Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Amazing Race Comes to Our Classroom!

 
I LOVE the show the Amazing Race...I mean, seriously, who doesn't?! I was fortunate enough to have our school's math specialist come in to do this math lesson with my kiddos. Although none of my kids had ever seen the show, let alone heard of it, it was a HUGE success! Here's how it worked:
 
1.) We discussed what the word SUM means ("it means to ADD, ADD, ADD!) and what the word DIFFERENCE means ("suuuuub-tract!). Students were going to have to know these key
words in order to participate in the game.
 
2.) All around the room, there were signs (we had 18 total) that had various math problems on them. These ranged from 1 point questions to 3 point questions (based on difficulty).
 
3.) We did one example together, then students were paired with a partner. Each team got a recording sheet, and their own piece of scratch paper to show their work.
 
4.) When the time began, each pair of partner had to go together to grab any of the signs around the room. Once they agreed on a sign, they brought it back to their desks and worked the problem seperately before discussing/agreeing upon an answer to record on their answer sheet.
 
5.) Whenever both partners were done, each had to raise his/her hand. A teacher would then go and check their work and star it on the answer sheet to award points or tell them to re-check their work.
 
Examples of some of the problems used:
 
Find the difference for the numbers 1,245 and 589. (1 point)
 
Jack bought a Snickers bar for $1.29 and a drink for $0.89. How much money did he spend in all? (2 points, showing work)
 
Create a C- (compare/subtract) word problem. (3 points)
 
Sally had $20. She bought an item from the store that cost $3.56. When she got home, her mom paid her her weekly allowance of $5.00. How much money does she have now? (3 points)
 
It was so fun to see my students so excited about math!  This lesson is definitely a keeper!
 

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