Share

Driving Question: 

What are the different ways we can represent Algebra

Math
Grade 6
Download as a Discovery Card

The Algebra Carnival was a cross-campus project where 6th grades were planning to teach algebra concepts to lower elementary students. Teachers shared topics with students and the students in small groups had to design carnival-like activities to teach concepts to their younger peers. The main focus beyond math education was cooperation and collaboration, making math fun and peer to peer connection. The teachers also teamed up with the elementary school elementary teachers and had opportunities to each in each other's classroom.

      Student Reflection

      What did you get from the Algebra Carnival?

      • I learned how to teach younger kids and how to simplify my language so that they could understand.
      • I learned to have more patience with small kids.
      • I think that teaching something easy takes work I also learned that cooperation is important. 

      What did you notice about the students that you were teaching?

      • I noticed how kindergardeners already had a background about algebra and patterns, although it wasn’t as deep as ours. 
      • I noticed that some students got the answer right away, but others we had to teach by using unit blocks.
      • I noticed that they were all on different  levels in math.

      Did you enjoy the Algebra Carnival?  Is so, why?  If not, why?

      • I really liked the carnival because we got to teach the kindergardeners math. 
      • I loved the carnival!  The kids were all adorable and they learned super fast!
      • I enjoyed teaching different types of kids the same thing over and over again, but their reactions were the best part! 

      If you could do something differently, what would you do?

      • I hope that we could have more time for each station so we could prepare more fun activities and spend more time with each kid.  
      • Make it harder
      • I would want to choose why class we taught 
      • I would work more on the first day, so I wasn’t rushed on the second day
      • If we could have done something different, I would make more colorful posters and had stickers for prizes
      Student Products

      -Students were assigned a task – an algebraic topic "fill in the blank" or identify the problems to prepare

      -Students in groups design a task that was age appropriate for lower elementary and create an activity to teach it. 

      -Recognize when students got "it" and when they needed to reteach or move on.  

      -turn your station into a carnival booth? 

      -students were expected to assess the learning and decide whether they got it.  

      -they taught the lesson 5 different times. 

      Teacher Reflection

      “What we took away from this project is deeper thinking about how this could be an enriching activity by tweaking it beyond just a fun activity. We recognized how to adjust our teaching to help challenge or reexplain key math principles.  Another reflection is that we have to think about how to differentiate in unique ways for all students. We also learned how important it was to explain the relationships between numbers and concepts. We need to think more about how can we make this "stick" and have a deeper meaning and apply it toward other learning. We will think in the future how to make lessons more meaningful for the students. We liked how the project only took 2 days, one day of planning and one day teaching in the other school.” - Josh Sadek and Jolene Collier

      Designers

      Jolene Collier

      Josh Sadek

      Explore More Cards

      Story Corp

      Garden Project

      Writing an Album

      Wheelchair Ramps

      Political Magazines

      Dietary Guidelines

      Cooking With Chemistry