When, I came to Tuesday’s Math class, I
was excited to see the “Hit the Button” game on the Smart Board. I feel that
games can be useful for helping children by reinforcing their Math skills,
because children learn through play.
This particular game would be helpful for children to recall division
facts and times tables whilst building on skills such as doubles and halves,
and also number bonds.
We received our picture book drafts
back. I was very pleased with my mark, because, I was not certain if I had done
the assignment correctly. It was also important for me to understand where
improvements were required. Jill’s assessment technique, “the three questions,”
was helpful in giving us a better understanding of our own work along with the
necessary changes that needed to be made.
Tuesday’s class about Mental Math was
certainly a busy night of learning. I found the class to be insightful in a
number of ways. We were provided with a definition for Mental Math and
Estimation that gave us a better understanding of what is involved when a child
is learning Mental Math. I found the Mental Math P-3 sheet to be helpful in
defining time allotments for both the Mental Math and the Math Block, and also
for providing suggestions that will better help us to the integrate blocks.
Math has always been challenging for me. Therefore,
I was satisfied with the explanation provided by Amy about, ”Memorizing a
sentence in which words have meaning.” Children in the not so distant past, had
experienced learning Math through memorization, but this fails to teach
children that there are many pathways to learning Math. When children are taught Mental Math each
school day this teaching expands their learning horizons. It was an eye-opener
to learn how many math and number concepts that children would need to learn in
Grade Primary to help them with their Mental Math in Grade 1.
My favourite resource from our Math
night was the Rekenrek. I was absolutely
astonished by the number of ways that we as teachers can help children master
basic math through this handy little device. I admit as a child that I also
would have found it enticing to use the Rekenrek as a toy!
When I was attending
elementary school children at that time were not taught Math through such a
variety of ways. I think that I would
have developed a better understanding of Math concepts had these learning opportunities
been available to my peers and myself. What I take away from our Mental Math
class is the concrete, pictorial, symbolic, and oral methods that can be used
to help children learn Math. This is
essential, because all children learn differently.
Learning about the Mental Math Facts
was certainly interesting. I had no idea that there were so many facts for
addition alone. My favourite facts were Next Number, because this was simply
about remembering the number that came next. I also liked the One Aparts,
because the child would remember that it is doubles plus one. Such as:
5=6 becomes 5+5, next
number = 13
The Plus 2’s were also neat
to learn about, because a child would simply need to know that its about the
“next Even” or “next Odd” number. For example, you could say:
“If I say 5 … you say 7.”
“If I say 2 … you say 4.”
It’s understandable that
the little ones would be confused about learning the “add zeros.” I would be
interested in observing how the children develop their strategies for mastering
these facts especially for The Last Six.
The partner bingo game would be an
excellent activity for a child to take home as homework. Even though the game we played in class
cannot be won this would still be an engaging learning game for our children.
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