Glass Bead part 1

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Here are the game pieces. The students will put them on the glass bead game board. I hope to have them come up with the relationships between the fractions and ratios above. They can link them in many ways. I am curious how they will link them together!!

• The first time I did this with a room my instructions were not clear.
• I asked them to find relationships between the values on the number chart. I then wanted them to place the values on the game board and write what the link was.
• They were to write the link between the values on the connection lines in the game.
• I rushed the direct teaching part of this lesson. Oops 20 20 is great for hindsight.
  

This was a group activity and not competitive. These students wanted to be fed the answers. I wasn't in a feeding mood so I made them talk among themselves and slowly the ideas started to trickle. By the end of the class some light bulbs had been lit!!

The joy of my teaching load is that I have four rooms who all get the same lesson so I tried again with the next room.

What had I learned from the first lesson...

1. More front loading. I had the students find as many similarities and differences between the values on the chart.
2. Following the obvious similarities...common values. half, three quarters etc I made them look for more similarities and differences.
   
3. Some students found common numerators, decimals in ratios etc.
4. They also found more differences. Mainly they focused on greater than and less than.
5. I let the students cut out the game pieces and place them on the board. This tactile experience made a difference.
   

These groups now had more info to use the on the game board. with this information they all were able to fill in the game board.

I posted the information to the blog and expected them to create another game board using he same chart of data. I hope they come up with other more complex relationships between the values and be ready to play the game competitively in the classroom.

Whether this is the way to play the game or not I think that this has potential.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Was I clear in what I did with my students? Please leave me a comment.