A Beach Ball in the Classroom

Math Activities Using a Beach Ball

I have always liked using the soft squishy balls from the dollar tree in my classrooms. Sometimes, I would give it to a student to work off nervous energy. Other times, students would be rewarded for their hard work by a rousing game of -- silent ball! Today, I bought a beach ball to a classroom of boys who were listless, argumentative and seemingly always a second away from being off task. We did counting games and as we did, I noted which students counted with ease, which students struggled, which student needed verbal cues and which students chose not to count at all. It was a very instructive period, I learned a lot of about the students. Educational games is a great way to get to know students and to informally assess their abilities. So teachers, get those beach balls ready!