Late Number Sense: Personal Reflections (Week of September 29, 2015)

 Late Number Sense

 While You Wait Activity - Number Line for Estimation

          When coming into class, I found that my table was already engaged in deciphering numbers to be placed on a number line. It was interesting, because we were to represent numbers from A B C D E. The only number that had been provided was 200. This caused much thinking as well as class discussion as we all sought to estimate what should be the starting number for the number line, and where the other numbers should fall.  I think that this would be an excellent activity to use in the elementary classroom with students in grade three-to-six, possibly upper middle school grades  could also use this as a review.  Trying to determine which number should come next in the line was certainly stimulating.

SMARTBoard Hundreds Chart

        The use of the SMARTBoard when reviewing our homework for the Hundreds Chart was very helpful. This activity promoted much class participation. It was useful in learning how others thought differently. There were many ways of coming up with solutions for our problems such as counting by: twos, fours, threes or circling all the twos. One of my classmates circled eleven along with all numbers corresponding with the number eleven. What I appreciated about this activity was that it was engaging and would allow elementary students to discover that there are many solutions that one can use to develop Mathematical Patterns.

Connections 

        We read about the importance of connecting ideas in Math to our daily lives. I think this is important to teach children from an early age. When children learn that Math is literally everywhere this may help them to understand the importance of Math in their daily lives. For example, a child may be taught a recipe that he or she will be able to cook for their family. A child can also use Math to measure when cutting material or paper for a craft. Children can also be taught to see connections in Math in road work, bridges, banking, medicine, and so on. Such connections build a child's understanding much more than simply telling them to complete their Math work. Connections make learning fun!

How Many Seeds in a pumpkin?

        We spoke again about the story, "How many seeds in a pumpkin?" The idea of how children can estimate is helpful for them to learn when a number needs not be exact. This book was also important, because it teaches children that size does not always matter.

          Our group also had the chance to estimate various referents. One strategy was to place a hand over the objects to make a guess. Another was to guess by dividing up the various piles of animals, counters and foam shapes.  I learned that differentiation can be done by in some of the piles using lower numbers.

In the case of the animals my group's estimate was 25, but some other estimations by my classmates were 40, 45, 44, and 30.

For the foam shapes our group's estimate was 120. Other groups choose their estimation to be 100, 120, 150 and 160.

 Estimation using counters were also done.  The counters were trickier to estimate since there appeared to be so many of them. Our group guessed that there were 280 counters on this table. Other estimations from various groups were 140, 180, 220, and 258.

Levels of Place Values

        This is an important topic because, when we observe children working in groups it can appear that a child has a greater understanding of the topic than he or she actually does.  However, the child may not fully grasp what we are trying to teach them. I found the information provided about single numerals to be helpful.  As adult learners we have have a tendency to think that children would see numbers as we understand them, but a young child may only view a number such as 16 as a single number rather than the 1 and 6. It was also compelling to learn about how children view position names, face value, and transition to place value. 

Racing Game

     The racing games were interesting and fun. Most importantly these games help to build on the skills we have been teaching the children.

Numeration Principles 

      As future teachers it will be important for us to understand where a child is struggling. We need to recall, the purpose of zero which is to hold the place value, so we can properly educate our students. Furthermore as adults sometimes we overlook what we understand. We always need to keep in mind the children's neurodevelopmental levels and skills which correlate with their cognition and understanding of concepts. I felt this area of the lesson was important. We all have a tendency to say a number incorrectly. We must model the proper way for our students in order to build their understanding. For example, stating "321 is three hundred twenty-one," without the and which is to be reserved for decimals.  I will need to remind myself not to add "and" to the hundreds and thousands!

Manipulatives Used ... Only Base Ten?

      It is surprising to learn how many different types of manipulatives can be used in teaching Math.  Manipulatives that I will find helpful in using with the children include open number line, closed number line, flats and rods, popsicle sticks, money and change.  Importantly, larger numbers may be represented through using a base ten block. I was also taught in class that base ten blocks can be used to represent decimals.

Amanda Beans Amazing Dream

       I enjoyed hearing this story about a little girl that loved to count.  By the end of the book Amanda was taught that mutiplication can help her count more quickly than counting on it's own. This would be a fun and educational book for children in grades primary-through-grade three.