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Here in Upstate New York, spring is a cause for major celebration. After months of hibernating we are finally able to open the windows, breathe fresh air and feel the sun. I love to lean into the excitement of the season to inspire and engage with some fun spring math activities. It doesn’t take much to bring that beautiful spring energy into the classroom.
Take Your Spring Math Activities Outside!
A sure way to ring in the season is to get up and get out! Take advantage of the space and environment.
- Create a number line using chalk for your students to walk along as they count, add, subtract or round.
- Tally the number of birds, pinecones, insects or cars you see and use them to create a data table. Allow students to write their own questions about the data set.
- Keep it simple! Bring paper/pencil partner games outdoors on clip boards and let the change in scenery work it’s magic to keep your students engaged.
Let The Season Inspire Story Problems
When it comes to story problems, half the battle is helping our students to comprehend- it’s one reason why I love numberless word problems so much- the focus is all on the action! Allow your students to write their own story problems inspired by the season- they can then share and solve one another’s problems.
- Write a put together story about ladybugs.
- Write a take away story about tulips in a garden.
- Write an add to story about baby birds in a nest.
Have An Egg Hunt
Need to add a little bit of excitement to practice? Make it an egg hunt! You can make the activity as simple as cutting part a worksheet and putting each problem into a different egg or as complicated as putting play money inside of the eggs for your students to count. Your entire class can hunt at the same time or you can set this up as a math center so fewer students are moving at once.
- Write a letter on each egg. (You can use this set over and over!)
- Create a recording form (or grab this one) with space for students to show their work.
- Put something to solve inside of each egg. As you fill the eggs, record the answer on your own recording form to create a quick answer key.
- Scatter or hide the eggs indoors or out. As your students solve a problem they will replace the contents of the egg and put the egg back where they found it before moving to a new egg.
Decorate The Room
Spring Math Crafts are some of my favorite spring math activities! Each comes with an accompanying recording form for use as a formative assessment or spiral review. Then, let your students get to work turning their math activity into a fun spring craft. Hang finished pieces up around your room or create a beautiful bulletin board for other classes to admire as they walk through the halls. They make great emergency math sub plans too!