It's been a very enlightening and encouraging read. Told from Rafe's experiences as a teacher who has mastered creating a classroom culture of trust and high academic achievement, he shares great tips on how to recreate a similar environment and why it's absolutely necessary. I recommend you pick up a copy, especially if you're a new teacher. It helps set you on the right path, gets you in the right mindset and shares some great tips that's easily implementable.
One of the ideas I've taken away is a mental math warm up activity. I don't know about you, but I confess to not pushing my students enough on practicing mental math because it's often difficult for them but it's a necessary skill that will aid them for the rest of their lives. In chapter 5, "Add It Up", Rafe shares a short activity that he does with his students that caught my attention and I thought I'd share it here for teachers who'd like a quick and easy activity to get them started.
It's simple in setting up and simpler to do. Each student gets number tiles (0-9) that they keep in their desks in a baggie and they pull them out when you pose a mental math problem.
In gist, that's about it. I've created the following pdf to help you set it up in your classrooms. Included is a little summary about the activity and the number tiles. Just print, cut, laminate and put them in baggies for your students and voila! You're 90% there already. Just teach the routines and procedures around the activity and your students will be on their way to mastering mental math.
Click on the picture above to get the document!
How do you practice mental math in your classroom? Leave comments below if you implement something similar to this, something different or will be trying it out!
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