Recycled Calendars for Puzzle Math

I totally jacked this idea from Teacher Tipster. You can see his super video here and get a chuckle at the part where he struggles to get down on all fours :P (I think Chris Farley lives on.). He used the idea of recycling old calendar pages (hope you held on to your yours) to create ordering puzzles.

You 1) cut them into even strips of about one inch using a cutter. Then, 2) using stickers at the top, you write a set of numerals, alphabet letters, pattern shapes, etc. After mixing the strips up, 3) students place the strips in order, and they know they're correct if the picture matches up.

I made a bunch of these puzzles for putting decimals and fractions in order from least to greatest as you can see above and below.

This is a great self-checking game that can be used in so many ways. A big thanks to Teacher Tipster for his ingenious creativity.

Happy Recycling!

Vocabulary Recycling Soccer Match!

So, I snagged this cute idea on Pinterest from the Making Learning Fun Blog on converting strawberry baskets into hockey goals and having students practice skills with bottle caps. Here in the South I decided to make them soccer goals, not hockey :P.

Here's what I did for this fun game that really kept my Spanish immersion students engaged in practicing some tough science vocabulary on light.

Preparation:

1) A student brought in two plastic strawberry baskets.  I cut one side off of each, so they could be positioned like soccer goals.

2) Then I made some Avery #5410 labels with our light unit vocabulary. I put the definitions on tops of bottle caps and the terms on the inside of the caps.

Rules of the Game:

1) To play, students place the "goals" on opposite ends of the table.
2) Taking turns, they choose a bottle cap, read the definition, and name the corresponding term.

3) They check their answer on the inside of the cap, and if correct, they can take a shot at their opponent's goal by flicking the cap with their finger. If it goes in, they win the cap. If it doesn't, they return it to the pile. If they don't know the definition, they return the cap, and it's the next person's turn.

(Casi! The heart box in the background serves as the storage container for the caps.)

4) Continue playing until all caps have been won. The winner with the most caps wins.

This game is fun, free (except for the Avery labels), and good for the environment. Give it a try!