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What does playful learning look and feel like in your classroom?
What does playful learning look and feel like in your classroom?
We have used play-dough to engage students in multi-sensory play to help learn and practice snap words and comparison symbols. Students built the two numbers they were comparing out of play dough and then built the symbol. If a student was stuck on what symbol to use we looked at the tens place together, then the ones, and used the play dough to pretend to "eat the bigger number" as though it were an alligator's mouth. Students were engaged in guided discovery learning through different multi-sensory materials, while having fun with the mathematical concepts.
Students have been given the choice of different materials to use when practicing spelling our snap words. We participated in a Snap Word Boot Camp, where students could travel to different stations and use a fun material to spell a snap word. They used counting cubes, rice, play-dough, and even their bodies (alphabet aerobics) to practice these skills.
A student spells the word "eat" using building blocks in order to learn the word in a snap.
A student spells the word "big" in rice to practice using a different tactile material.
Students were practicing solving word problems that had a two missing parts. While using a part, part, whole mat they were given the opportunity to engage in a game where one student hid some objects under a container and the other studnet had to guess how many of each part there was. They used math language and wrote an equation with labels to help guide the students to solve the word problem. Play was incorporated into this practice by making it a game and allowing students to choose what material they wanted to hide. Many of them cheered when they heard their options, pom poms, plastic bugs, or coins (pennies and dimes)!
Amanda-- I love the variety of materials and centers in all of these pictures. The element of play, ownership, and joy is evident in every center. I love the idea of using play dough in math beyond addition and subtraction. I can tell your students loved the idea as well! -Maddy Hyde
Hi Amanda, I love using Play-Doh to write Trick Words! It’s such a fun and creative way to help the children not only learn to encode the words but also engage with them kinesthetically by physically forming the letters. It seems like a great way to reinforce learning! -Kim O'Connor
I love that you incorporate so many multi-sensory activities into the content areas. I'm sure your students love working with the materials and that they are learning so much more! You've got me thinking of ways to try to make my Wilson lessons more "hands-on."
-Angelina Scaringella
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