After attending the amazing Get Your Teach On conference by Deanna Jump and Hope King, I was challenged by some of my teaching buddies to find the treasure in my teaching. I realized that revamping board games found at Goodwill or yard sales was one of the treasures I bring to my students.
Games are a great way to bring the fun and excitement to a new learning concept. Board games were such a HUGE part of my childhood. In my classroom, I use board games as the spark for learning a new concept.
One of my favorites games as a child was the game Don't Break the Ice. It was just my luck to find one of these games at Goodwill this weekend. I knew that playing Don't Break the Ice would be fun for my students, but I needed to find a way to increase the rigor. I have spent the majority of the third marking period teaching addition and subtraction, but didn't want my students to forget these skills as we begin to work on new skills. Therefore "Icebreaking Addition and Subtraction" was created.
I enjoyed transforming this board game in to a math center; however my students gave me the best treasure today. As I was facilitating this activity during small group math, some of the comments I heard were "I love this game.", "This one is a keeper.", and "Can you put this in math center?"
The goal of this game was for my students to practice adding and subtracting. After finding the sum or
difference, the student uses the hammer to hammer out the ice cube that
reflects the sum or difference. If there is not an ice cube with the sum or
difference of the problem, the student has to solve another problem. Challenge
– Give the students both the addition and subtraction cards to allow them to
practice reading and applying the skill needed for each math symbol.
Click here for your free copy of the "Icebreaking" Addition and Subtraction cards.
What is your treasure in teaching?
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
