Materials for the lesson

Children can be told to bring from their house some of the following : sugar, rice, olives, tomatoes, fruit, beans…..and anything else they want or the teacher wants

A piece of rope for measurements

Many bottle tops, marbles or old buttons. They will be coins for commercial exchanges.

We use some pictures of plants, flowers, animals from other lessons

Layout of the classroom

Some desks in the middle of the class form a strange ship ready to sail.
On the teacher’s stage and in front of the door the teacher puts some of the things that the children brought from their houses and pictures of of plants, flowers, animals from other lessons.

All the children are on board.

1^st Phase

We sail in open sea.

Captain count the children and write how many they are.

Singing a song we know.

The teacher encourages critical though and development of the imagination while travel, with questions such as :
What fish do we see swimming?
How is the weather like?
Can we predict the weather forecast?…
How deep is the see bellow? (the students can answer if they use the rope and a weight and throw the rope into the “sea”-on the floor).
and many other questions became from the lesson they have been taught so far.

2^nd Phase

In front there the teacher’s stage. This is a new land. It is a new Continent.

We throw the rope-measurement having tide a stone and measure the distances of the ship from the walls of the classroom.

· Measurements are recorded on paper. From shore the distances are X meters, cm, mm ect.

·  3-4 children get off the ship and stay to the new land in order to discover new animals, plants and trees.

The ship leaves for another place.

·   We count ourselves, how many we were-minus the three-four that got off =…We add or deduct from the first counting. How many we are now?
We will do the same with all the children… counting and deducting…until all are around the class in groups

3d Phase

In front there the teacher’s stage. This is a new land. It is a new Continent.

We throw the rope-measurement having tide a stone and measure the distances of the ship from the walls of the classroom.

· Measurements are recorded on paper. From shore the distances are X meters, cm, mm ect.

·  3-4 children get off the ship and stay to the new land in order to discover new animals, plants and trees.

The ship leaves for another place.

·   We count ourselves, how many we were-minus the three-four that got off =…We add or deduct from the first counting. How many we are now?
We will do the same with all the children… counting and deducting…until all are around the class in groups

4^th Phase

When all come back to the homeland

The teacher creates one or more kinds of money using the bottle tops or the buttons and the children give them fantastic names (botlars like dolars, topies…like rupees…).

They establish a market, sell and buys thinks.

·  Children exchange products between them (olives, sugar, …) paying in their money… adding-deducting- dividing

The creative scenario of this journey can be enhanced, with many in between actions, according to the chapters and subjects and objects of knowledge of the lesson  and according to what the teacher wants to summarizes and evaluate .
The same can happen by including other lessons apart from mathematics.
The same can happen with the other grades.