To start this school year, the Board of Education installed vinyl strips of math equations with multiplication on a set of stairs on the third grade wing of the Estes Park Elementary School. The idea was to put math in an unsuspecting, yet highly viewed area for the students and get them more excited about learning. Educators and administrators alike strongly believe that repetition and visualization helps students with their math fluency.
Equipped with adhesive backed vinyl strips, handy dandy vinyl squeegees and some light coaching, the Estes Park Board of Education took on the task of installing the math stairs on August 15. The vinyl strips were printed by local business, Unink, owned and operated by Aaron Petrie. With the successful project under way and the first installment completed, they were able to say, move over flash cards: Hello, colorful stairs.
The third grade hallway was the first in the series of two installations, with the kindergarten wing of the school to be completed in the next year or so. The Board of Education gathered information from the teachers in each grade group on what they would like to see used in the application. Multiplication was used for the older students, whereas the younger K-2 teachers opted for more a more simple approach of numbers listed out in different sequences. One of the main reasons for doing this was to open the opportunity of learning by "play" through different number based math games for the students. Teachers are already planning how to include the math stairs into their lesson planning and they are very excited to use them as a learning tool.
The hope is that the math stairs will inspire teachers and students alike to constantly keep math problems and equations in the forefront of their thinking. By engaging the students' with these fun colorful stairs, they are more likely to remember the problems and quiz each other on them. Additionally, the goal is to provide a great way to keep students visualizing math and have them constantly reminded of their math facts.
The project has sparked conversations about other innovative ways to include learning in what is viewed as otherwise a mundane or unutilized space. Thinking outside of the classroom helps to keep the students minds working and developing. At the Estes Park School District R-3, the Board of Education, Administration and Staff will continue to brainstorm and bring education and learning to a higher level.
The Board of Education is made up of the following members:
Cody Walker, President
Laura Case, Vice President
Eric Adams, Treasurer
Jason Cushner, Secretary
Jonathan Hodde, Director
All five board members have children in the District and are enjoying being an integral part of bringing innovation through instruction to the forefront of learning.