Have you ever heard the Beatles song, “I get by With a Little Help from my Friends”? Not only is it a catchy tune, but the title encompasses what it is like to be a teacher. Having a teacher community to help along the way lowers the stress and builds camaraderie. One of the biggest and best teacher communities is the Lucky Little 2nd Grade Teachers facebook group. The group page is always bursting with ideas and helpful tips given by teachers in the field. Recently, a member of our facebook community, Shannon, shared an amazing idea: A math vocabulary parade! This post is dedicated to this new idea, and how you can host a vocabulary parade in your school.
For more details on this engaging project, we interviewed Shannon, and her wisdom is spread throughout this post.
What is a Math Vocabulary Parade?
You might be thinking, just what is a math vocabulary parade? Simply put, it is a way to enhance math vocabulary comprehension. Students will need to focus on their assigned word to create/decorate their hats, floats, etc. By doing so, students become an expert on their vocabulary word and definition.
Setup & Materials Needed
The parade can be as big or as small you want it to be. Parade through the entire school, or just your hallway. Invite parents, or just show other classrooms. However, Shannon can give us a helpful start!
To make the hats:
You will need:
- Posterboard
- Math vocabulary posters
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To Make the Floats:
You will need:
- Wagons
- Tablecloths, wrapping paper or butcher paper
- Foam board
The wagons will hold your large anchor charts. Each wagon could be one of the math strands covered in your curriculum.
Bonus idea: Create poster sized versions of the Lucky to Learn math anchor charts with this tip.
You can mount this anchor chart to foam board. Shannon used two perpendicular pieces of foam board that stood up in the wagon.
Pics of The Big Day
Tips & Tricks Video
Watch the entire interview with Shannon below!
How to make the Parade Hats
Kids LOVE wearing these hats in the parade! They are super easy to make too. All you need is poster board, a glue stick, scissors, and masking tape!
- Cut the poster board into strips.
- Roll the strip into a cylinder shape and the ends together.
- Trace a circle that is about two inches wider than the cylinder on another piece of poster board.
- Cut out the circle. Cut another jagged-lined circle on the inside.
- Fold the jagged “tabs” over the cylinder and tape the two parts together.
Hopefully this post and Shannon's interview helped clear up any questions you may have before venturing out and creating your own parade.
As Shannon said, ” We are all in this together. I firmly believe in lifting each other up as educators and sharing our knowledge. The students, our classrooms, and ourselves benefit all benefit this way.”
Happy teaching!
Where did you get all the wagons? Did people donate them or let you borrow them? Thanks!
Hello Dawn, Great question! I believe helpful parents and other teachers let Ms. Shannon borrow the wagons for her parade. Hope this helps and have a great day!
Thank you for this great idea, my class loved it and I know they will remember the meaning of those words forever!