Giant Yohaku!

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A few years ago, I discovered Yohaku puzzles which are an excellent way to engage all learners in your classroom.  They might be the ultimate low floor, high ceiling math task.  We have used these puzzles in grades 1-6 and revisit them frequently.  They make an excellent addition to math menu and can be accessed by all learners.  They are an easy way to start differentiating your math practice.  Kids love solving Yohaku puzzles and creating their own.  You can access a bunch for free here or check out the collection of books on Amazon. 

My students had the grand idea to create a GIANT YOHAKU board in our front hallway.  We used paper from our rack of large paper rolls.  They are about one square yard each.  We wanted to laminate them so that we could use dry erase markers on them so we made them as large as our laminator is wide.  After creating a set of Yohaku puzzles that each have multiple correct answers, we made sure we had puzzles that ranged from easy to quite challenging.  We put them up in order from easiest to most difficult and pinned small squares of microfiber cloth and a string with a dry erase marker.  We put up a few signs to invite folks to solve these puzzles.

What happened next was truly amazing.  Despite most kids being exposed to these puzzles within math class over the weeks leading up to this project, these giant puzzles made Yohaku a school community project.  Suddenly, kids from different grades were comparing puzzles and parents got involved since the front hall way is where parents wait to pick up kids.  Even some community members who are not usually part of our school got involved during town wide events.  These puzzles got solved over and over again in many different ways.  Folks were free to erase and start again at any time and the students who helped me with this project and myself would erase them all a few times a week so we could start from scratch.  I wish I had taken a picture of all the different ways these got solved because that itself would have made a great follow up to this!

This week I also started a brand new Facebook group for teachers who want to  start working on ways to differentiate and personalize learning.  It is a place where I will be sharing extra tips and motivation and also a great place to ask questions and learn from other teachers who are walking down the same path.  It is free to join and a great choice for any K-6 teacher who wants to do more to meet the needs of all his or her learners.  We are just getting started so it might move slowly for a week or two but as more teachers join and contribute their ideas it is sure to become a rich mathematical community! 

We got a lot of our Valentine's Day favorites out this week and had a great time trying out some new Valentine and winter freebies that are part of our new grades 3-5 math freebie bundle!  

Have you ever tried a Yohaku puzzle?  What is your favorite low floor, high ceiling math task?  Please respond in the comments below!