My First Day of School Promise

Every year, I sit down with my brand new class and have a little chat about why we come to school. My second graders figure it out right away: we come to school to learn.

That's when I make my yearly promise. 

I'm very dramatic when I make the promise. I include dramatic pauses, and I make the same gestures whenever I say it. 

I move my right hand outward as I say the first part, then I move my left hand outward as I say the second part. It goes like this:

These phrases are used all year long, and I repeat the gestures each time. After a while, I don't even have to say the words, I just do the gestures, and the kiddos realize they need to put the effort into their learning.

Of course, I make a point to keep that promise!

Do I Add or Subtract?

Brain research suggests adding movement with words in order to help the memory.

Many children struggle to remember when to add or subtract when they read math story problems. I decided to add some movement to help the kids remember when to add or subtract.

When we talk about an addition story, I have the children gesture one arm out and reference the first set. Then they gesture the second arm out and reference the second set. Then while we ask the question, we swoop our arms together into a plus sign, and say "How many all together?" or "How many in all?" The motion of bringing both arms together into a plus sign while saying the words really helps!

 

For subtraction, we start by gesturing a set in one arm. Then the second arm swoops away part of that set, making a minus sign with the arms.

Finally, for a subtraction comparison story, we gesture being a scale, balancing a set on each hand while saying, "How many more?" or "How many less?"

These gestures seem rather simple, yet with a few repetitions, the children remember them when they are doing word problems. In fact, I've had children come back to me long after they left my class and tell me how glad they are I taught them these gestures!

 It helps if you have fun math stories for the children to practice with. Here are a few themed math story problems to make the practice a little more fun!

Camping Math Story Problems 

Seashore Math Story Problems 

Football Math Story Problems

Halloween Math Story Problems (Freebie) 

Winter Math Story Problems With Two Questions

Groundhog and Super Football Math Story Problems

Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day Math Problems

St. Patrick's Day Math Story Problems (Freebie)

April Fool's Day Math Story Problems

Earth Day Math Story Problems

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Area or Perimeter?

Ever notice how kids have a hard time keeping track of which meaning goes with the word "area" and which meaning goes with the word "perimeter"?

My kids used to, but then I made up a couple of tricks that helped the kids remember which one was which. Brain research tells us that making these connections in the brain help children remember!

Area is measuring squares.  Both words have the are in them, which I emphasize when I teach it.  I also make a hand motion that reminds the children that we're talking about a full surface.

Perimeter measure around the sides. I emphasize that r in both words, and make a hand motion moving around.

You know, I'm kind of obnoxious about the way I repeat it over and over, making the same hand movements, and emphasize the are for area and the r in perimeter.

But I've had former students tell me they remembered the difference between area and perimeter and they repeated the movements I used to make when they were in my class.

I also made up this activity for the children to practice the differences between the two. See the image or HERE: Area or Perimeter

When my students do this activity, they repeat my gestures every time!