A great way to help kids understand the components of a graph and how all the parts "fit together" is to make puzzles out of the graphs you've made together in class and have the students practice putting the puzzles together. I transferred the information from the large graphs we made as a class to smaller paper. I just quickly hand wrote these, made copies and cut them apart. (I am not too fancy as you may have noticed :) As they build the puzzles, you'll hear groups using saying things like, "This is the title. It goes at the top." OR "The numbers have to go in counting order at the bottom." We used these puzzles earlier in the year, but as the year progresses, I'll cut the puzzles into more pieces. I think kids need A LOT of practice with puzzles to build thinking, reasoning and memory skills anyway so why not get the most bang for your buck? I have added these puzzles to my graphing work station. The kids really like doing them. One tip...make sure to copy each graph on different colored paper or mark the back of each piece with a unique color or symbol so if the pieces of different puzzles get mixed up, it's easy for the kids to sort out. Mark a plastic bag with the matching color or symbol for storage.
Puzzles are created in such a way to develop these fine motor skills. Children's fine motor skills begin with the pincer grip and move to more refined areas such as holding a pencil, or crayon. For example, puzzles with pegs aid such abilities and teach children to pick up, pinch and grasp pieces, which aid the pinch skill and overall fine motor skills.
ReplyDeletePhoto Puzzles