GRADE 3 - MATH / TIME

 When teaching time, I find starting with the minutes is more beneficial than starting with the hour hand.  I have my student memorize the position of every 5 minutes on the clock.  This way, they understand where the minutes are on the clock before they are taught the very visible numbers assigned to the hour hand.

Materials :  Paper plate, bobby pins, cardboard, glue gun.

Everyday, my student places the 5 unit increments on the clock.  We also practice this kinesthetically with our bodies standing, using ourselves as the minute hand.

Click here to see examples of Kinesthetic exercises I used.

I adapted them a bit to include the hour hand exercises that you will read about as you scroll down.

Color coding the clock helps my student learn and follow the hour hand.   I also use the same kinesthetic exercises for memorizing positions of the numbers representing hours.  We practice rotating our bodies in a full circle from various starting points on the clock before we try it on a real clock.  We also count with our bodies by 5's, 10's, 20's and 30's.  

After positions of both sets of numbers of memorized,  and a review on fractions (quarter and half hours), I then teach how to tell time and elapsed time.  When counting elapsed time, I find that using a tally system to count hours and then a minute hand to count minutes work best.

GRADE 8 - PRE-ALGEBRA / Graphing

Students with specific learning disabilities can have difficulties with orientation when graphing.  So I use a kinesthetic approach to feel the motion of positive/negative, moving along the x and the y axis.

 Then, I color the x and x axis, so the student knows which line to follow first.  

GRADE 3 - MATH / Fractions of an inch

A simple, visual way to teach fractions of an inch…color the ruler!

GRADE 2 - MATH / Money

Students with learning disabilities can have extreme difficulty counting money.  So, these are the steps I used to scaffold learning.  First lesson, pre-teach coin values.  Student writes the value right on the face of the coin.

Second lesson, use blocks to represent coin values.

Student place corresponding blocks with coins of the same value.  

Student can then add blocks incrementally.

When quarters and half-dollars are taught, I use real coins...

and write the value with a sharpie on the back of each coin.

(Sharpies are erasable)

When counting money, the student can place the coin to match the pictures on the worksheet.

(I find student confuse nickels with quarters, so this is a useful technique)