PamlaJJ's Learning Library

The correct use of a ruler to measure linear objects in both centimeters and inches is an important skill primary students need to learn. This activity gives students an opportunity to do just that. It could also be used to teach students how to measure the perimeter of an object.

I love integrating subjects whenever possible. Pairing literacy and math activities gets all the intellectual juices flowing together. I also love to write poetry for children. If I can make the poem educational as well as fun to read, all the better. Happily, I was able to do all these things in this combined poetry and math activity. The poem introduces the concept of dividing single whole objects - in this case, a pear, a sandwich, and a pizza - into fractional pieces including halves

This activity emphasizes elementary math concepts such as graphing, counting, addition, subtraction, greater than, less than, and comparing. It can be extended by adding shared writing and reading activities. As Valentine's Day approaches, kids look forward to eating the candy conversation hearts that are ubiquitous during this season. This unit provides the teacher with an opportunity to put all that sugar to good use! Each student starts with their own supply of candy hearts. They s

To counteract the possible loss of learning students seem to experience over the summer, I created a summer calendar full of fun learning activities. It encourages students to read, write in a journal, problem solve, and think mathematically throughout their summer break. Each day presents a new challenge. The calendar begins on Memorial Day and ends on Labor Day.

This Lost Tooth Graph lets your class keep a visual record of how many teeth students have lost throughout the year. It is designed to go on the wall near your calendar and stay there until the last day of school. Kids are always excited to share their dental losses as well as visits from the tooth fairy, so they will be anxious to add to it from day one. Creating it together helps to build your classroom community. You can also use the graph to reinforce a variety of math concepts. A Lost Tooth

This seasonal activity emphasizes math skills including sorting, creating and interpreting graphs, greater and less than, and addition and subtraction. It turns one of most children's favorite holidays into a fun learning experience. Students are first asked to sort their candy into six different groups. These groups have been brainstormed and agreed upon by their whole class prior to trick-or-treating. Students then fill in a graph to show how many pieces of candy they received in each group.

I love integrating subjects whenever I can. If I an combine language arts with math in one academic exercise, I�ll do it! I also love to write poetry for children. If I can make the poem educational as well as fun to read, all the better. Happily, I was able to do all of these things in this combined poetry and math activity. The concept of recognizing and counting coins is presented in the poem itself. I tried to make the rhythm easy to keep and kids will be quick to point out the rhym

The only thing that could make an elementary school teacher enjoy the summer more would be knowing all those students you pushed, prodded and cajoled into making a full year’s growth are finding time to read, write, and retain the skills you put so much effort into teaching them. You can feel confident this will happen if you make use of the Summer Journal I’ve created. It provides plenty of writing opportunities, encourages students to read, and keeps kids practicing math through out the s

Years ago, before programmed math texts informed us of its importance, savvy teachers understood the value of the classroom calendar as a math instructional tool. Even in its simplest form, it can serve as a template for teaching number patterns, the concept of odd and even, computation facts, and many other math basics. Even if it�s never used as a foundation for math lessons, a calendar provides information students need to know about their daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. It also

Teaching children how to add requires them to understand the concept of combining objects to create a larger whole and learning how to represent that combination symbolically. Giving students the opportunity to manipulate objects to represent addition equations helps children move from a conceptual to a representative level of understanding. The math menu activities I present here provide students with opportunities to make that leap in a variety of fun ways. Like the offerings at a restauran