We have been talking Roman numerals lately and when I was looking for ideas, I found the lists extremely bare. So, I have kept track of some of what we have done and thought I would share those ideas with you.
Printable:
page on Roman numerals from Edgalaxy.com
Website:
Serendipity: Gnomes and Gnumbers: A mathematical tale – This is a story that tells about an adventure where using Roman numerals are necessary. The girls listened to the story with popsicle sticks in front of them and as the different numbers came up, they wrote them and placed the correct number of counting crystals beside the numeral to show it. We also took some time to draw each of the gnomes, as a fun activity.
Activities:
blank dice that we marked with I V X L C – We used these to roll a number. We began with just I V and X. We are adding L and C as she gets more comfortable with the usage of Roman numerals. She had to say the number and then write the number on a dry erase board. Another day, after she rolled two numbers we did some adding, subtracting, and multiplying with the numbers and then she had to write the answer in a Roman numeral.
toothpicks – We used these to write the different numbers.
popsicle sticks – Another hands-on object to write the different numbers with. This could be done by calling out a number, by doing a worksheet and changing the numbers to Roman numerals, or the student could create their own numbers and write them down.
counting crystals or polished rocks – We used these as objects with which to randomly choose the number she had to write in Roman numerals. She would grab a handful, count them, and then write the number using any method we were working with (popsicle sticks, dry erase board, paper, etc.)
fun foam tiles – We cut a bunch of squares out of fun foam and she wrote the Roman numerals on them, placing them in order from 1 to whatever number was given to her (50 is a good number to have to work with all the various combinations).
wax sticks (wikisticks) – We have some generic name wax sticks and they are fun to write with. We had her writing the numerals with these, sometimes using them straight and sometimes bending them to create whatever the number was.
clay – We haven’t done this yet but I love the idea that was shared on Creekside Learning. They made Roman coins out of clay and used those to “pay” for things all day long. Great hands-on learning.
It has been fun seeing and hearing the girls, especially L for whom these lessons were designed, finding Roman numerals around in the world and in life.
At Home.
Tagged: ABC blogging, math
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