Week 6 ( Mathematics and dance)

 Reading Reflection :

This week I chose the following reading:

Jim Henle (2021). Mathematics that dances.

This was a fun reading and I got some great ideas about some activities that can be used in a classroom as a warmup exercise or icebreaker activities. The authors started the article with a disclaimer that this article is for mathematical structure that gives us pleasure. Usefulness, significance or truth are not the point of this column. (I appreciated this honest disclaimer - many times I have wondered -that if I am the only one who is not able to see or understand the mathematical curricular connections of a particular fun activity that is presented in conferences, or pro-d days etc. Some activities are meant for pure pleasure and as an educator that gives me a lot to think about  - often times we are so involved in trying to find the relevance or usefulness of what we are teaching  that the fun element tends to be overlooked). Definitely a food for thought - how can I make my classroom a more pleasurable experience for the children.

I enjoyed the various examples of mathematical dance structure activities shared in this article - Change ringing exercise, Challenge square dancing, juggling, Boxtrot. I would recommend book marking this column if you are looking for some creative fun activities to do with your class. The one activity that really stood out to me - I am sharing here and will be definitely using in my classroom as a fun icebreaker. 

Triangle Game : The participants of the game spread out randomly. Each player mentally (silently) selects two of the other players as “partners.’’ Then, when the organiser tells them to start, everyone moves, attempting to form an equilateral triangle with their partners. Of course, those partners are in turn seeking their own equilateral relationships.

Question :  Is there a particular fun activity/icebreaker game that you use in your classrooms or gatherings for a group activity.

Activity  

 I chose to do the clapping hands activity - did it with my family at home as this was our second consecutive week being sick at home. 

Clapping hands is a great exercise in terms of lessons and sequences and I can totally see this being used in a math classroom for younger children. My 3 year old really enjoyed this activity, it did take her some time to get a hang of what we were doing., but gradually she seems to be grasping the ideas of patterns. We combined the clapping hand activity with counting, so it was easier for kids to follow. It was 5 of us doing the activity. So our pattern looked like this:

 1 1 1 1 1       12  12  12  12  12  12       123  123   123   123   123  ………..

Overall, I thought this weeks’ readings and activities were fun and engaging and intriguing and can especially be used with younger children.