A few months ago I decided to write a book about math trails. I thought it would be easy because I am so passionate about the topic, but it is hard to convey the excitement of an outdoor math adventure on paper. I've been wondering if this should be a movie instead. Today's blog is a sharing of some of the work a math group has been doing the past week outdoors. On this math trail there are a few stations where the students will find a white board with a problem on it typical of what we've been doing in our class. They have a trail map to record their work and answers on a clipboard.
The magnetic garage door of the theater building is an excellent stop on the trail now that we have a set of large magnetic money.
And by the way, in case you've ever wondered, money can grow on trees when you are doing math outdoors....
and even in the garden. These kind of math adventures are so much fun because it is a lot like an Easter egg hunt!
Speaking of Easter egg hunts, at station #3 on the trail three eggs were hidden under a traffic cone. Each one had 6 shells in it. The traffic cones are a great way to make it clear where the math stations are set up.
The driveway is part of our outdoor classroom. We used cement paint to mark large number lines and a blank hundreds chart here.
Here you can see a sample of some of our manipulatives; wooden number blocks that the shop classes helped to create, felt number patches that were made last year in sewing classes and wooden ten sticks. This student has just solved 82-29. These activities all happened on the school grounds not far from the buildings. Maybe next time we will see what a math trail can look like in the woods down by the creek.
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