1.26.2015

Math "Gallery Walks"

SCOOT seems to be a popular game - I see posts all over Instagram, Facebook, and listings on Teachers Pay Teachers.  If you love SCOOT, you will love GALLERY WALKS.  Same idea, different name.  :)
I have been using Gallery Walks in my classroom for about 4 years now - long before SCOOT was so popular!  In my classroom, we use it to review our math chapter - usually a day or two before a test.  You really could use it for any subject area - but I really like it for a review since the students are so independent by the time we've reached the end of a chapter. .
A few years ago our district gave us some summer curriculum work to develop these for our (then) new Math series - Go Math.  We chose concepts/skills from each math chapter and typed them up on 8.5 x 11" paper.  I then laminated mine for durability (they are going on their 3rd year now!).  On the day that we are doing a "Gallery Walk," I post the problems around the perimeter classroom - on walls, tables, doors, windows, etc.  The students each have a clipboard with an answer sheet clipped to it on which they record the answers to the problems.  The students understand that a "gallery" is where you go to look at things - and that the volume is very QUIET.  Therefore, during the Gallery Walk in the classroom, they move around very quietly from problem to problem, solving the problems and recording their answers.  There is no running - and only 2-3 students can be at each problem at any given moment.  It's AMAZING how much they respect these guidelines!
At the end of their Gallery Walk, the students return to their seats with their recording sheets and we go over the answers together.
I have to say - the students get so excited on the mornings when they enter the classroom and see the Gallery Walk set up around the classroom!   They love this activity - and don't even realize that it is a review activity!
Have you tried something like this in your classroom?


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