We are all for integrating fun events with learning – anything to keep the kids engaged and thinking, right?
Halloween is no different.
Here in Australia, it is becoming more and more popular, so why not jump on a trend that students are already excited about?
There are many ways you can keep Halloween lessons academically focused.
Here are 5 easy to incorporate math workshop activities that are perfect for October, and will satisfy your students excitement for this celebration:
1. Board Games
Board games encourage students to discuss their thinking using mathematical language. They are fun and PERFECT for the interpersonal learners in the classroom.
Another great reason for board games is they are ideal for fast finishers or on rainy days when you are stuck in the classroom during breaks.
2. Times table chatterboxes
Halloween chatterboxes are the perfect way to build on multiplication fluency during the month of October (plus your students are going to LOVE them).
You can easily cater for learning needs by giving students different times tables to work on.
These chatterboxes / fortune tellers / cootie catchers are ideal for:
- A fun multiplication lesson
- As a lesson warm-up
- Halloween themed math rotation task
- Fast finisher task
- Homework activity or
- A revision lesson
If you teach a younger grade, we have addition & subtraction chatterboxes too. Find them here.
3. Spooky number of the Day
If you are a regular around here, you will know that we love a ‘number of the day’ activity (read more about why here).
In a nutshell, Number of the Day is a ready-to-go Math lesson based on a range of number sense skills. We created some Halloween themed templates that are short, sweet and great for number work during October.
(Psst: Number of the Day is also an ideal assessment that is open-ended so students can be working on different sized numbers!)
4. Number sorts
Number sorts require quick thinking and help develop student automaticity when manipulating numbers. You can create a simple number sort using many different skills quite quickly (put a halloween spin on it by writing your numbers on bats, spiders, ghosts or pumpkins).
Some examples of number sorts include:
- Odd and even numbers
- Prime and composite numbers
- Rounding up or rounding down
- Greater than or less than
Click the images to view these resources.
5. Fact Fluency
Finally, activities that focus on fact fluency will help students with Maths all year round. Why not make your ‘Friends to 20’, ‘Times tables’ or ‘Identifying factors’ activities into a Halloween theme. Here are some examples:
Click the images to view these resources.
We hope this post gave you some spooky inspiration in the lead up to Halloween. If you are looking for more ideas (that aren’t just about Maths), check out this blog post: 3 Halloween Freebies (that are Academically Focused!)
Need Halloween Math centres that are ready-to-go (aka teacher time savers!) Check out these:
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