Lollipop Stick Questions

I made these to use with some of the children I work with this year.

Rather than writing answers to questions based on a text, we will use these sometimes.  I made them thanks to posters from A Crucial Week, which I laminated and popped onto jumbo lollipop sticks.

I like to turn them upside down and allow the child to choose one.  I then use the question word to ask them a question based on the text we have read.  The children love to take on the role of the teacher and ask the questions too!

They could easily be used to discuss pictures too.

Example Questions:

- Who helped with the costumes?
- When was the concert on?
- Where do you think the children are?
- What is your favourite costume in the picture?
- Why do you like this costume?

Mental Maths Lollipop Sticks

This year I am working in Special Education, helping some children with Maths.
I find the lollipop strategy useful to revise and consolidate topics that have been covered already.

How it works:

Each time we complete a topic, I write it on a lollipop stick and add it to the jar.
Each day at the start of our Maths session, the children pick one of the lollipop sticks.
I ask them 10 questions based on the topic.
The children try to figure them out mentally, but they sometimes use a mini whiteboard.  I also use visuals, if it supports the child. e.g. using dienes blocks for place value

Not only does it constantly revise what they have learned, which is beneficial for all children, it also shows me if we need to go back over a topic.  It is also a great way to revise the Maths language, as you can see in the sample questions below.

It could also be used a classroom just as easy.....give each child one question based on the topic or use mini whiteboards and they can all do the same 10 questions.

Here are some of the topics we have included to date.

(Time, Division, 2D Shapes, Lucky Dip*, Place Value, Fractions, Decimals & Percentages, Lines & Angles, Times Tables)

Lucky Dip*: I ask a random choice of questions from all the topics we have covered!

Here are a sample list of questions I ask the children in some of the topics.

Multiplication

What is 3 x 4?
What is the product of 5 and 6?
Can you think of the factors of 24?
7 times 7 is.....
Count in 5's up to 60
List the first 5 multiples of 6.

Fractions, Decimals and Percentages

What is half of 30?

What is 1/4 as a decimal?

Give an equivalent fraction for 1/5.

What is 50% of 10?

Write 4 2/4 as an improper fraction.

Target Number

Check out sample questions for that here.

Magnetic Calendar

I bought this magnetic calendar in Smyths recently to use with some of the children I work with in. (This is NOT an ad, I purchased the product myself for under €20!) It comes with 82 magnets.

Personally, I am going to use with one particular child to develop a sense of time on a daily basis. There are lots of other ways you can integrate it into the classroom, particularly in the Infant level, or as a daily activity to do with an SNA or independently.  I have listed some ideas of how you can really get your moneys-worth with this resource! Feel free to add other ideas in the comments below.

Ordering the days/months of the year (Maths)

All of the months and days are provided and it would be a nice hands on activity to put them in order. You could separate the school days from the weekend. The months could be matched to the correct season. 

If the child is good at putting them in order, you could remove one of the magnetic days/months and see if they can figure out which one is missing.

These magnetic tiles could also be used instead of writing answers, if fine motor skills is an issue.

Oral Language

There is such scope for oral language development with this resource. As the children become used to it, it could be used as a stimulus for recording a child being a weather forecaster. The child could also be recorded saying their news using the activities as a prompt. This would be particularly nice for children who have an iPad, as it creates a nice link with home, when they can see these videos.

It provides some lovely opportunities for vocabulary and language development, even the temperature monitor has a range of words to describe the weather. 

Writing

If you wish, it could be a visual cue for a writing activity as it provides a lot of the language for the children. I really like to used it on the book creator apps on the iPad, incorporating I.T. The children can take photos of the calendar when they have it completed and write a sentence or two underneath. They can also record this sentence using the microphone on the iPad (more Oral Language).

Maths

The digit tiles can be used in so many ways for maths as an alternative to writing. Here are just a few ways I use them:

• ordering numbers smallest to largest or largest to smallest
• making a number that teacher calls out
• the number before/the number after
• addition/subtraction sums
• reading numbers, 1, 2, 3 or 4 digit numbers

Emotions/Feelings (SPHE)

I really like the emoji faces that are included and they can be used to discuss feelings/emotions with the children. There is a spare one that the children can add other emotions. They could also draw their own 'happy' or 'sad' faces. Using these they could create sentences (orally, using I.T. or writing), such as I am happy when.........

Visual Timetable

The calendar includes lots of extra curricular activities but you can always add your own and use the 'Activities' part as a visual timetable for the child.

Whiteboard

The second part can be used as a whiteboard, if you lift off the clear film that holds the supplementary magnets. This is really useful for a child who finds it difficult to copy material from the board, as they can use the information on the daily calendar to write on the board underneath. I would put it on their table, but you could leave it hanging on the wall too.