Mr. Bones Shows Up During Math Class, in Pieces!

During read aloud this week, I'm reading my students, A to Z Mysteries, The School Skeleton. In the book a student goes to the school nurse for a band-aid and notices the nurse's skeleton, Mr. Bones, is missing from his hanger...

 

At Halloween time, you can buy Candy Bones from Oriental Trading. I buy them every year for my students to use for a graphing activity in math. Each package contains an assortment of five different types of bones (skull, ribs, leg, foot and hand bone). Every package has a random number and mix of bones. I give each student their own pack. Watch the video to see the class' reaction when they opened their bone packages.

 

 

Sometimes it  doesn't take much to get kids hooked!

 

 

First the students sorted their bones.

 

Next the students counted how many bones they had of each bone type.

 

 

One student figured out he could build a skeleton with his bones.

 

Another student did the skeleton dance. During inside P.E. we exercise to, The Skeleton Dance, found on YouTube.

 

Then, students made a bar graph with their data. Last, we discussed our findings, using a math strategy "subtract to compare."

 

 

Check out this Rap by Jill Jayne about Healthy Bones.