In the Real World

THIS is how I feel right about now:

I am sick...or allergic to life...not really sure which.  But that's life.  And that's what working with First graders will get you.

In class today we got to play with math tiles...which yes...I did play :

I'm weird with patterns...I kind of like to play around with stuff and make things out of other materials...hence why I absolutely love the idea of manipulatives.

Today we put them flat and used them to make a mental math game.

So if I way the blue square is 15 I have to figure out what the yellow square is.  If I pretend the tiles are set up on a 100s chart then my answer by elimination would be 57.  A fun and easy activity with manipulatives to play with your kids!

I grew up in an extremely artistic family and so I have learned to look at the world with a different point of view.  I'm the kid who took pictures of things in nature or in the city because the pattern looked pretty or I thought the colors turned out kind of cool.

In nature, math is EVERYWHERE.  There are patterns anywhere and everywhere you look.  It's actually pretty cool.  Don't ask me why, but I really find the work that spiders do in their webs amazing.  Look:

Like seriously how cool is that!  The pattern is so simple but it is crazy effective for what the spider needs to survive!  I love love love it!

Oh!  And the stars!  God has given us such a wonderful Creation to be a part of.  Look at this picture from outer space:

Not only is it beautiful, but the patterns that the stars make are indescribable!  Patterns and shapes and math are constantly around us---only if we stop to take the time and look around us will you be able to appreciate the world for a new found appreciation of mathematics.

FINALLY October!

FLASHBACK!!!!!

We were given a blank puzzle to create a math related fun puzzle. So....drum roll.......:

TADAAAAAA!

I'm creative. Haha.  I actually had a lot of fun making my spiders come to life on my puzzle.  October is my favorite month---my favorite color is orange...that is a complete and utter understatement...I'm kind of obsessed.  And since I like Spiderman and the creepy crawly weird interesting things, spiders and spiderwebs are extremely intriguing to me and thus I like to draw them.   

Onto math for today....

Using shapes as manipulatives can help any age student learn and grasp concepts of geometry.  It allows the students to play with the shapes, but also realize how many different things in everyday life are based upon the shapes that math teaches them.  

Students not only will be able to play, but it promotes creativity within the classroom and encourages them to have a positive attitude towards math:

As you can see, Peter enjoyed playing with the shape manipulatives and gained the nickname "Prism Peter." 

Also keep in mind that manipulatives don't always have to be an extravagant, over the top, toy that the students aren't used to.  While talking about prisms we were able to take regular sheets of paper to create a bigger size of a prism as a hands on activity.

I can't stress enough the point to allow your students an allotted amount of time to play with their manipulatives---because let's be honest, even as college students, we can't be trusted not to play with the manipulatives if they are given to us (as you can see above ;) ).

Shapes are awesome.  Shapes are fun.  Shapes are everywhere. 

Circle.

Oval.

Rectangle.

Square.

Triangle.

How many shapes can you find?????

Math is everywhere!  When your kids say they will never use it in real life, just show them the shapes!

Until next time.... ;)

Let Them Eat Cake

 So we found out that we are going to be able to work with kids who are struggling in mathematics at one of the local elementary schools!  Today we worked on a lesson plan that we could better help them to understand how to reduce fractions to their simplest form.  What better way to get a kid to understand math...FOOD!

I made the word cake turn into an acronym for a tool that they can have help them remember working with reducing fractions.  So for a problem such as 8/16th, they would check the problem, (their ingredients), then aim for less (finding the least common factor to take out of both the numerator and the denominator), kick out the extra (take out the excess), and enjoy the rest---examine their work and continue to the next problem.!  It will be super rad when they can use manipulatives such as measuring cups and spoons and counters to help them understand.

We also took a field trip to the library to look for manipulatives to aid us in teaching the kids.

I can't say that we didn't play with the manipulatives because they are super fun.....

Or that we weren't obnoxiously loud in the library.....

But that just goes to show you that math can be fun.....

And the more fun and creative a lesson is, the easier it is to remember the information!  
This is what I am faced with for next week...an open canvas....

Hmmm, I wonder what I will come up with....Time to create!

finding your niche

There has been alot of strategies and manipulatives that we have covered in class---soooo many to choose from.  The top four that have been drilled into our heads are as follows:

1                                                                      opportunities to communicate and collaborate

                                                                                                                   concrete to abstract

3                                                     age appropriate activities

4                                                                                                  experiencial and beneficial

I  If I remember to use these strategies in my classroom it will be extremely beneficial not only to me, but to my students because making the curriculum personal and promoting active learning will make them want to learn and experience education the way it should be experienced.  When you are experiencing a classroom it can be a good experience or a bad one---if it turns negative it can change a child's outlook on school and even life to be one that is unhappy, struggling, and unwilling to learn.   If I choose to teach with activities that involve groups, sometimes the members don't want to participate because they don't like the spotlight on them:

Nikkita in the spotlight!

But, if the spotlight activity is just an assessment of learning and repeating the information that they already know (which sometimes helps the student to relax because they aren't nervous about saying a wrong answer).

I also really like the idea of using manipulatives with pairs or in smaller groups because it makes the activity and the learning more personal than it can be sometimes within the entire classroom.  This activity:

What Suits You!

   allows the students not only to practice mental math( using the top cards together to achieve the number of the card located on the bottom) but also to keep their mathematic and social skills developing.  When we participated in this activity it forced me to think, but it also didn't stress me out because my partner was having some of the same struggles as I was, and if they weren't struggling then we discovered we could work together to solve the problem and achieve our same goal.

     I think it is SO cool how each classroom has different students and everytime it will be an adventure as to how that set of students work together.  The strategies that may work for one group of students may not work with another group---it is a constant reminder that every child is different and that a teacher must always be on their toes and strive to reach each and every one of those separate needs.  

                                                     Every student is DIFFERENT!!!!!!!! :)

   

A little bit more...

  Today we did a lot of reflection dealing with our personal math journey/history.  In writing that paper I realized that a lot of my math experiences were very negative and I really want to go into this class rebuilding a positive attitude towards mathematics so that when I finally get a class of my own I will be able to teach them and make their math journeys positive.  We learned alot about how math works in relation to the state standards [spiral curriculum--there's a consistent building through the years] to teach math when dealing with different intelligences within the classroom.  You are able to do a lot of pair share activities, reflections, google docs that involve working on stuff together as a class that includes math but still keeps the kids occupied, but for me my favorite is still manipulatives.  For example today we worked with geoboards:

I really enjoyed working with this manipulative because it is hands on!  It allows me to be creative and play but also forces me to stay geometrical...it's like creativity within mathematical restrictions.  Plus I like geometric shapes so it's totally cool to me!  

First day!

Well, I am not necessarily the most informed when it comes to technology so naturally when technology and math are combined I am NOT the most knowledgeable!  Today we got to use different types of math mediums (manipulatives) and apply them to how we could use them in the classroom---it was a lot of fun!   I do have to say, my biggest challenge today was learning how to use paint on a mac; let's just say my drawing wasn't award winning but I still figured it out (after of course getting frustrated and just sticking to pen and paper).  Maybe I should work on my artistic abilities, what do you think ? Haha!

I'm definitely looking forward to growing and learning a lot in both math and technology.  Let the adventures in Mathland begin!