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Incorporate foreign foods into your Health lesson!

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Incorporate foreign foods into your Health lesson!

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LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

LA: Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

SCI: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

SS: Explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns.

SS: Give examples that show how scarcity and choice govern our economic decisions.

SS: Distinguish between needs and wants.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

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What's for Lunch Around the World? on crayola.com

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LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. LA: Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

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Talk about traditions and practices - in any class! 

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Talk about traditions and practices - in any class! 

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Use some time in your English period to talk about a language other than English and more personal to your second language learners!

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Use some time in your English period to talk about a language other than English and more personal to your second language learners!

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How To Say "I Love You" Around The World

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You little romantic, you... Facebook Share:http://on.fb.me/1wWEwSi Like BuzzFeedVideo on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/18yCF0b Twitter Share: http://bit.ly/1uchWsW Music: "All That I Need" by Warner/Chappell Production Music Featuring: Premrudee Nuengla Daphine Biruma Zosia Garcia Sledzinska Dave Iyer Luwam Mikael GET MORE BUZZFEED: www.buzzfeed.com www.buzzfeed.com/video www.youtube.com/buzzfeed www.youtube.com/buzzfeedvideo www.youtube.com/buzzfeedyellow www.youtube.com/buzzfeedblue www.youtube.com/buzzfeedpop www.youtube.com/cnnbuzzfeed BUZZFEED YELLOW Tasty short, fun, inspiring, funny, interesting videos from BuzzFeed.

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Reiterate math skills by using games from other cultures - there are an infinite amount of resources available on the web that are reasonable to implement in the classroom!

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Reiterate math skills by using games from other cultures - there are an infinite amount of resources available on the web that are reasonable to implement in the classroom!

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Make a Cool Math Game that's Multicultural, too!

With four kids, it seems like every time we eat out at a restaurant, one of them inevitably decides to draw a Tic-Tac-Toe board to challenge their dad or I. And while most children in the United States are familiar with this classic three-in-a-row game, what they may not know is that variations of the "three-in-a-row" concept are played all over the world! I recently learned several from the book, Math Games and Activities From Around the World by Claudia Zaslavsky. I highly recommend this book, as kids learn not only all different types of math games and puzzles, but a great deal about other countries and cultures, too!

Shisima - A Cool Math Game from Kenya

The game I am sharing today comes from Kenya, a country in East Africa. It is called Shisima (which means "body of water,") because the center of the game board is the "water" and they call the game pieces impalavali (which means "water bugs"). The reason for this is that water bugs move very quickly, and it's hard to keep track of where they are. Likewise, Shisima players move their pieces so quickly, it's hard to keep up! Once you learn the rules and practice, maybe you will be able to move your impalavali as fast as the kids in Kenya!

Often kids in Kenya will simply draw a game board (which is in the shape of an octagon) in the dirt to play (much like we draw Tic-Tac-Toe boards anywhere), and use rocks or bottle caps as game pieces.

I decided to make a Shisima board for my kids that would be a little more durable, however, and you can too! All you need is a printer, some crayons or markers, a piece of cardboard and some glue!
To Make the Game:
Print the game board of your choice (one is blank, in case your kids want to practice using a ruler to draw the lines themselves, and one is ready to use).

Let your kids color the shisima blue like water, then cut out the pieces and glue the shisima to the center of the board.

Then simply glue the board to a piece of cardboard for added durability, and you've got a cool math game for the kids!
To Set Up the Game:
Each player has three game pieces. I used unifix cubes in 2 different colors, but you could use counters, coins, LEGOs, or anything you like, as long as you can tell the difference between the two players!

The game pieces are then set on three consecutive points of the octagon, across from each other, as seen in the picture below.
To Play Shisima:
Players take turns moving their game pieces one space. A move must be to an adjacent corner, or to the center ( shisima). Jumping pieces is not allowed, and there cannot be two pieces on the same space.
To Win:
To win the game, a player must get three of their pieces in a row, including one piece on the shisima. (Therefore, there are four possible ways to win the game).

My kids enjoyed playing this game, especially my oldest (six years old). But older kids might enjoy thinking through strategy, such as whether or not it's a good idea to move to the shisima on the first move, or how one might trap the other player so that it's impossible for them to block a win. You could also use the game board to discuss an octagon and its properties (number of edges and points), or other places we see the octagonal shape used in real life (For another fun shape game, try this shape scavenger hunt!).

Most importantly, however, is that you have fun!

More Cool Math Game Ideas from Math Geek Mama:

Bethany is the mom behind the blog, MathGeekMama.com, a website dedicated to helping parents and educators teach math in a way that is fun and engaging, while building a strong conceptual understanding of mathematics. When she's not playing with numbers, she's exploring with her four little ones, drinking way too much coffee, or soaking up the chaos of everyday life.

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With four kids, it seems like every time we eat out at a restaurant, one of them inevitably decides to draw a Tic-Tac-Toe board to challenge their dad or I. And while most children in the United States are familiar with this classic three-in-a-row game, what they may not know is that variations of the "three-in-a-row" concept are played all over the world!

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Take time out of your geography class talk to the class about homelands of your culturally diverse students - let students speak up and advocate for themselves and their culture if they are willing!

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Take time out of your geography class talk to the class about homelands of your culturally diverse students - let students speak up and advocate for themselves and their culture if they are willing!