Squares, triangles, cubes, and cones.

Hello everyone,

During this week's class, we focused on the strand, Geometry and Spatial Sense! I found this week's lesson to be really engaging and exciting.

Let's just say my colleague's presentation was quite delicious!

During their ten minute presentation, they asked us, the students, to create three-dimensional polygonal shapes using toothpicks and marshmallows. I found classroom management to be difficult for the presenters because it was hard to keep the students from eating the marshmallows.


Once this presentation was over, we moved onto a group activity that connected to games that we play outside of the classroom - Battleship! Without realizing it, we were learning about coordinates on a graph.

Our team's task was to create our own version of ships on a laminated grid with dry erase markers. We were to create lines up to 5 squares in length. I found this game to be a little challenging because the grid was so large and there were hundreds of points on the grid for a ship to be located.

I found this activity to be really fun and engaging for the class. The students were able to learn how to coordinate points on a grid and do so in a strategic way. The activity was really engaging because it allowed us to be more competitive towards our classmates. We were eager to win so we had to think of possible positions in which the other team's ships were located. I will definitely use this activity in my future placements.

Because math is a subject that is difficult for many students to truly enjoy, I think it's important for teachers to find as many possible ways to make it engaging and exciting. It's not necessary for teachers to integrate online interactive mathematical games. With a dry erase marker and laminated paper, a math lesson can become the highlight of a student's day.