A collection of Mental Math Activities
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These (Google Slide) resources are best used in numerical order but they are not limited to such an approach... it is best to assess your students capacities and make the adjustments as necessary. Be careful to NOT RUSH the progression as this is what builds up the fluency. The design and pedagogy supports growth of discourse skills within students separate from the higher order CONTENT component of mathematics. Of course these skills will also SUPPORT later content knowledge and critical thinking skills, and can be used in a variety of settings, as needed or desired, throughout the year.
All of these activities are a single slide, mental processing experience. However, these may also be used in sequence with the embedded student artifact sheet. These are ALL created as open ended activities meant to encourage and support the DISCOURSE CULTURE within the room while building fluency, and could be used as part of your DAILY DO NOW activities. Doing SOME discourse every day (as a Do Now or other SHORT activity) is critical to integrating discourse into your CONTENT lessons as a regular part of the learning cycle. Realize that those times when you use DISCOURSE for CONTENT, they can take most of the class period to finish. These short activities build the Protocols and Perseverance necessary for the longer, deeper discussions. |
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The questions we want to raise for discussion are...
"What is the missing number?" ... followed by ... "How did you arrive at this conclusion?"
"What is the missing number?" ... followed by ... "How did you arrive at this conclusion?"
1 - SIMPLE SUMS:
3 - SIMPLE PRODUCTS:
5 - MIXED OPERATORS:
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2 - INTERMEDIATE SUMS:
4 - INTERMEDIATE PRODUCTS:
6 - ALGEBRAIC EXTENSIONS:
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USER NOTE: All of these will immediately prompt you to make YOUR OWN modified copy so you do not need to request any permissions from me through Google...
Enjoy and let me know how things go!
Enjoy and let me know how things go!
These can be as rich as you would like to make them using your own PCK to enrich (but NOT scaffold) the student experience. On each of the GOOGLE SLIDE activities, within the notes section, you will find some of the possibilities which students might uncover, but I am sure you will be able to add your own to the list. After a while you might just CREATE your own! If so please invite me to share your activities and I will add them to the site for others to use. Good Luck and ENJOY! Make it FUN to learn and talk in your room... and YOU will reap great benefits from student growth and engagement.
These activities are based upon KAGAN structures which can be furhter explored on their site.
These activities are based upon KAGAN structures which can be furhter explored on their site.
scaffolding discourseUsing Kagan Sturctures, which I believe can serve as scaffolding tools in this specific order, when working toward full DISCOURSE... They can also stand alone to be used in any number of integrated strategies. Check them out at: www.KaganOnline.com
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Extend these DO NOW strategies into thoughtful Discourse...
...Bridging the gap with math discussions. What's the Gist?
Initially student will begin by SILENTLY considering which of the four choices MIGHT possibly be a CORRECT answer for the given mathematical expression... After which the Discourse Guide will be used to commit to their answer in writing, and then briefly JUSTIFY the choice with quality rationale.... Finally students will use table partner(s) to discuss these choices as they compare to one another WITHOUT changing any answers and close with a share out. 
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