Math Choice Boards for Distance Learning
How’s distance learning going for you? My mind has been racing for days now about how I can offer you resources that take a little work off of your plate, but remain highly purposeful for your students.
Math Menus are a great way to keep your 2nd graders engaged with the standards, and I wanted to share a little more about them with you all today!
First, how could math menus make at-home learning easier on you, as a parent, or an educator?
They alleviate planning stress.
We are high in demand and short on time right now. The idea of distance learning started immediately for some teachers, where others were given a week or so to prepare. It’s difficult to prepare for something you’ve never done before, so my hope is that these learning menus give you one ‘grab and go’ solution for your math planning!
Every 2nd Grade domain is covered in these menus individually, as well as menus that review all skills. (There are
3rd Grade Menus to practice those standards, too!)
They make differentiation a little easier.
One of the biggest burdens of this time of digital learning is trying to plan for all of the different types of learners you have in your classroom...but from a distance. It’s difficult to make our lessons fit every child’s needs right now, and I believe that learning menus are a great way to help, because they provide choice for the families. You can assign menus to students based on the domain they need to practice, limit the number of boxes certain students must complete, or let them choose which project they want to complete. Each option differentiates the expectations for your different learners, easing the burden on the kids, their parents, and you!
They are engaging, and review things students have already learned.
I think we’d all agree that parents are hoping for assignments that will keep their students engaged, at the moment. Many are working from home, or are working in fields (like health care or food service) that are requiring grueling hours and new demands. One of the best ways we can help our families is to give the students work that they can engage in independently, and that they want to do. With assignments like planning a Disney trip, creating pizza fractions, and making your own board game...students are going to love the work they’re being asked to do. And the parents won’t complain about that one bit!
3 WAYS TO USE MATH MENUS IN DISTANCE LEARNING:
Post the menus digitally in your virtual classroom and assign certain boxes for completion each week (or let students choose one to complete). Students can complete any of these tasks on plain paper, with whatever they already have at home. They can take pictures of their work to submit back to you!
Include the menus of your choice in an at-home packet for students who don’t have access to technology. You can include the printables that go with them or just the menus that you want students to work on in their time home.
Privately email or message different boards and directions to students (or include different boards with some boxes blacked out) whom you want to practice certain domains separately. You can have one group working on addition and subtraction, another on measurement, and another reviewing all standards! These boards can work alongside the data you collected on your students this year!
Check out my 2nd Grade At Home Learning Menus and 3rd Grade Menus to get your students engaged deeply with the math standards today!