Warm up student’s brain to a new way of thinking

This activity is nothing new, but man, is it awesome. I’ve used it in a variety of ways, and it perfectly fits with the SCENIC Math group model and norms.

I do it on Day 1, getting students thinking about “Why we learn math” and “What do you know about math?”. And then I’ll use it to engage students with their whiteboard groups for the day.

Students get one pen, a select amount of time, and then a topic to take turns writing down ideas.

Easy, fun, engaging, and exciting.

Step by step:

1. Select a topic beforehand, or a few, with the sentence stem, “Write down everything…”

   Some examples I’ve used:
   - Write down everything you know about math
   - Write down everything that’s red
   - Write down everything that has two legs
   - Write down everything with a factor of 12
   - Write down everything you believe about math

2. Choose a time, no longer than 3 minutes. I usually do 90 seconds.

3. Remind students of the rules:
   - One person writes at a time.
   - You must write only one idea
   - Pass the pen to the next person after each idea
   - Write down as many as you can

4. Yell, “GO!” And then watch the race begin

5. Have students count up their totals at the end, then have students share out their most unique ones