Mathematical Mondays (Adding Fractions)

Happy Monday!  I have to admit my Monday has not been the best.  I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and have been stressed with all that is going on this week.  I am trying to finish chapters before a week long break and put together a presentation for our Multicultural Celebration at the end of the week.  I was not a happy camper for most of the day.  I did cheer up a bit, but still stressed on how everything is going to fit!  I am sure most of you can relate to the type of day I have had!  But, God is good and he is in control of everything!  I had to give my bad attitude to him this morning and ask that he would change my heart!

I am linking up with the fabulous Jess from I {Heart} Recess for her Mathematical Mondays.  I have wanted to link up with her for a while, but have not had the chance!

We have been working on fractions for the past couple of weeks and my students are loving them (not really).  I have been trying different things to make them fun, including giving them homework that has a riddle to solve or using white boards to solve problems.  I even helped some students by writing on their desks with dry erase markers.  I am trying everything to make it fun and interesting!

Today, we were working on adding fractions with different denominators.  We went over the different steps of adding the fractions and completed some problems on the board and in our notebooks...then the fun came!  I brought out white boards and playing cards.  Each student got a white board and marker.  I always let my students draw for one minute.  This helps to prevent drawing when we are suppose to be working.  If students are caught drawing, they receive paper and pencil to do their work on.  

I gave each student four playing cards.  They had to arrange the cards into two different fractions.  I tried to have them make fractions that were not improper.  They then added the two fractions using their white boards.  I did an example on the board for them to see what I was talking about.  

They then went to work. Once the students finished with their cards, we passed the cards down our row.  The students loved it!  Sometimes just doing something different or adding white boards can make a boarding lesson more exciting!

I am now off to figure out how I am going to make math fun tomorrow!!!  How do you make math fun?