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Idea: How to Engage Your Students at the Start of Any Lesson

October 14, 2024

Capturing your students’ interest and curiosity during the first few minutes of class is the key to keeping them engaged for your entire lesson.

But not all math warm up activities are created equally.

Math teachers miss out on activating their students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills when they assign routine, lower-level practice problems during the first five minutes of class.

However, when you use the right mix of fun and though-provoking math warm up activities to start your lessons, student engagement spikes, as your kids will constantly be wondering about what is coming next.

You probably already have some awesome math warm up activities—like Which One Doesn’t Belong? and Think-Notice-Wonder—in your tool belt. But if you’re looking for another great strategy for mixing up your instruction and engaging your students, then get ready for:

Two Truths and One Lie!

I recently started using Two Truths and One Lie (2T1L) activities, where students are presented with three mathematical statements (only two of which are true) and they have to identify which statement is a lie and justify why their choice is correct. The results? Pretty amazing. 2T1L taught me that my students love to argue and state their case (in small groups or to the whole class).

In short, 2T1L is a fun way to spark deep mathematical thinking and open discussion at the start (or end—2T1L activities make great exit tickets) of any lesson.

What topics/grade levels are 2T1L activities best suited for?

2T1L activities can be used for all grade levels and topics. The graphics should be topic/lesson specific and can include graphs, charts, and diagrams.

Here are some grade-level specific samples:

Imagine how your students would react to starting class with one of the following activities.

What kind of creative and mathematical thinking would spark?
What kind of small or large group discussions would occur?
How would a spike in engagement effect the remainder of the lesson?

▼ 3rd Grade ▼

▼ 6th Grade ▼

▼ 4th Grade ▼

▼ 7th Grade ▼

▼ 5th Grade ▼

▼ 8th Grade ▼

Are you ready to give it a try?

Here are a few more free samples that you can download and share with your kids (right-click to download each graphic and save it to your computer):

3rd Grade: Sample A | Sample B
4th Grade: Sample A | Sample B
5th Grade: Sample A | Sample B

Looking for more for grades 3, 4, & 5? Download your 101 ‘Two Truths and One Lie!’ Math Activities for Grades 3, 4, & 5 eBook!

6th Grade: Sample A | Sample B
7th Grade: Sample A | Sample B
8th Grade: Sample A | Sample B

Looking for more for grades 6, 7, & 8? Download your 101 ‘Two Truths and One Lie!’ Math Activities for Grades 6, 7, & 8 eBook!

Looking for more?

You can now share 101 Daily Two Truths & One Lie! Math Activities for Grades 3, 4, & 5 OR Grades 6, 7, & 8 with your kids with our brand new PDF workbooks!

GET YOURS

Get Yours

Are You Using This Genius Strategy for Math Writing?

December 12, 2022

Writing about math helps kids to organize their thinking, use key vocabulary, and communicate mathematically—which leads to deep and meaningful understanding.

Over the past few years, math teachers are incorporating more writing activities into their lesson plans—a trend that is being driven by the use of highly engaging think-notice-wonder writing prompts that spark deep mathematical discussion and are highly effective as warm-up or cool-down activities.

This strategy has recently been endorsed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics:

By asking What do you notice? What do you wonder? we give students opportunities to see problems in big-picture ways, and discover multiple strategies for tackling a problem. Self-confidence, reflective skills, and engagement soar, and students discover that the goal is not to be "over and done," but to realize the many different ways to approach problems.

How does it work?

Math teachers often struggle to find topics for their kids to write about. Sometimes the best way to encourage creativity and exploration is simply posting an image and asking students to describe what they think, notice, and wonder about what they are seeing.

The best way to use think-notice-wonder activities is to choose an image every day and project it as large as you can at the front of your classroom.

Then, have students write 3 sentences about the image starting with:

• I think…

• I notice…

• I wonder…

✔ You may want to have students share their entries in a daily math journal. This practice will get them used to writing about mathematics regularly.

✔ Try not to give too many prompts. You’ll be surprised by how creative and detailed student responses will become over time!

✔ Try to choose images that work with the day’s topic/theme

What would think-notice-wonder look like in YOUR classroom?

Imagine an unusual day where your kids enter class expecting a normal warm-up practice problem but are caught by surprise.

They see the above image of a drone delivering a package displayed on the board along with a writing prompt that calls for them to complete the statements I think..., I notice..., and I wonder...

What kind of creative thoughts and ideas would they have?

How much weight can the drone carry? How many packages can it hold at once?

How would thinking about this image activate their prior knowledge and spark their curiosity?

What are the dimensions of the largest and smallest box it can hold? Does it have to be square?

What kind of anticipation would it build for an upcoming lesson or activity?

Does the drone use GPS coordinates to get from point to point?

Why Think-Notice-Wonder?

Engaging in think-notice-wonder writing activities at the start of a math class is a great way to ignite student thinking, spark creativity, and build anticipation.

Even if students are not directly engaged in mathematical problem-solving, their curiosity and interest will carry on throughout the day’s lesson.

Be mindful that your kids will need some time to get used to these kinds of activities, but after a week or so, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the spike in engagement, boost in student enthusiasm and high quality of responses!

Are you ready to try it with your kids?

Here are a few more sample graphics for you to try in your classroom:

Want more? Download 101 Daily Think-Notice-Wonder Writing Prompts for Engaging Your Kids

You can now share 101 Daily Think-Notice-Wonder Writing Prompts with your kids with our PDF workbook!

Get Yours Now

Do you have experience using think-notice-wonder activities with your math students? Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below!

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By Anthony Persico

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Which One Doesn't Belong? Free Math Activities for Grades 1-8

October 22, 2019

Free ‘Which One Doesn’t Belong?’ Activities for Your Upcoming Lesson Plans!

Are you looking for an engaging math activity to boost your warm-ups, transitions, and/or exit ticket activities?

If you’re not familiar with using ‘Which One Doesn’t Belong?’ (WODB) activities and why they are amazing for boosting student engagement in the math classroom, click here to learn everything you need to know.

I started sharing WODB activities with my students because I was struggling to find ways to get all of my students engaged, especially those who struggle with mathematics and are reluctant to participate.

I was inspired by the work of Christopher Danielson, so I started creating my own WODB activities geared towards students in elementary and middle school.

The results? My student engagement skyrocketed! Since WODB activities don’t have a single correct answer (the idea is to get students thinking mathematically and learn how to justify their answers), all of my students (even ones who rarely participate) felt comfortable sharing and getting involved.

Now I use WODB at least once a week!

Again, if you want more information on how WODB activities work and how you can use them to boost student engagement in your classroom, click here to learn everything you need to know.

And check out these brand new FREE WODB math activities: