Refugee Crisis + Math Lesson = Compassion and Understanding
I just finished the first crazy week of class. I have been teaching math to four different groups every day. We have played math games, done mad minutes, and had fun writing on tables. Today was supposed to be about bar graphs. They were going to ask survey questions to classmates, make a graph, and analyze it. Super fun! Last night, however, I read an article that I couldn’t shake, and I had to make a change.
As of yesterday (Thursday September 9th) 50 refugees from Afghanistan had landed in BC. An additional 400 are expected by the end of October. Canada has further pledged to help resettle 20 000 refugees by 2024. This is important. This is a crisis. It is very likely that refugees from Afghanistan will be at our schools in BC. I felt I needed to somehow link it to what I was doing.
I created a cross-curricular social studies/math lesson. It included graphing, counting collections, empathy building, and information about refugees. It worked. It was powerful. I had already decided after the first time I taught it that it would become a blog post.
I hope this helps you see cross-curricular potential in current events and helps you to also talk about the refugee crisis. Kids want to talk about it. We help them unpack hard things.
Materials/Organization
· Items to count (toothpicks, math manipulatives etc.)
· Whiteboard markers
· A book to debrief (I used What is a Refugee? By Elise Gravel)
· Sticky notes (one per class member)
· Kids in groups of 3-5
Part 1: Graph the Class (Introduction)
When the students entered the class, I had a blank graph setup on the board and a blank tally sheet with several categories. These categories were to get the kids thinking about the fact that most of us are settlers. Some of us are very new and some are multi-generation.
We used the tally sheet to create a class graph. When the graph was complete, I asked the groups to talk about what it taught us about our class. We talked about how the tally sheet was data and the graph helped us see patterns.
In some classes, there were lots of new immigrants, while in others, a few of us were fourth or even fifth generation settlers. Kids talked about how it would be neat to organize into the different groups and talk about the immigrant experience. Was it similar? Different? This was a rich conversation with every group.
As the conversation finished, I introduced what a refugee was and why so many refugees were coming from Afghanistan.
Part 2: Counting Collection (Conceptualize the Numbers)
I wrote two statements:
50 refugees from Afghanistan had landed in BC as of yesterday
400 refugees from Afghanistan were expected in BC by the end of October
I then challenged each table to work together and use a counting collection and whiteboard markers to represent both of these numbers. The kids did things like draw a tens frame and put ten items in each frame…so it allowed some groups to organize 100 very quickly. Groups using toothpicks made tally marks in groups of five and circled 50, then 100. Other groups drew homes or planes and filled them with ‘people’. The solutions were diverse.
It was fascinating to watch the math unfold as each group worked compassionately together to build piles to represent refugees. When a group finished, I would touch base and have a two-minute chat about how each of the pieces represented a person. A person who fled their homes and hoped for safety.
The next challenge was to get to 1 000. They took on the challenge. The strategies expanded. They worked together. Every child could participate.
Part 3: Debrief Collection
When every group had completed the 50/400 challenge and several had hit the 1 000 challenge, I asked the class to stop. I asked them to walk to the edge of class and just look at the tables.
I asked each table to tell me how many items they had counted, and I did the mental math. Every class had either 4 000 or 5 000. I then connected it to the 20 000 refugees Canada was hoping to bring in by 2024. We silently walked around the room looking at everyone’s work.
I asked the kids to clean up the collection/table in order to be ready for me to read a book.
Part 4: Book/Sticky Note Reflection
Each student was given a sticky note and before I started the book, I gave them a challenge. By the end of the story, they had to have something on the sticky to represent what they could do to make a refugee feel welcome in our school.
The simple/powerful book I read was What is a Refugee? By Elise Gravel. This book is available in both French and English! I would stop on different pages and connect it to what was happening in Afghanistan or LGBTQ2+ refugees in other countries.
When I was done, every child brought their sticky notes to the board and many had written three or four ideas down. If a refugee child joins the grade five class at my school, they will be welcomed. I used the student ideas to create a word cloud. These kids know what is right.
My Biggest Lessons/Observations as a Teacher
Math Learning
· Can they count?
· Do they know how to group values (tally/larger)?
· What is the general number sense?
· Can the kids see patterns?
· Do they understand what big numbers are?
· Can they use manipulatives respectfully?
Social Emotional Learning
· Can they work in groups?
· Are they resilient?
· What are strategies when they get frustrated?
Student Engagement/Connection
Connecting to real life helps kids engage. Every child was engaged and cared about this activity. They told me it was so sad that people had to leave their homes and it was devastating to imagine that each of the little pieces represented a person.
A really interesting connection happened in my last group. After making the graph, I mentioned how strange it was to have 6 people in the furthest multi-generation group. Most other classes had two. I then went on to give a land acknowledgement and talk about how most of us are settlers on this land.
As I finished the acknowledgement, four of my students raised their hand and told me they were Metis. Suddenly the 6 people made sense! I made a new category for Metis and changed the graph. This was a powerful moment in the class and all four Metis students sat up a little taller.
Final Thoughts
So, the lesson I was going to do today, is getting done on Monday. I am so glad I went with my gut feeling. It was a reminder to me that hands-on cross-curricular activities are an important cornerstone to my teaching.
It is okay to talk about hard things with kids. You just have to break them down to help kids makes sense of them.
Please use this lesson or find a different set of real numbers in the news. Use counting collections and other hands-on activities to build your own cross-curricular magic.
I would love to hear about what you create!