My students need engaging and fun challenges in math and logical reasoning during both our math block and class activity time such as chess, logic puzzles, and games.
Socrates said "Wisdom begins in wonder!" I want to provide students with challenges to problem solve, work cooperatively, and reason logically. Being a kid is hard, and my hope is to inspire life long learners with strong academic, social, and emotional skills.
We are a new school that just reopened and are working really hard to build community.
One way my class can do that is to become a room of learners that work with, support, and challenge one another.
I teach an amazing group of advanced fourth and fifth graders that love learning. They are motivated to dig deep and challenge themselves. I just need to present them with the challenge!
My Project
I'm asking for math games and chess boards not only to challenge these minds, but also to build a stronger sense of community. My vision is to teach a math game to a small group and then, have them in turn teach the game to another group of students. We can use these math games during our daily rotation to not only challenge ourselves but to have some fun too! Who doesn't love games? And with two math levels in my classroom, it will allow me to work further with small groups during our daily rotation. The chess boards serve a great purpose too! I want to start off with one chess board for every 4 children, creating teams of 2. I will ask students to communicate and agree upon moves with their partner before they can move a piece. It's not easy! We have to think logically, voice our ideas, and agree upon our move. Eventually, we can play 1:1 but we need to be able to think and work with a classmate first.
These games will not only motivate, inspire, and push the level of thinking of my advanced learners, but they will build a stronger sense of community in our classroom in a way that is super fun.
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