MATH HOMEWORK BOX!!!

   



What is a Math Homework Box??  Well, it has to be one of the best ideas I have ever seen for Math!!   Do you get tired of running off tons of copies? Wasting all that paper? Is your district limiting your paper?  Well, those are the problems I had when I saw this idea.  The kids each bring in an empty shoe box.  In the beginning of the year, we do a lot of discussions on "What is Math?".  We use Math everyday, all day.  It is after these discussions that they get to "hunt" for Math in magazines and catalogues!  They decorate their shoe boxes with the Math they find and TADAAAAAAAA....they have a Math Homework Box!  What do they use it for you ask?  Together as a class, we make parts for centers that we do in school and keep them in the Math Homework Box.  What is our homework?  That's right! Math centers that we do in school!   We do them in a composition notebook.  No more copies! No more wasted paper!  No more explaining homework to parents!  The kids already know how to do it!  Why??? Because they do it in school first...a LOT of times until I am sure they are proficient in the skill.  Then, the skill continues to get reinforced at home and we can move on to other skills in school where they have my help and guidance!  We put our bean counters from last week in ours to use while doing our first homework!  Their Math Homework Box stays at home in a "safe" place where they always have access to it.  As they are proficient in more skills, we make more centers to go home to put in their box.  They LOVE THIS THING and the parents love that they don't have to worry about their homework:)))))   Check out the pics!  Look at the AWESOME Math they found...money, charts, graphs, equations, time, even the year (boy were they excited to find 2012!).  This is my third year doing Math homework this way and it is one of the BEST changes I have ever made! Enjoy!!