Donna Lasher If you like this lesson, you might also be interested in Mathemagic and Artichmetricks: Connecting Math Patterns to Magic or Learn a Calendar Trick ~ Explain the Math. Subscribe to the blog for updates and lesson ideas. Here are two “arithmetrick” challenges in which students learn to perform card tricks and then are challenged to … Read more
I’m sure you’ve done it. You remember it. At some point in your school career, you had to stand before the class and teach a lesson or share something you had learned. Our teachers, and their teachers before them, knew what we still know: “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” – Aristotle “While … Read more
Teachers, if you cannot access the puzzles or tutorials, please contact your district about approving this website or access through a personal Gmail account. Even if you “request access,” some of the school servers block access. MESSAGE if you have a question! HERE’S A CHALLENGE! How many words with five or more letters can you … Read more
Not everyone is a writer, and many of my advanced students say they hate writing. But the brain is activated in a different way and learning is enhanced when a student writes, sketches, or even doodles by hand rather than texting or typing. Three things encouraged me to have my students create learning logs : … Read more
by the GATEway Gals Many teachers who work with advanced and gifted students create their own lessons and units, and some make them available for purchase. The GATEWay GALS are the first to write a guest blog post for BIG IDEAS for LITTLE SCHOLARS. In it, they share a little about their products and how … Read more
Teachers, if you cannot access the puzzles or tutorials, please contact your district about approving this website or access through a personal Gmail account. Even if you “request access,” some of the school servers block access. MESSAGE if you have a question! It’s been a couple of decades since Sudoku first appeared in newspapers in … Read more
If you have animal lovers in your class, especially dinosaur fanatics, you may have some students who find it intriguing and fun to learn the scientific names of animals. Beginning in early grades, students are introduced to the classification of living things. However, lessons in the lower grades usually focus on the main classes of … Read more
Here are some games to present to your students in a new way. Rather than teaching the game or activity, challenge students to figure out what’s happening. Let them determine the rules or guidelines being followed. The game Dotty Six would be easy to teach students, and it’s appropriate for players of all ages. However, … Read more
The game of Mastermind has been around for decades and it reinforces not only logical thinking but also a number of math concepts (e.g. combinations, permutations, probability). My students, from third grade up, have always enjoyed it. I wanted to adapt it for younger students, so I created a beginner version that requires only these … Read more
Here’s a construction activity that a group of students can complete in less than an hour using just newspapers and tape. It’s a great activity to integrate into a study of STRUCTURES or SYSTEMS, through lessons such as the ones found on the PBS site, Building Big. Before building these domes, you might want to … Read more
