Assessment reflection

I'm amazed and how much we have learned over such a short time. It was really evident when we did the assessment. It's hasn't been very hard to remember all the different strategies and word problem types because it had been something that we have been doing since we were five. It's just really giving a name to the methods. I am paying more attention in my P2 when stduents are doing math and it is exciting to see the different strategies. Today my teacher gave a challenge question to the kindergarteners. She asked them if we have been at school for 170 days and there are 180 days in the school year how many days are left in school? One stduent said 10 when she asked hjow he knew that he said because when you count by tens it goes 60,70, 80 and 80 is after 70 so there is 10 more days. I was amazed. It really has opened my eyes to how much I under estimnate knidergarteners.

Writing Word Problem

I started thinking about a few things while I was writing the math problems this weekend. First, can you use the word divide in a problem. I know most times I hear if each person were to get the same number, or share equally, or got as many as her classmates, or give each the same, etc. It's very naturally for me to say divide among, divide between. Although then I am assuming that thhe stduent knows that divide is equal. I guess with more practice writing word problems it will be more natural to say share equally or give each the same.

Math Interm Assessments

My students just took their math interms yesterday. Today I looked at the scores of the six students I am working with on graphs. I was excited to see that four of the students got all of the answers correct. One student missed one question, which row has the least, and one student got them all wrong. I usually pull the student in two groups of threes. I am going to pull her tomorrow to work one on one. She will be gone all week next week so I am not going to have much time to work with her before the end of the semester. Last week we graphed candies, this week we graphed dinosaurs, any suggestions for next week?

Math Centers

The connection between the three boxes that I saw was measurements. All the boxes had something that you had to measure. They all also naturally incline themselves to be Incorporated with science standards. For example, scientific measurements, instruments, and making estimations. Although these are math as well it is a good concept to be Incorporated into science concepts. The whole two birds with one stone thing. The centers were a very open activity and some of the direction unclear. I'm sure if a teacher was introducing the lesson to younger students they would give examples and model. I guess teachers needs models sometimes too : ) The lesson also related to derived facts because in some boxes you used what you knew about one object to arrive at the solution to another.

Chapter 7

"Since subtraction is the inverse of addition,reversibility concepts (as defined by Piaget) may be the most important prerequisites."

I found this section very interesting. I am particularly interested in learning abilities and how student's cognitively develop. It make sense that if a student can't reverse then they will not be ready for subtraction since subtraction is just the reverse of addition. The book says that they normally introduce addition and subtraction at the same time which can lead to confusion. I think that students should be tested individually according to Piaget's standards. However this would be in the perfect school of course. This would be very hard to do as a teacher of 30 plus students along with all the other demands put on teacher however it is the ideal. This would save a lot of frustration if we only knew the reason they are not doing well on their test is not because they can't focus, have ADD, or some other delay. It's just because they are not ready yet!

Small Group Frustrations

So I am still working with a small group of student. We are working on math, specifically interpreting and addition. So today there was a question "How many bears does Sarah and Joe have?" The teacher says the key word is "AND" and the students should be learning to add together those two groups. However when I asked the students the question only 1 out of 7 got it right. Two students wrote down 2 (which was how many Sara had) and 5 (how many Joe had) then when I asked them how many they said 25?! I could see where they were coming from so now I am rewording the worksheet and making it gave so it will be easier for them to see an action. I hope they will be able to do better on this one. We'll see tomorrow :)

Multiplication/Division

I really enjoyed the lesson on Monday already going through the classifications of the 11 addition and subtraction word problems made multiplication and division much easier. After the videos we were quickly able to see the differences. It's so eye opening something that you thought was one way all your life as been completely redefined. It's amazing! I wish every CCSD teacher could take this course. Although I know not everyone would agree and be so inspired by it. I'm glad we are taking this class as a pre-service teacher before the school district, policies, lack of funding, and other things (just go in the teacher's lounge you'll hear them all) break our spirits and ideas. Of course I'm not saying that this happens to everyone but just looking at the number for a majority of us it will. Sometimes I find teachers who are not willing to change or try anything new. I feel sorry for their student.
In other new I am starting to work with six student who need help in graphing. There are kindergartners so it is a simple bar pictograph. When I gave them their assessment they didn't do so well, but when I pulled three of them to work with me in the hallway they did much better. I had them write on white boards to show me their answers to the problem how many blue and red candies are there and it was interesting to see how each individual solved it differently. One girls just wrote a number sentence 5+2=7 while another drew dots and inserted symbols between her dots.

I have to say I didn't think that much about math over the weekend. I was glad to be given the answer sheet on Wednesday. I can't image doing that day after day. It would drive me crazy. When I was reading through them I got confused sometimes but the row and column catergories help a lot join, seperate, etc. With practice writing word problems I'm sure you could do these in your sleep. I know the word altogether doesn't make a difference but what about "how many left?" can you just say "how many?" I guess this is kinda spiltting straws but I just wonder about getting the problems correct word by word does it matter as long as you get the jist?

Gummy Bears

I think I got it...well some what. I wrote the number sentences for each problem and there is a pattern! These problems were so nerve-racking. I haven't had to really think this hard to try to solve a problem in a while. For the most part my classes have been based on reflections and discussions. I love how this class really makes you think and then think again. I still am having problems with the bottom row, comparing. I wrote the number sentence how I would solve it but I'm not sure if it's how a student would solve it or if I am assuming too much. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!

"Subtraction is hard!"

Yesterday I taught my first formal lesson in my Kindergarten class, subtraction. Teaching subtraction sounded easy enough but that was me thinking as an adult saying of course 6-3 = 3...easy from my Kindergartener's I hard a chorus of "subtraction is hard". They have been working on subtraction since Monday and I noticed when through the teacher says when we subtract the number will get smaller and when we add the number gets bigger when students come up to the board to volunteer to write their answer they still write the number sentence as addition and solve as addition. I think some students either just can’t pay attention long enough to see the whole problem or maybe they are just not ready for subtraction. I can’t remember if I did subtraction in Kindergarten or first grade. For my lesson I had a school bus template with six windows. As I said a subtraction problem, like six bears got on the bus, students would line up all their bears on the bus, and then I would say four bears got off and they would continue by removing four bears. Then I said how many bears are left? After the students would count the bears and write the number in the number sentence. This was the first week of doing subtraction so with more and more practice they should catch on. The students loved working with the manipulative and there was less playing with the bears then I though there would be. : )

How Many on the Bus?


Standards/ Objectives:
Curricular Standards:
• (K) 1.14 Add and subtract whole numbers to 10 using objects.

Objectives:
• SWBAT subtract minuends up to six, three out of four times using bus counter sheet and bears counters.


Materials/ Technology Resources
Description and quantity:
• Pencil (29)
• Bear counters
• White board
• Bus counter sheet (29)
• Subtraction worksheet

Distribution Strategy:
• Teacher will place bus counter sheet and subtraction worksheet on desk during calendar
• Teacher will pass out bears counters after instructions
• Pencils are in box at desk
Collection Strategy:
• At the end of lesson students will return their math worksheets to designated area
• Students will return bear counters to appropriate box in manipulative area.
Procedures
Motivation/Engagement:
• Ask students if they can think of how they use adding or subtracting at home, school, or in the world. Explain numbers are used everywhere in the world, ourselves, and in math class.
o You add water, sun, dirt when growing an apple tree and you subtract apples, leaves.
o When you are a baby you add hair and subtract when you get a hair cut
o When you are a baby you add teeth and subtract when you lose baby teeth

• Allow students to give other examples and write them on the white board

Developmental Activity:
• Introduce activity: Just like we went on a school bus the bears are going on the school bus too. Some bears will get off when the bus stops. We need to find how many bears are left.
• Walk through physical example using bear counters and four students. 4 bears get on the bus, three leave, how many are left? Model number sentence on white board.
• Tell students we are going to practice by doing other number sentences at their desk with bus counter sheets and bears counters.
• Have students return to desk
• Pass out bear counter as students get settled
• Explain they need to listen carefully to the number sentences, after saying number sentence orally write number sentence on the large white board.
• Questions:
o 6 – 5 =
o 6 – 4 =
o 6 – 3 =
o 6 – 2 =
Accommodation, Modification and differentiations for Diverse Learners:
• Students with special needs will have work compatible to their IEP requirements and fewer math problems per teacher discretion.
• Gifted student will have higher minuends (up to 10) to practice their subtraction.

Closure:
• The lesson will end when all student finish their individual work
• Students will understand the subtraction process and how it applies to their everyday lives.
• Students can expect to practice more using subtraction strategies with larger minuends

Extension:
• If students finish early they will complete unfinished work, work on computers, or white boards.
• For homework students will practice subtraction with given worksheet
Student Assessment/ Evaluation
Formative assessment of learning:
• I am using effective questioning techniques like open ended questioning, probing questions, and leading questions. The student will be using various levels of Bloom’s levels of questioning through problem solving to find out the answers.
Summative assessment of achievement based upon objectives:
• The students will be assessed by teacher observation during large group and individual work. I will look for students understanding and participation.
• Student will return their subtraction worksheets and teacher will grade papers.
• Student will get three out of four math problems correct.

Math Autobiography

My name is Amanda Holman. When I was growing up my father was in the military and we traveled…a lot. Over the course of my elementary school years I went to nine different schools. In grades 1, 3, and 5 I was in two different classes. Besides the obviously transitions like new teacher, school, and friends I also had to transition into a new curriculum. In third grade we were going to learn our multiplication facts in the spring, I moved. My new class was almost finished with the 11’s times tables when I started school there. I was always ahead in my class, now I found myself behind of everyone else and confused. The teacher tried help me by sticking me with my new peers to help me to review and memorize my facts. Kids can be cruel especially new ones you don’t know. As my self confidence went down so did my grades. I remember a parent teacher conference in the spring of third grade the teacher was talking about some concepts that their class was learning was a little difficult for me to keep up with and it might have been due to my old class. I knew that wasn’t true I could have tried I just didn’t want to. This was the start of the despise I held for math.
In Jr. High I stayed in the same school for all three years unfortunately so did my teacher. My parents put my in a private school. The Jr. High had three teachers one taught reading and writing, another taught history and religion, and another taught math and science….for all three years. The class was not divided into ability level so he taught to the middle. Looking back now I honestly I don’t think I really learned anything in Jr. High math.
It wasn’t until I reached high school that I really realized I was behind. I was an over achiever and of course took all honors classes. I was mad at my parents when I found out that I could have taken algebra I in Jr. High for high school credit. School was easy, math was hard. I struggled through it. I knew I had a hard time in math and wanted to get out of the honor classes but my parents and councilors said if I wanted to get into a good college I had to stick with it. I left my high school and finished my last two years at the community college high school- west, took my two required math classes for elementary education. I knew I didn’t have to take anymore math classes until now.