The purpose of this blog is to make visible my professional inspirations, discoveries, and inquiries as well as our students as we work together along our learning journey. I hope that each post leaves you feeling inspired and intrigued by the capabilities of our youngest learners.
Over the summer, I spent a lot of time familiarizing myself with the newly revised Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum and digging deeper into my own understandings around the big ideas, conceptual understandings and how they fit into the newly designed Four Frames model:
Self Regulation and Well-Being
Belonging and Contributing
Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours
Problem Solving and Innovating.
After working closely with a few inspiring friends and colleagues since last year and over the summer who always seem to push my thinking, I didn't waste any time diving into the new document and begin reflecting around how I could develop a system that would help capture student thinking and learning in an authentic, purposeful and meaningful way for myself, my students and their families.
"Modern learning is about doing authentic work in the world that can be amplified by technology." (Will Richardson)
Technology is just one way we enhance our pedagogy and provide flexible structures for ourselves as a teaching team to capture what our students are saying, doing and representing as part of our assessment practices and daily programming. As an active explorer of different types of technology and through a lot of trial and error and much reflection over the years, I feel that this year has been pivotal for me in developing a collaborative system between myself and my teaching partner that capitalizes on the use of Google Apps for Education as an assessment tool.
This post will highlight a few examples of how I have organized my Google platform and used it as a catalyst for collaboration when capturing our ongoing observations, conversations and products of student learning. In previous years, a clipboard, a digital camera and my favourite pen would be attached to my hip throughout the school day because I didn't want to miss an opportunity to capture learning in action. While this way of assessing was great at the time for us as a teaching team, it also involved a lot of paper, extra steps for digital downloading (e.g. of images, organizing them, etc), and then doubling up with the notes and photos captured by my partner. We didn't really have an effective and efficient organizational system that allowed us to correlate, collaborate and/or coordinate our paper assessments. This is where Google Apps has been incredible for my practice because it has taken all the "pros" and "cons" of my past assessment tools and combined them into one online, collaborative, and innovative space!
September is always a month filled with new possibilities, new challenges, growing "to-do" lists, and excitement for what lies ahead with the onset of a new school year! That being said, the ladies of #4EverInspired decided to host another giveaway! This one in particular highlights the perspectives of each one of us when it comes to classroom set-up, inventory and our personal passions with hopes to inspire you as we make our way into October!
The nature of our lists are by no means exhaustive and are not meant to be perceived as a "must-have" guide to every classroom. Just as Alice fostered a intrinsic sense of wonderment and curiosity when stating "curiouser and curiouser" in Alice in Wonderland, we thought these classroom favourites would shed light on what each of us finds personally essential to our individual practices when designing and setting up a classroom.
Over the past year, I have had and continue to have the wonderful opportunity to learn and "play" many times alongside an incredible friend and inspiring colleague, Heather Jelley in our full day kindergarten classroom! Heather is one of the Elementary Math Consultants and part of the Early Years Team in the York Region District School Board who comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience in relation to Primary grades and the Full Day Kindergarten program. Not only does she infuse her passion into everything she does, but her expertise within the realm of early mathematics is infectious and has truly transformed the way I look at and teach "math" within the walls of my classroom everyday! That being said, I have had a ton of fun integrating a variety of "Math Games" into our comprehensive math program that I have learned from Heather! Based on my students each year, I ensure that the introduction of each math game is purposeful, meaningful and, most importantly, responsive to their needs as young mathematicians. Most recently, I highlighted a personal favourite called, "Don't get the red dot!" on the blog! If you have yet to read all about this incredibly exciting and highly engaging game, please click this link: http://ljpskindergartenteam.blogspot.ca/2014/10/dont-get-red-dot.html
I'd now like to highlight a second Math Game that is equally as popular and incredibly engaging called "Tenzies!"
Purpose: For students to build upon their subitizing (the ability to recognize the number of objects at a glance, without having to count all the objects), one-to-one correspondence (each object being counted must be given one count and only one count. The number word spoken and the object counted must match up), and conservation (the count of the object stays the same whether spread out or close together) skills in a hands-on and engaging way!
Materials: All you need is 10 die (preferably all of one colour) - that's it!
How to play: 1. Roll all ten die and sort them by number rolled into groups. Whichever number has the most die is the "magic tenzie number!" Remember that number. Modification: Avoid sorting and have students pick a number from 1-6 to be their "magic tenzie number." 2. Gather and roll all ten die again and when that "magic" number appears on a dice, take it away from the group and form a line. 3. Gather remaining die and keep rolling; adding the "magic" number die when rolled to your "tenzie" line.
4. Once all ten die have been lined up with the "magic" number, the player shouts out "TENZIE!" because they win!
The nice thing about this game is that it's really a competition within oneself to see how quick you can get "tenzies!" The more familiar and knowledgable students get at the early number concept of subitizing, the easier the game becomes!
In particular, this game has been one of the best whereby I've noticed students gaining a strong, confident sense of the early number concepts mentioned above (subitizing, conservation and one-to-one correspondence). Making Math "fun" is so important when developing our youngest learners into mathematicians, and a game like "Tenzies!" is one where there's an entry point for every student and most importantly, every student can feel successful playing! I've created a set of "Tenzies!" instructions for you to download which were shared as part of our Great Beginnings session this past August for educators and DECE's. I've also linked the game to the Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum expectations.
Here's to making math fun and using play as a vehicle for learning!
At this point in the school year, I always love introducing math games as part of our comprehensive math program in our classroom! Respecting the fact that developing a classroom community takes time, patience, routine-building and established expectations, I wanted to share one of my favourite math games from last year that was a student "favourite" and one that promoted strong skills when acquiring early number concepts! We have yet to introduce this math game to our students in our classroom this year, but look forward to seeing them build upon their numeracy skills and acquire new strategies for being the incredible mathematicians that they are in the coming weeks.
The title itself says it all: "Don't get the RED dot!"
Purpose: For students to build upon their subitizing (the ability to recognize the number of objects at a glance, without having to count all the objects), one-to-one correspondence (each object being counted must be given one count and only one count. The number word spoken and the object counted must match up), and hierarchical inclusion (numbers build by exactly one each time and nest within each other by this amount. This relationship means that the child mentally includes one in two, two in three, three in four, and so on) skills as early mathematicians in a fun and engaging way!
Materials: - Each student is given a ten-frame board to play on. Counters can include any type of open-ended material/loose part (e.g. corks, coloured counters, marker caps, gems, etc). - Create number cards 1-10 and dot cards also 1-10 on blank playing cards - Include one card with a red dot
How to play: - Each player takes a turn picking a card, naming the number (e.g. by recognizing the numeral and/or counting the dots) and then everyone showing what that number looks like on their ten-frame board - Continue taking turns and showing each number on students' ten-frame boards until someone picks the red dot card! This means the game is over! The object of the game is to not get the red dot!
Encourage students to compose and decompose numbers to 10 by adding and taking away counters as the numbers change. Here is one of our previous SK students explaining how the game works with a few twists:
This is an incredibly fun game and one that capitalizes on students' prior knowledge around numbers and build upon their understanding of those important early number concepts!
Enjoy and remember...don't get the red dot!!
Here is an incredible reference sheet that explains the Early Number Concepts created by the York Region District School Board. I refer to this chart daily:
I'd like to start this post by thanking Deborah Sinyard (@sinyarddeb) for sharing with me the beautiful quote above by D. Clements. This quote struck a cord with me since some incredible mathematical learning took place in our classroom last week! Just like we encourage our students to see themselves as scientists, authors, artists, architects, and beyond we also encourage our students to think of themselves as mathematicians. A JK/SK team embraced just that and this post will highlight how through one invitation for learning, this team made some incredible mathematical connections to what we've been learning about and exploring in our classroom! Prior to this exploration, Heidi and I have been leading mini lessons during our Math Exploration and Learning Time around teaching to particular early number concepts (e.g. "movement is magnitude," "subitizing, "stable order" and "part/part/whole") using a variety of different mathematical tools (e.g. Rekenrek, connecting cubes, etc). While one of us is instructing a mini lesson, the other is circulating, documenting student learning, and asking prompting questions to push students' thinking. Here's what unfolded... While the other students were engaged in their various mathematical explorations, I noticed a JK/SK team (J.L. and R.V.) working closely together with the number cards and kapla blocks....they were co-creating a number line! Each student had a hand of cards and they were taking turns picking a card from each other and placing them in numerical order on the table (from 1-10). Even if a number was already down, they matched each card and with some prompting, they constructed a "tower" out of kapla blocks to show what that number looks like.
I noticed that both J.L. and R.V. would check each other's "towers" by counting each kapla block used and ensuring that it was the correct number of blocks (thus practicing their one-to-one correspondence skills). This reminded me of the domino card game we put out last week as an invitation for learning to practice recognizing numbers without having to count and matching the cards to the corresponding numbers on the domino. It was wonderful to see them using the new open-ended materials and applying what they learned in such an authentic way!
It was also great to see J.L. and R.V. make connections to our explorations of "Number Trains" and compose each number of their number line using the connecting cubes! R.V. even made a connection to creating an AB pattern!
Here are some of the question prompts I asked the girls as they were creating their number line: 1. Can you tell me what you're making? 2. I wonder how we could use these materials to show what these numbers look like? 3. Why did you choose to stack the blocks? What do you notice about the numbers? What do they look like? 4. How are all the numbers different? 5. What happens to the towers when you count forward to 10? 6. What happens to the towers when you count backwards from 10? When asked the last two question prompts, both J.L. and R.V. came to the conclusions that when counting forward to 10 the "towers" got taller which meant the numbers got bigger and when counting backwards from 10, the "towers" got smaller which meant the numbers got smaller! Fascinating connections! Here is some captured video documentation of the girls in action:
I'd like to thank a wonderful friend, Heather Jelley, for picking my brain and getting me thinking about my position as the active "observer" and what types of question prompts I used to get these students to this point in their learning and understanding! It certainly gave me goosebumps revisiting my recordings and transcriptions! Here's one "Think Tank" question that Heather left me with and I welcome any thoughts and ideas!
How do you invite/engage/provoke learning in your classrooms with a math focus?
One way we try to promote parental engagement and meaningful connections between home and school is through the form of what we like to call, "Think Work." The term "Think Work" was shared with me by my mentor, Tania Sterling, a few years ago. The idea came from the desire to transform the stigma associated with "homework" and make it into something that students would find fun, engaging, and thought-provoking and would also allow them to think deeper about a particular inquiry, topic, etc. Once this idea was shared with me, I began to see the true value in the term "Think Work" and being intrigued, I jumped on using it with our Kindergarten class about two years ago! It's been a hit every since!
Presently, my DECE, Heidi Theis, and I utilize this concept in ways that foster excitement around extending the learning going on in our classroom with our families! Our "Think Work" is not something we create on a weekly basis nor is it mandatory for all families to participate in. We just wanted to provide our families with meaningful opportunities to extend on the learning occurring in our classroom in a fun and engaging way!
The excitement, joy and enthusiasm that our students showcase before, during, and after presenting their "Think Work" in front of their peers is truly incredible and exactly what we had hoped for - a true testament to the love for learning! Moreover, the positive feedback we have received from our families goes without question that this type of learning opportunity presents our parents with multiple entry points to the learning going on within the walls of our classroom. Similarly, it provides our families with multiple opportunities to engage in purposeful talk at home and a diverse way of exchanging and showcasing their child's learning by sharing photos, transcriptions, and/or videos with us and the class!
Talk about a powerful home/school connection that can be celebrated in both learning environments!
When sending home our "Think Work," we always include question prompts for our parents that they can use to help engage with their child before, during, and after the learning. This is one of the main things parents have said help them facilitate purposeful talk at home and give them the opportunity to truly become an active participant in their child's thinking and learning.
Some images captured from our class Leaf Hunt!
Our Leaf Inquiry has begun!
Students created Leaf Books about the leaves they
collected from our class Leaf Hunt.
Which tree does this leaf come from? We
used the app LeafSnap to investigate!
Over the month of October, we had two wonderful opportunities in our classroom that led to perfect "Think Work" activities! The first was our Leaf Inquiry and our students profound natural curiousity for the changing seasons and what they noticed about the leaves outside. That being said, Ms. Theis and I wasted no time in creating an activity that students could do with their families that truly enhanced their thinking about leaves and connected to our classroom learning at the same time. In brief, we asked our students to take their families on a "Leaf Hunt" similar to the one we went on as a class.
Emily's Leaf Hunt was a real hit and her energy was definitely contagious!
Whether it be to a forest, in their backyard, or at a family member's house, students were able to make meaningful connections to their home environments and tie it into our classroom learning. Furthermore, and as a way of incorporating mathematics, we provided our students with an open-ended template that would encourage them to record down the types of leaves they found and how many of each. The way students recorded their thinking was completely unique to them (e.g. tally marks, check marks, pictures, numbers, words, etc). Here is evidence of our students' Leaf Hunts as their "Think Work" activity:
Some recorded responses and E.S.'s homemade Leaf Book!
Documented responses help gave insight into J.S.'s
insightful conversations with his parents!
G.B. investigating some of the leaves she brought in
from her family Leaf Hunt and discovering which
trees they came from!
Secondly, Halloween and the tradition of "Trick-or-Treating" naturally lent itself to a meaningful "Think Work" activity and one that revolved around a Halloween Math Challenge! With our students excitement building as the date got closer, we noticed our students having conversations around what types of candies were their favourites, what candies they hoped they would get and which candies they didn't like. So.....we created our math challenge and again, supported our parents by providing them with questions they could ask their child before, during, and after trick-or-treating. Furthermore, we invited parents to share photos, writing, videos, etc of their child's learning so that we could build in those rich connections and conversations as students got to present their "Think Work" at school in front of the class!
J.S. sharing how he began his challenge!
R.K. talking about what she did with her candy.
T.P. highlighting how he used his "counting finger" to
count all of his candy!
T.B. telling us step-by-step how he did his
Halloween Math Challenge!
C.S-J. talking about how she lined up all the candy to
help her count.
D.K. pointing our his Mom's favourite candy - Kit Kat!
G.V. sharing how she made an AB pattern - chips, chocolate,
chips, chocolate!
R.V. sharing how she made lots of piles of
the different candies.
Here are the photos that our wonderful families sent in showcasing their child in action as they completed our Halloween Math Challenge! One family even experimented and made their very own PicCollage!
Dev's Halloween Saga was a huge hit and was created using the site called "haikudeck."
T.P. counting all of his Halloween candy.
C.S-J. and her family documented her thinking
and learning using their first PicCollage!
J.L.'s family recorded her counting!
R.K. sorting her candy after counting each piece!
J.H. counting and sorting his Halloween candy for our
Math Challenge!
T.B. sorting and counting his candy!
G.V. and R.V. sorting and making AB patterns with
their collected Halloween candy!
J.S.'s family documented his entire thinking and learning
process through a series of photos showcasing the
steps he took to draw conclusions! Incredible!
This is just one of the many ways we try to build a positive home/school connection and foster a sense of engagement and conversation with our students and their families. For other educators, I hope that this post has inspired you to think about ways you foster parental engagement and we would love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave any comments, questions, or further inquiries below!
We couldn't be more thrilled with the number of family responses and we are so fortunate to have such dedicated, involved, and supportive parents - so THANK YOU for your continued involvement in your child's learning. The following photos and videos were shared with us by our families and we thank you for letting us share them on the blog!
