Using Kids Games and Fun Games to Teach Math

Have you ever tried to teach math to a child who was under-interested or rather bored? As an elementary and special education teacher, this scenario was more often than not the case. Elementary students today are used to kids games and fun games via the television, movies and computer. It may seem like competing with these activities is a death sentence for teaching math concepts, but don't give up. There are many ways to embed these kinds of activities into a teaching lesson that will appeal to the under-interested. This can be accomplished easily by learning how to integrate the kids games and fun games into a lesson plan or free and unassigned time activities. Knowing how to select research-based learning resources is the trick. There are many kids games and fun games but not all of them are appropriate for inclusion in a school.

Kids Games and Fun Games to Teach Math: Lesson Plans

Lesson plans are tools teachers use to define the goals of teaching, the outcomes to expect from the goal and the strategies or activities students will join in while participating in the lesson. Lesson plans can include using kids games and fun games to teach math concepts identified in the lesson plan. The trick to making this work is... finding resources for kids games and fun games related to math concepts that use research-based effective teaching strategies.

Kids Games and Fun Games to Teach Math: Selecting Resources

Once a teacher has developed a lesson plan for math, the next step is to locate kids games and fun games that are research-based to support the potential that students reach the goal of the lesson plan-learn the math concept. To find research-based resources a teacher needs to ascertain whether the kids games of the fun games they want to use meet these criteria: provides explicit directions or rules prior to starting the game, provides opportunities for practice before the "real" game begins, provides feedback on performance and keeps track of growth in performance over time.

Kids Games and Fun Games to Teach Math: Locating Resources

So far, the teacher has defined lesson plan goals and has decided to use kids games or fun games as their strategy or activity for supporting learning. In addition, the teacher knows what criteria to look for when selecting kids games or fun games to use in class. Now, the question becomes ...how does a teacher find resources that meet the required criteria? The answer is... google professional teachers of math organizations such as the National Council of Teaching Math or the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators and Consortium of Mathematics just to name a few.

These websites are managed by professional math teachers and educators who are scientifically trained and experienced in not only math but also education and teaching. They are knowledgeable of research-based math practices and are a good resource for finding appropriate kids games and fun games for teaching math concepts.

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