Create Active Learning Experiences With Vocabulary

How can you solve a division problem if you can’t identify the divisor? Having a good understanding of math vocabulary terms is essential in the elementary years.

That’s why we created Math Goes Extreme, our monthly back page feature, which connects real-world, record-breaking numbers to elementary math concepts and vocabulary.

Even the best teacher-generated word wall is still a passive learning experience for students. But make your word walls interactive and they become an active learning experience for every student involved.

Education experts Julie Jackson and Rose Narvaez write about how to create an interactive word wall for elementary science concepts. The associate professor at Texas State University in San Marcos and science specialist at Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio outline their process in five easy steps: planning, creating, placing, building, and completion.

Learn more about their work in this free article they wrote on the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) website.

There are many more ways to add math vocabulary lessons to your classroom.

You can include math terms in spelling assignments or have students play a game, like math bingo from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Students use math vocabulary and their problem solving skills to identify numbers on a bingo card. Download it for free on their website.