My students need a variety of fun, educational math games to use during the advanced mathematics course that is offered to select students on Saturday mornings.
Imagine sitting through four hours of non-stop math instruction. College classes aren't even that long, but my advanced middle school students have to stay engaged in this amount of math work on Saturdays! These long hours could be easily broken-up with fun, educational games to help maintain focus.
I teach at a small pre-K to 8 school in a very large urban district.
Our students come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and many of them speak a language other than English at home. In fact, there are over 20 languages represented by families at our school! About 80% of our families are considered low income families. Despite these potential setbacks, the students and faculty at our school strive for excellence and continue to improve in our standardized test performance. One of the ways in which our school has focused on improvement is by identifying and "pushing" some of our higher-achieving students. We employ a variety of techniques in order to encourage the growth of these students, including a specialized program for students to attend on Saturdays. Usually, this program involves two hours of math instruction and two hours of reading instruction. For the advanced students, though, it is four hours of instruction strictly in one subject. Four hours of math can be exhausting!
My Project
Therefore, I'd like to provide the students with some respite from their diligent work. The students are truly excited about reaching their potential and are willing to go the extra mile, but they could sometimes use (and certainly deserve!) a break from the monotony of working through one math problem after another for four straight hours. The math games that I have selected are high-quality games that will both excite and challenge the students. They will allow the students to use a different part of their brains for a few moments of the day and to have fun with each other all while enhancing their mathematical knowledge.
The students who are selected to participate in the Advanced Saturday Academy Math Group are truly exceptional.
They feel honored to have been chosen for the group and will work hard to accomplish what they know that they are capable of achieving. These games will foster both social and intellectual growth and will give students motivation as they work on other math problems throughout the day.
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