How Do You Create Fun Math Lessons For Elementary Students?
Let’s face it: math can be difficult and frustrating for elementary students. For those who understand math easily, classroom lessons can be boring instead. Math skills are so important that it is imperative that students understand the concepts involved, even if they don’t always enjoy them. To catch and keep your students’ attention during math, put a little fun into your lessons. Not every math unit can be an addition facts bingo game, but there are ways to interject some fun into even the most mundane of math lessons. Begin each lesson with a short game. For example, have the students estimate how many seconds it will take for you, the teacher, to do 15 jumping jacks. Alternately, start your math period with a math “riddle of the day,” or write a code on the board and see if someone can solve it. Each day, hand out a “wooden calculator” to the student who comes closest to winning that day’s short math game. The wooden calculator, of course, is a pencil. Use manipulatives whenever p
