This is another bail out move along with dictation and the others. It is also good also for vacation days when they can’t focus. It is also a suggested part of the new biweekly schedule.
You can brake the flow of your class when you simply don’t feel comfortable with what is going on in the class or when you simply want a short break from something you are doing. If the CI train gets moving too fast, slow it down. It’s not as if our students don’t need the repetitions on numbers. I have found that numbers don’t occur often enough in normal classroom CI – we need to target them more often, and so this sequence is suggested when doing a math brake:
- teach them all the math addition, subtraction, etc. terms.
- make them do math problems on a blank piece of paper by giving them ten practice questions.
- if you feel like it, give them a ten point quiz.
- they have to show their work.
Doing these math brakes makes them think and write and gives you a break, which are both things that kids don’t always want to do on vacation days. We all know that holding a pencil in their hands is often easier for kids than the very rigorous work of listening to CI. Knowing that they have the quiz coming up keeps them focused.
Math brakes can last from a few minutes, just doing a few problems, to an entire class period, when they are really restless as on vacation days. Also, as mentioned above, math brakess are an integral and valued part of the new bi-weekly schedule.
