Conquer Math Monsters with Monday Math Marvels

Sometimes I've had kiddos that just "hate" math. For students such as these the beginning of the school week becomes even harder  because they hate coming back to school and then to have to face their dreaded math assignments is more than they can handle. No matter the reason behind their dreaded subject, I was thrilled when I found something that ease their frustrations a bit.  
Monday Math Marvels was one thing I came up to help with these issues.  I wanted it to be predictable so the kids would know what they would be doing in math that day in hopes of easing their fear of what they would need to do.

Monday Math Marvels was a little activity package I put together comprised of activity based math games and activities that reinforced skills previously learned.
Each Monday I selected 6 or 7 math activities. The activities I selected were spread across as many of the different standards domains as possible.
MONSTERS
I wanted to take the "fear" the students had about math and turn it into a time they were practicing the needed skills and perhaps wouldn't recognize they were doing their math assignments.  So I incorporated a Make-A-Monster worksheet. For each math activity they completed in Monday Math Marvels, they could add one design element to their Make-A Monster worksheet. For example, at completion of station 1, they could add eyes, for station 3 they got to glue on some hair. They were totally free to use the material of their choice, from the selection laid out for whatever part of the monster they were making. At the end of the math session, each student had a completed monster face!
Here's How it went
The scheduled math time was set up with 6 or 7 different stations for the students to rotate through. When the students completed each station, they got their work checked, then were able to go to the MONSTER STATION! At the Monster Station, each student had a monster face template. Each monster face element was assigned a number on the die. They then rolled the die to determine what part of the monster to add to their worksheet. Click on the picture below to pick up my 6 monster face templates FREE.


ACTIVITIES
The activities I chose were based on the skill needs of the students involved so what you might choose would be different from mine just as the activities I chose varied from year to year with what the students needs were.

Here are some activities I included in my MMM and some  new ideas that I thought I would also share with you.
1. COLORED SAND FACTS
The student have assigned worksheets with about 10 math problems. They write the problems in the colored sand pan. I use the different colored to visually cue them that one component of the equation goes in a different color. This image is of an older set I used where the colors of the sand were all in one pan BUT, how long do think those colors stayed separated? ...Yes, you are right. So I switch to using
 2. Roll and Answer
I used both standard dice with dots and dice such as the ones below.  The students used the dice to write out the problem using "fancy" shaped dice. They loved it! What I liked about dice such as these was the different shapes and they have dice with numbers over 6 on them.
3. Here is a great idea that Pam from Mrs P's Specialties shared. HERE. And its FREE.
These graphic organizers solving math computations would be an excellent addition to a Monday Math Marvels center. You can pick these up in her store at
4. Roll and Add
This cute math wheel is magnetic and can be used for a multitude of math facts from basic 1 -10 through multiplication and division. Given a set of math equations, the students rotate the wheels to complete the problems.


5. Word Problem Wonders
Solving written word problems can be really difficult to master for students. Finding the information in the story to construct the problem, deciding what operation to  use and then completing the equation can be overwhelming. I like to include Word Problems in each Monday Math Marvels to get lots of practice in. Here is one such activity I include. 

The list is really endless as to what you could include in a center time like this but these are just a few. 
I found the best thing was to have fun with putting it together. Adding the monster component was the best thing I did as the students really loved the creativity of building their  own monsters. 


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