Going outside provides a lot of room for your visual and kinetic learners. Have the school consider painting a 100 grid on the paved part of the school property. This one investment in permanent pavement marking, and an ongoing supply of sidewalk chalk, provides a wide variety of learning opportunities for math classes and play opportunities during recess. The school may soon find itself wanting to add a few more. Notice that the grid in the illustration is made up of 10x10 spaces; that is, 11x11 dots.
 |
| iqpg.co.uk |
Dot-to-Dot and Other Games
During recess, a few student might play dot-to-dot on it. Each student has a different color chalk. Players take turns connecting 2 un-joined horizontally or vertically adjacent dots with sidewalk chalk. A player who completes the fourth side of a 1x1 box earns one point and gets another turn. The game ends when all lines are drawn and boxes are claimed. The player with the most points wins.
Other games that can be played on a hundred grid are Battleship, Mazes, Hopscotch or Tic-Tack-Toe. Students can design their own Snakes and Ladders board!
Graphing
Adding y-axis and x-axis coordinates to the grid allows you and your class to practice many different graphing concepts on it, including geometry and all its rotating, flipping, and so on.
 |
| iqpg.co.uk |
Fractions
The hundred grid can be a guide on which to visualize fractions, subdividing one whole shape into parts.
Multiplication
The hundred grid can be filled in with a multiplication chart, or the numbers 1-100 to practice skip-counting.
Cardinal Points
Teachers can also design a maze to help third grade students become familiar with cardinal points and initial mapping skills. Indicate the cardinal points outside the grid and a starting point onto the grid. Then get them to take turns making it to the designated end point by designing a way through the grid.
For example:
- from the starting point, move 3 squares north.
- Then move 2 squares west.
- Then move 3 squares north
- Then move 4 squares south, etc.
Another option is to use cardinal points to find something in the grid, like leaves. Taking turns, the students put an x on a designated starting point and then the teacher, or a fellow student, tells that student to go North 3 boxes and East 2 boxes. The student identifies the leaf (or whatever) they landed on.
 |
| karacarrera.com |
Simple water will clean the slate for the next use. Most of these ideas were found at IQ Playgrounds, an Irish company.
Comments