LINE UP for MATH!

By: Mary Kienstra on: January 27, 2014  in: Engagement, Line up, Math, numeracy, vocabulary

Do the students in your class have class numbers or birthdays or any way that they can describe themselves with a number?  Use those numbers to get your students to engage in more numeracy thinking every day!  
Use these ideas when it is time to call on groups of students or to line up in class.

LINE UP:

  • if your birthday month is an even number or…
  • if your birth date is an odd number or…
  • if your birth date is divisible by 3 or a factor of 2 or….
  • if your house number is divisible by 5 or…
  • if the sum of the digits in your cell phone number (or your family’s phone number) is a multiple of 6 or…
  • if your birthday month divided by your birth date is greater than 1 or…
  • if your shoe size times 6 divided by 4 is a whole number or…
  • if…  (insert your idea here)


After you have established these routines, add vocabulary to the process.   Try calling the kids with birthdays in prime number months.  Then, call the kids who have birthdays in composite number months.  Do you have a student with a January birthday?  If so, that student hasn’t lined up yet – because 1 is neither prime nor composite.  Right?  Students remember that!

When you assign homework, try asking your students to do ONLY the PRIME numbered problems or ONLY multiples of 3. Students learn quickly when it affects their homework.  

Get your kids thinking about numeracy all day long, not just during your math block.  It’s an easy way to bring math thinking into other parts of the day, without planning more curriculum or carving out time for further math lessons. 

Give it a try!  You’ll be surprised how engaging these numeracy games are and how much your students will enjoy this!!

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