Learning on Halloween Day
Getting kids to learn on Halloween is hard enough but on a Monday it's even harder! Thankfully it was a half day and we did this while waiting for the parade to start. I put together a couple of ideas I gathered from Instagram and came up with Math or Treating! I needed something fun because the content was not easy since we were working with word problems.
The Hook
I started by writing a hook on my chalkboard the Friday before Halloween. They really wanted to know what it was and I said they had to wait until Monday. I knew I had them hooked!
Preparation
I bought 8 different treats or little goodies from the Dollar Store and Target. I had treats like Smarties and goodies like stickers. I placed them in containers that I already had and set up my small group table. I used orange sticky notes to label each container with a letter.
We've been working on multiplication so I had already created 8 multiplication word problem task cards using the same format they might see on the state test. Each card had a letter which corresponded with one of the containers of treats. I made copies on orange paper and gave each kid a set.
When the kids came in I gave them a paper to decorate that they would be attaching to a brown paper bag. This would serve as their goody bag which would hold their finished math cards and treats.
Solving Math Problems for Treats
The kids had to solve one of their word problem cards with their math partner. After solving a problem, they brought it back to me so I could check their answer. If it was right they could get a treat from the container that matched the letter on their card. (Next year I will be numbering the cards because some of the kids got confused with the mutliple choice question letters and the card letter.) They placed their treat and the solved problem in their goody bag and went off to solve another one.
If they had gotten an answer wrong I helped them figure it out. I also helped those that needed it during the activity. This was review for our test tomorrow and I wanted them to be able to do the problems correctly. After solving all 8 problems, they completed a Halloween word search while we waited for others to finish and the parade to start.
It was the perfect activity to do on this half day of Halloween! I will definitely be doing this again next year. I am sharing the sheet I created for the bags. Even though Halloween is over, with all the leftover candy you might have, this would be a great activity to do one day this week! Just click on the picture below to grab it. I hope you all survived Halloween day and even more so, will survive the aftermath on Tuesday!
