Fairs with a flair

Teaching Pre K-8, Jan 1996 by McCarty, Diane

When is a school fair not a typical school fair? When it becomes "Math: A Fair" or, a "Geography Fun Fair." Both are based on the premise that a school fair doesn't have to be a solo project. Instead, it can become an interactive game situation where everyone is a winner] Both fairs had the same format, so follow along as I tell you about them

A colleague, Kathi Latta, and I designed Math: A Fair as an opportunity for own intermediate students to develop leadership skills in a fair atmosphere. (Kathi is currently a fourth grade teacher at Grant Bridgeway School in Waterlook, Iowa.)

Students are often criticized for not displaying leadership qualities. Well, here was their chance] They could learn and demonstrate responsibility by organizing, planning and implementing a math fair.

Total involvement. We felt it was important for our students to be totally involved in running the fair. We accomplished this by introducing them to each of the games and allowing them time to experience the games as participants.

Then job descriptions were passed out for the following: host or hostess, ticket puncher, answer person and greeter. The first three jobs were needed at each booth or center. Only two greeters were used for each fair. All of these jobs could be rotated, if appropriate. The host/hostess job description read:

1. Find out each child's name. Be sure to call them by name while they're at your booth.

2. Make sure each child has his or her ticket and token cup.

3. Keep your booth neat and orderly. There should be no shoving or put-downs. Remember the maximum number of people that can be at your booth.

4. Provide moral support. Use phrases with the child's name such as, "Great job, Tina]" or "Good try, Ben]"

Children at the intermediate level like to know exactly what their responsibilities are for anything they do, so the job descriptions were just the ticket]

Words of wisdom. Kathi and I were often overwhelmed when we tried to construct our first fair five years ago. We laugh now when we remember what a fourth grader told us: "Relax. I'm the answer person at the Money Toss game. I know exactly what I'm doing]"

Kathi and I had fun creating the games. We analyzed the main themes emphasized each year in our K-5 math program and designed games to reflect these themes. "Time-O," "Fishing 4 Facts," "Calculator City," "Money Mart" and "You Can Be a Star" were some of our games.

We visited with primary teachers to be sure our games could serve as a positive end-of-the-year review for their students. The primary students were "inserviced" briefly before the fair.

Since our math fair was conducted during the last week of school, it was a great way for every child (there are 350 students in our K5 building) to finish the year with a positive feeling towards math, but you can conduct fairs at any time during the year.

Festive centers. Another way we involved the intermediate students and teachers was through the creation of festive centers to house the games. When my class designed the "Time-O" booth, they decided that crawling through a time tunnel would be fun, so we made a tunnel out of an old tepee frame. "Calculator City" was a big, freestanding tent. Christmas tree lights blazed at some centers and play money decorated "Money Mart."

When the primary students arrived at the fair they were greeted by a fourth or fifth grader who said, "Welcome to Math: A Fair." Each student was handed a punch card and a token cup and was whisked off by a host or hostess.

Then it was, "Let the math games begin]" Flashing lights, the smell of fresh popcorn, colorful displays, numbers dancing through the air, and laughter filled the gymnasium. What a great sight] What a wonderful way to celebrate math]

Rotating cycle. The fair has changed over the years. We now have nine games for our math fair, which allows us to present them on a two-year rotating cycle, repeating only one of the favorites.

If you're thinking of staging your own fair, I suggest that you do so every other year. That way, each new crop of fourth and fifth graders will have the opportunity to host the fair with games that would be new, compared to what they had seen when they attended the fair as primary students.

If you also initiate a geography fair, you can alternate -- a math fair one year and a geography fair the next. Remember, the basic format can be used for any subject you might want to boost, feature or emphasize at your school that particular year.

Last year, which was the first year we held the Geography Fun Fair, I felt that I could allow my fourth graders to create the games. As a result, the students' ownership became even greater.

We created a list of titles of possible geography games and the production "happened" from there. Here are some of our titles: "Geographer George," "Land Feely Boxes," "Geography Wheel of Fortune," "State Walk," "Continent Toss," "Fishing for Worldly Animals," "Geo Bingo," "Geography Match" and "Where's Waldo?" The last six of these ended up as games. Since this fair was on a smaller scale than our math fairs, the games were designed for second and third graders only.