Low-Prep Rounding Activity

I love learning that is spontaneous and customized exactly for the child. This low-prep rounding activity is a perfect example of a spontaneous moment of learning. I know that it’s not for everyone, but my second grader chooses almost all of her homeschool activities. She often feels anxious and when someone else selects an activity for her, she always worries that she won’t be able to do it right. By offering her choices or directing her by mentioning a subject, she feels much more confident in her learning. This sticky note rounding activity was the result of a day of choices for Jaida.

Materials needed for the Sticky Note Rounding Activity:

Sticky notes

Marker

1 piece of paper or card stock

String or Pipe cleaner

Desk

Letting my daughter make choices over her own education sounds like a lofty goal, but we’ve simplified it so that I can be sure that she really is hitting the right topics. Just at her own pace.

Every day she has to do the following:

Read (non-fiction and fiction)

Write

Math

Create

She is very motivated by creating things and often ties all of her subjects together based on something that she wants to make.

Today, she decided to do some Valentine’s Day themed activities. I didn’t have anything on hand, so we worked together to create some.

She picked the clip art for a graphing activity (I’ll be sharing that tomorrow), then while she wrote instructions for a craft that she has been making, I made this rounding activity for her.

It’s very simple.

I took a stack of sticky notes and wrote 15 three-digit numbers on them. I attached them to a file folder while I wrote on them to keep the permanent marker from leaking through onto my desk.

Then, I lined up the numbers along the edge of the desk, made labels for Rounding Up and Rounding Down, and placed some pipe cleaners in the middle of the desk to divide the sides.

In all it took about 5 minutes, but that was because we were discussing her writing project.

I gave her a quick explanation of what she needed to look for when deciding whether to round up or down.

“Four and down goes down.”

“Five and up goes up.”

She loves little sayings like that & I often catch her repeating them to herself when she’s working.

She selected the sticky notes and placed them on the correct sides.

Jaida loved this activity, so I can see us adding more sticky note lessons to our days!

Check out these awesome Valentine’s Learning ideas from the Early Elementary Blogging Team!!

Conversation Heart More or Less Activity by Raising Little Superheroes

{FREE} Valentine’s Math Game for PreK to 4th Grade from Preschool Powol Packets

Needle Felted Heart by Rainy Day Mum

Tile Printed Heart Cards from Peakle Pie

Broken Hearts Compound Words from School Time Snippets

Spelling with Hearts sort the right and wrong spellings from In The Playroom

Kid’s Engineering: Valentines Heart Bombs from Thriving STEM