This week in my 4th grade STEAM classes, we recapped our STEAM Glow Games and wrote some thank you notes to the organization where I received a gift card earlier in the year for classroom use. I am big on sharing with my students that it is important to show gratitude for things big and small (even if you do not know the person) and one of the ways we can do that is with cards or notes.
I knew this would not take them the whole class period, so I printed off some paper puzzle/games I found online. I had previously played Triangles to Squares at my local library and then found the Hexi Cards as I was looking for the other online. I figured them would like them and think they were okay, but I would not have predicted how in to them they really were! They found putting all of the pieces together to be a bit challenging, so they quickly adapted and created new ways to use them. Some of the things I saw:
I knew this would not take them the whole class period, so I printed off some paper puzzle/games I found online. I had previously played Triangles to Squares at my local library and then found the Hexi Cards as I was looking for the other online. I figured them would like them and think they were okay, but I would not have predicted how in to them they really were! They found putting all of the pieces together to be a bit challenging, so they quickly adapted and created new ways to use them. Some of the things I saw:
- Patterning. LOTS and LOTS of different patterning.
- Creating designs. Some made a lizard and others a vacuum!
- Using pieces to make small puzzle boards, not one large one.
- Using the pieces to spell their names.
