Welcome to Neileigh Chastain's Blog for Early Childhood Education
As a teacher of an early childhood class, age 4, I would like to get the opinions of other professionals in education. I would like to start with a discussion about early math.
I know that everyone has had difficulties teaching some things to certain students. It seems like we try everything that we can think of to help these students succeed and it still does not seem to help the students. The thing is that we might be too close to the situation. It helps to get other points of view. There is a chance that someone else could see something that will help these students that you did not see.
I need different strategies for teaching beginners math, specifically joining sets or adding. If there is a strategy that could help me teach this I would really appreciate it. If there are any links that could help please add the link. Thanks for the help in my classroom!
Neileigh,
ReplyDeleteSomething I truly believe that will help students at that age is to use manipulative. This will help students to gain an understanding of what they are doing and give them hands-on experiences. Also, I would use play-based learning. Research has shown that young learners do not learn through direct instruction nor do they learn when they are instructed through skill and drill worksheets. Children learn best by constructing knowledge. So I would create situations using beginning math through play.
B George
Brandon,
DeleteI really see how play based learning is beneficial to young children. They are really not programmed to sit for any length of time. They learn from doing and experiencing. It is always interesting. I think hands-on activities will help a lot. Thanks for the response.
Neileigh,
ReplyDeleteI am also a big fan of manipulative and other hands on activities. I think when it comes to joining sets, this is so reinforcing and gives a visual representation of the two sets becoming one. I also use bowls to hold the sets and then a third bowl for holding the two sets that are now one set.
Another idea that I have and that I implement across the school day is incidental teaching. This is just a process of using what the child is interested in at the moment and making it a teachable moment.
Stephanie,
DeleteThe students using the three bowls is a great idea. This gives the students the opportunity to visualize the joining of sets. We could use manipulatives such as chips, blocks, and counting bears to put into the bowls. Thanks for the idea!
I also am a big fan of manipulatives. It is necessary for young learners to have hands on activities. Students seem to understand what a partner is, so I explain sets as partners. A good way to incorporate adding on is simply counting the school days as the year progresses. You can use straws or popsicle sticks to count the number of school days. Then when you have about a few weeks, you can start to make bundles of the sticks or straws. You can make sets of two, threes, or any number you choose. When you get to the 100th day of school, you can show the different ways to make one hundred.
DeleteNeileigh,
ReplyDeletePreschool students are always so eager to learn once they get over the jitters of being in school. I think a great way to teach math to young learners it through games and interactive things on the smart board. As mentioned manipulatives are great to use with students. Virtual manipulatives on the smart board will definitely engage the students in the learning process. When I taught Kindergarten my first year of teaching I used tons of songs to help with number recognition and counting. In order to build a conceptual understanding of math, students need tons of opportunities to perform a mathematical task. This website has games for ages 3-5 http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/counting.