Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Whether at home or in a classroom, I am a fan of sneaking math in at every turn. When children are having so much fun that they do not even realize they are learning or practicing skills that is where the magic really lives. Within the Universal Design for Learning framework this falls under Engagement.
This year for the Thanksgiving holiday my family and I stayed at a cabin near the mountains of Virginia. It was such a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of being home in the Ft. Lauderdale area. In the small town that we were staying in, not only did it get dark quite early this time of year, but most of the local businesses close down early as well. This gave us the perfect opportunity for a family game night. We went down to the hospitality center to choose a game to bring back to our cabin to play. My children who are used to math being embedded at every turn said, “No math games Mom!” Whenever we have a family game night at home I whip out all of my “mathy” favorites like Blokus, Oh No 99, Battle Ship, etc. At my children’s request we chose a game they actually had not played before that they thought had no math in it - Scrabble! Yes, my middle school children had never played Scrabble. We had an absolute blast and my favorite part is the amount of math that they did not even realize they were doing! They did not get the points unless they calculated the points for the words themselves. And honestly they were so focused on the words and making “real” words that they did not even think about the mental calculations they were doing when it came for the scorekeeper to record the points.
Double word score = add all of the values of the letters in the word(s) and multiply the total by two.
Triple word score = add all of the values of the letters in the word(s) and multiply the total by three.
When you have to double or triple the value of letter in the word somewhere it adds a layer of difficulty.
They didn’t shy away from the math because they WANTED the points! We spent a whole evening doing mental calculations to score points and to make strategic decisions and they never ever realized it. Sneaky math for the win!
