be used in math centers.  Lucy Ravitch's blog Kid's Math Teacher has several videos on fun math projects for kids.  Ravitch also sells books in which kids can play and practice math without even knowing it!  These three blogs are just a few of the many resources out there.   

Patterns

Learning about patterns is a basic skill that all kindergarten and first grade students work on. There are so many activities which can help student grasp the concept of easy and then more complicated patterns. Last winter I found this free Skittles pattern students could practice on. It was helpful to guide my students in this process, then go around and assess their patterns.

Recently I learned that music and math go hand-in-hand, especially when teaching about patterns. I came across a very interesting article while taking a creative process course. In Patterns of Music (and article published in the Young Children January 2012 edition), I learned that infants recognize patterns—be it a heart beat, being rocked or patted, or a song. As they grow, toddlers become attached to songs that have patterns, such as Old McDonald Had a Farm.  By kindergarten, children are learning that patterns can be complex.

The Patterns of Music article gave an example of a line up song in which the students go through the colors in a repeated song. Those students wearing a shirt of that color would line up when their color was named.  The song was easy for the students to learn because it followed a very predictable pattern. Students didn't even realize they were doing math through the line up song!

Total Eclipse of the Sun

About two years ago, my husband Aaron told me that in August of 2017 there would be a total eclipse of the sun in North America. He told me he wanted to travel to see the full eclipse. I said something like, “Yeah, that would be cool.” Then, I forgot all about it. Forgot about it that is until last May when he brought the subject up again.

When Aaron told me that it would be something like 100 years from now before there would be another solar eclipse in North America, I couldn't exactly say no. Somehow our schedules worked out, and the more research he began to do the more excited he got (giddy is a better word for it). His excitement has spread, and now our whole house is buzzing, looking forward to the event.  So on August 21^st, we will be near Lincoln, Nebraska to witness a total eclipse of the sun. The whole process will take several hours, while the total eclipse will only last two or three minutes.

Check out this general information video!

Since the eclipse has become a big deal in our house hold, I started to wonder if the teachers would have activities for this event. I am delighted to see NASSA has created a special web page that helps teachers incorporate the eclipse into their lessons. Many NASSA lessons relate to math, science, and geography.

 One activity is a printable book called Our Very Own Star Story which encourages students to explore how far the sun is from earth. Another activity in a Layers of the Sun packet has students graph the increase and decrease of sunspots every 11 years. NASSA also has several math challenge activities that would work great for small group problem solving.

This year's eclipse reminds me that as a teacher, we need to be aware of current events—especially events that rarely happen. As my husband has captured my excitement, I too need to excite my students with events going on around us—as well as link them to math. 

Change in Perspective

I had not expected it. When I enrolled in the college class, “Math for Elementary Teachers I” I expected to learn how to teach elementary math. Yet the math in the text book, the math on the quizzes and the tests felt impossibly hard. Why? I would never be teaching these difficult questions to an elementary class. Emotions were on the rise—confusion, bitterness, low self-esteem, and frustration. Had I enrolled in the wrong class? (I actually checked). Was this a large neon sign blinking,

“YOU ARE NOT CUT OUT TO BE A TEACHER!”?

At about 1:30 in the morning, I found myself paging through that evil math text book. What had I missed? I wanted to know why. Why such difficult math questions? Then, that sweet, glorious light bulb moment. My answer was in the preface. You know, that part of the book that no one reads. There was actually a note meant just for me—“To the future teacher.” My frustration at difficult math problems is similar to the frustrations elementary students feel when they struggle at understanding math. This course will hone in on my creative problem solving skills and teach me to explain why math methods work or don't work for certain problems. In this video, a teacher is using questions to aid her students in developing problem solving skills. (The sound is a bit off in the video but it is still very interesting).

In his video, “Stop Teaching Calculations, Start Learning Maths!” Conrad Wolfram points out that there is a disconnect between the way math is taught and how math is used in the real world. There is a new movement in the way we teach math. It is exciting to be a part of that change! But are we ready as teachers to really help students figure out what works or doesn't work to solve problems, and why? It is our job to shape these little beings into future, expert problem solvers.

The level of difficult for that math course has not changed.  However, I'm learning problem solving skill I never mastered in school. By mastering it, I will create new generations of expert problem solvers. And that change in perspective has made all the difference!