Fall Break

OK, I made it to Fall Break...time to take a breath. This first month and a half has seemed so hectic. I haven't had time to reflect, which is a very bad thing.

Two of my colleagues and I (with the help of our math coach) are revamping how we teach math this year. We are trying a workshop approach.
In the past we have been frustrated with
a.) our math series
b.) the students understanding of number concepts
c.) trying to differentiate using said math series
d.) our lack of bathroom breaks throughout the day (oh wait, that is a different post)

Kids come to us each year having memorized facts, yet they don't understand what those facts mean. So we have spent the first part of this year "exploring numbers". For example, if a student was working on 7, s/he would use many different materials to make 7. S/he may use pattern blocks, jewels, cubes, unifix cubes, geoboards,beans, etc. The next step would to be record this in some way. Then to transfer that record to a number sentence. This is done over days or weeks. Each child is assessed and working on a different number.

We hope that fostering this deeper understanding of number concepts will show throughout the year. For example, when we teach fact families the kids will have already discovered, on their own, how this works using manipulatives and the concept should "click" with them. (notice my use of the word should...only time will tell)

The hard part of all this is trusting that it will work. There have been no worksheets in math yet. Will parents understand what we are doing? Stay tuned...