The new face of K-4 mathematics means the inclusion of math processing skills
into our curriculum standards. The processing standards encourage the
use of concrete representations of all kinds. So....pull out the manipulatives
that are stored in your classrooms and begin to look for new ways to
incorporate them in your lesson plans. K-2 usually has more
manipulatives in the daily lesson framework, however studies show that
students can benefit from concrete representations up to the 9th or
10th grade. Sometimes the pressures of testing make us think that we
cannot take time to use math tools to enhance a lesson. Don't be
deceived by past practices. Now, more than ever before, we must make
sure that students understand the concept using their own reasoning
strategies, and that they are not just attempting to memorize an
algorithm or formula that has no meaning for them. One of the new
faces of K-4 mathematics is this......"It's not about the testing, It's all about the teaching and learning! One of my jobs is to help you develop meaningful plans that allow investigations and problem solving using these learning tools. Find your pattern blocks and use them from kindergarten to fractions in fourth and fifth grades. The cuisenaire rods located in all elementary and middle schools are useful to develop patterns and number sense in kindergarten and first grade, addition, subtraction, transformations, perimeter and area, fraction sense, and adding fractions with unlike denominators. Base ten blocks have numerous connections with place value and number sense, but can also be used with decimals, multiplication and division. Some of our primary teachers have interlocking cubes and their uses are extensive. When students use the cubes to describe lengths of names, numbers of family members, number of pockets worn today, etc., then these cube trains are already bar graphs that students can demonstrate, and learn to transfer to paper as actual graphs for the class.  |
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