An engaging and meaningful way to link ICT, Literacy & Numeracy A literacy/numeracy week project in grade 3/4A Bayswater Primary School

Introduction 25 Grade 3/4 students; although there was a vast range of abilities they all had one thing in common – a reluctance to multiply. There was a general feeling within the class that maths was too hard and something that only ‘really smart’ people were good at. I wanted to do something different that would engage all the kids, accommodate and challenge all abilities and show them all that maths can be fun for everyone.

Literacy and Numeracy Week As part of Literacy and Numeracy Week, we read the book “Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar” and talked about how numbers multiply and multiply again. This led to a discussion about factorials and large numbers. The children were fascinated by the size of the numbers and wanted to make their own stories based on this idea.

Mysterious Multiplying Stories All students had their own story ideas and settings from schools to underwater adventures. They began by creating their own simple story board with a page of challenge questions at the end.

Mysterious Multiplying Stories Students were given the option of working individually or with a partner. All were eager to get their ideas down.

Mysterious Multiplying Stories When their story boards were written and they had worked out the multiplication included in their story, students turned their simple story boards into Power point presentations. I had never seen my students so engaged. They were excited about the maths and wanted to share with everyone what they had achieved. They didn’t want to stop working on their presentations. When they finally were satisfied that they were finished all they wanted to do was write new stories.

Mysterious Multiplying Stories There weren’t enough computers for everyone to be working on their masterpieces at the same time. While they were waiting I shared with them a story I had created about aliens in space. Students worked on a series of problem solving questions (challenge questions) based on the story.aliens in space. Some of the questions required quite complex ideas and equations but the kids were so engaged and determined that they didn’t give up. This was a big shift in their attitude towards maths.

An example….

My math slide show By ***

1x There was 1 earth

1x6 The earth had 6 seas

1x6x4 Each sea has 4 ships

1x6x4x2 Each ship has 2 masts

Each mast has 5 sails 1x6x4x2x5

1x6x4x2x5x7 Each sail has 7 ropes

1x6x4x2x5x7 How many ropes altogether? 1x6=6 6x4=24 24x2=48 48x5= x7=1,680

Challenge questions How many ships altogether? How many ropes are there in each sea? If I had 3 seas, how many ships are there?

What I have learnt I have found out maths can be fun if you make it fun and is not hard if you take step by step and try.

Did I achieve what I set out to? All students in the class were now excited about maths. Students were using multiplication rather than relying heavily on repeated addition. Students were more confident in their mathematical abilities. Students had developed a ‘can do’ attitude towards maths. They were proud of their math stories and wanted to share them with anyone who would listen. All students were able to articulate at least 1 positive they had learnt.

Heads and Legs We then attempted the follow up lesson called Heads and Legs. We read the problem and the children used counters and match sticks as concrete material to make their animals. They had to decide how many roosters and cows were in the paddock. I took photos of their answers and documented their learning. I asked them how they went about solving their problem.

While I was documenting their learning the children were given other problems to solve using the same format but with different numbers. After we had shared our results the children were given a sheet where they could cut and paste the animals into the paddock. They then wrote their answers to one of the problems. When they had finished we used the computer software to extend the children’s knowledge and they played the Pigs and Chickens Game.

Some links… Times tables Graeme Henchel Symmetry Geoboard Splats