My Plans for April Fool's Day

The laughter of children is one of my very favorite sounds! That's why I go out of my way to hear it on April Fool's Day in my classroom!

 

 

These are my plans for April Fool's Day!

April Fool's Day No Prep Activities!

This set has more than enough to spend the day on fun, silly activities, yet still squeeze in a little learning and skill work!

For math, there are story problems (with silly situations, of course!), three-digit mental math (adding hundreds) math fact review, and balancing equations-second grade style!

For word work, there's a great list of April Fool's day words, sentence writing, alphabetical order, compound words, and spelling practice.

There's an April Fool's themed writing practice.

For reading, there's prediction and visualizing.

This should keep those little guys busy, and happy, too! You'll be hearing that delightful laughter!

Just see the image for the link!

April Fool's Day Math Stories!

See this link, for this math resource, too! This is a sample of the larger resource above... just the math stories!

Looking for more April Fool's Day learning fun? 

Check out these other blog posts.

The Day that Teachers Dread? 

8 Ways to Spice up April Fool's Day

Build Number Sense With Daily Routine

There are some important number concepts that can be practiced just through our daily routine. 

Here are a couple of examples:

All my students have a class number. I think it's a great way to keep things in order, plus, it plays a big role in developing counting skills!

Often, when I call on the children to line up, or to go to their next activity, I'll call the odd numbers first, then the even numbers. (Or even, then odd.)

Sometimes I'll go beyond the number of kids I have in the class so they can really hear the pattern. After a while, they anticipate the pattern I'm calling and are super ready when I get to their number.

Sometimes I'll count by 5s, then go 5s +1, then 5s +2, etc, while pointing the pattern out on our class number grid. (5, 10, 15, 20, 6, 11, 16, 21, 7, 12, etc.)

Other times I'll call a pattern like... 1, 11, 2, 12, 3, 13, and so on.  They always watch when I point these out on the number grid as I call out the numbers.

Then there are days I just call out the numbers in order, or in backward order. Sometimes I start with 1, and other times I'll just start with a child who is behaving properly (as opposed to rolling around on the floor, which second graders often see at the end of a lesson!). Then, I've been known to start with a random number off the top of my head for no reason. I like to keep them on their toes!

Another way I keep them thinking about numbers during their daily routine is by consistently writing odd numbers in red and even numbers in green. Why? Because red means stop!  Why do we stop for odd numbers? Because someone or something doesn't have a partner! Since the even/ odd concept is in the common core for second grade, I mention it often, and constantly bring up that odd numbers are odd because they can't be paired off. They know what it's like to be without a partner, and that personal connection helps them remember why even numbers are different from odd numbers!  (Brain research tells us this.)

Here's another thing I do that helps the children internalize number concepts: I change my jobs after each set of ten! Most teachers change their classroom jobs weekly. I used to do that, but I realized how changing after 10 days will help internalize that concept of ten for these kids, especially since sets of ten is huge in our number system!

Do you have any routines that help secure number concepts? 

How about reading concepts?

Playing Math Games to Strengthen Important Skills

I find games to be a great way to learn and develop skills.

Brain research tells us that adding the element of fun helps to connect the memory. Isn't that a great reason to play learning games?

I like to teach a game during small group instruction time, so I can watch the children play and make sure they are focused on the learning goal. I'll have them play a couple of times with guidance before I let them play on their own.

After a game has been introduced and practiced, it will be available as a choice during math stations or centers.  There are times when certain children are assigned a particular game as well.

It's a good idea to allow the children to play games below their level, as these are important skills that should be mastered in order to perform the higher skills with ease. Just because the skills are easy for the child doesn't mean they don't have value! In fact, if the game isn't somewhat easy, it won't be fun for the children. Also, if the game isn't somewhat easy, the children will be more likely to make mistakes, which won't help them master the skills. I've learned "practice makes permanent," and we don't want to make incorrect skills permanent, do we? If you've ever had to unlearn a bad habit, you'll know just what I mean!

I have a series of BINGO games that I designed to go along with second-grade skills. They all have a sports theme, which is a big draw for the kids. I find once they learn the format of a particular game, it takes less time to teach a similar game, meaning more time practicing each skill!

You can find this resource here:  Par 3 Adding 3 Addends

As mentioned above, once the students know the format and how the game works, they can play similar games to strengthen similar skills. It just so happens that I have several math games that follow this same format with different sports themes that can be found here:

Sports Themed Bingo Math Games

Still looking for more math games to strengthen their skills?

Here are plenty more Math games, including several freebies! Math Games Category
 

Games are a great way to build skills AND have fun!  Enjoy!