My students need KEVA Brain Builders/Juniors to enhance verbal skills and communication with each other as they construct projects. KEVA planks are small rectangular shaped wooden blocks to build structures to understand perspective.
I teach third grade math in one of the best rural schools in Oklahoma! We are a Title I school with the majority of our students receiving free lunches.
My students are a diverse group with varied levels of learning.
Our classroom is a space where we enjoy coming to learn. My students love to learn in non-traditional ways, through technology, room transformations, integrating arts into our lessons, and project-based learning.
My students have huge hearts and are extremely curious about their learning. They have creative, compassionate, and amazing attitudes. They are truly wonderful children. My school is wonderfully supportive of the active hands-on learning that we do in our classroom. I could not ask for a better environment for these students. We are truly a community!
My Project
Research has proven that the use of hands-on manipulatives can increase students' attentiveness and engagement. Also, children who have the opportunity to play with blocks tend to do better in mathematics and science. Allowing my students to physically handle the KEVA planks/blocks can build a fundamental understanding of quantities, balance, stability, geometry, etc. I will implement KEVA planks/blocks into classroom activities to spark my students understanding in the above areas.
The sets of KEVA planks and KEVA Junior come with task cards for students to manipulate and build to duplicate the composition, proportion, balance, and geometry required for each card.
Each task card becomes more challenging, so my students will gain patience, confidence, and communication skills through their trial and error. My students will observe their chose task card and look at the 2D design then create their thoughts of what it should look like as a 3D design. The student will then flip the task card to see if they built the correct structure. Students will be allowed to make changes to their structure if needed.
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