Make Math Fun

This summer I am taking both Mathematics for Elementary Teachers courses, and it is my goal to become an elementary school teacher.  As we are going through our chapters, learning and reviewing content I am constantly trying to think of ways that I could teach the new content to students and make it interesting and fun. 

As an elementary student long, long ago I remember sitting in desks taking notes and doing pages of exercises for homework often without any help and occasionally not understanding the content well enough to complete the work.  My goal as a teacher will be to make sure students understand the content prior to going home to practice the exercises so that it would eliminate the frustration of learning new math concepts.

I have been able to observe many wonderful teachers as well as my own children’s teachers at work in their classrooms, and I am so pleased that teaching seems to have really changed during the past few decades.  There are more hands on activities, use of manipulatives, more physical movement around the rooms, cooperative learning, and relating the content to their own lives.  This is a great improvement for helping children learn and making it fun and interesting.

This week in our chapter we were reviewing early numeration systems.  I think one that would be interesting for students to learn about is the Roman Numeration System. 

Some ideas for teaching elementary school students Roman numerals

• Show students the Roman numeral symbols and the equivalent in the Hindu-Arabic system also known as the base-ten place-value numeration system that we use.

 

• Ask children where they have seen these symbols.

 

 

• Examples – book pages, chapters, Super Bowl games, clocks, and dates on older buildings.

• Make Roman numeral bingo game for students.

• Have students play a matching game with the Roman numerals to the Hindu-Arabic numerals.

• Have students pair up and write the Roman numerals on paper or their white boards and have their partner write the equivalent in the Hindu- Arabic numerals.

• Take the children outside and let the students use sidewalk chalk to quiz each other on the Roman numerals and their equivalents in Hindu-Arabic numerals.

Fun website for kids learning Roman numerals

http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2012/03/roman-numeral-activities-for-kids.html