Numeracy Snippets!
Pre-Information regarding the video and why it was filmed.
Currently this year in my class there are some challenging behaviours that I have been engaging in support from Leadership (I am a Team Leader, so I have enlisted the help of the Curriculum Leader and School Coach). Yesterday, Student X was refusing to complete tasks (in fact all week) and we had begun to use the Regulation Zones. Student X generally sits in the Red Zone and finds it tough to engage in school. Student X rarely stays in the room, often completing work to less than minimum standard or not at all.
The bonus in having my Curriculum Leader come into the room to film Student X, meant that she filmed the majority of my lesson so as to have context around the student's behaviours and what they were able to do. Those parts have been completely edited out so that you can see parts of my lesson; the whole class focus, independent work and reflection. I did have a class warm up, however I had to heavily edit it, and it wouldn't have made much sense as this was part of the lesson most affected by disruption.
The Lesson.
The lesson was for students to be making numbers using concrete materials. The previous lesson was very similar in that we were using unifix blocks, and before that, tens frames. Students were discovering ways to efficiently count larger numbers, instead of by ones.
The warm up for the lesson was a game called connect 4 using a hundreds chart. This game pre-primes students into thinking about larger numbers, before and after, ten more, ten less and also ten more and one, and ten less and one.
Students play in pairs and roll a ten sided dice twice to make a two digit number. They need to locate that number and circle it. Students take turns until someone gets "connect 4". Students have to know that rolling 3 and 0 is 30 and rolling 0 and 3 is just 3. One student rolled 0 and 0, so he missed a turn! He thought it was great! (Read: I was ready for a meltdown...)
Here is an example of all the ways you can connect 4. You could play as a whole class warm up, teacher vs. students, using hundreds charts and whiteboard markers (we do this) or if you have enough ipads to make pairs, use SPLAT. (I use a direct link through Seesaw when I set tasks like this so that students do not have to find the website).
The whole class focus centered around activating prior knowledge and applying new knowledge to new materials. In previous years, my school has said that research led them to not using MAB with students under Year 3 and to use icy-pole sticks instead. Since then, after some strong conversations last year, I have been allowed to introduce MAB. I use tens frames (which allows students to use their subitising skills first), then Unifix and icy-pole sticks to make tens and ones so that students can physically manipulate materials, before moving on to MAB. This is the progression I will use so that I make sure all students have a solid understanding of the abstract nature of Base Ten before moving to MAB.
Students were able to work independently using 'just right' numbers which they rolled themselves. Students at the beginning of the year rolled 15 two digit numbers using either a 6-sided dice or a 10-sided dice. After formative assessment took place, there are 5 students who are already working to three digit numbers.
Grade 1 students worked with the previous material (unifix blocks) so as to get comfortable with the skill before applying it to the new material. This worked well as they felt more comfortable to make two digit numbers without support. Grade 2 students were asked to use icy-pole sticks which allowed me to see who could immediately apply their knew knowledge. After observing students, there were only 2 who needed scaffolding to reach success independently.
My reflection was purely based on consolidating the knowledge we had learned and to see who was confident in sharing their ideas. The student who shared at the end began to see the base ten pattern when I worked with him during the lesson. He discovered that every time I added a ten, the number 'at the front' goes up [78,88,98].
In my next lesson I will be using him as a "freebie"* for tuning in students into talking about moving through the decades.
See my video here:
Note that it is purposefully blurry to protect the identities of students. This video has been heavily cut and edited using Microsoft Movie Maker. Some parts cut to different sections in the lesson during the phases. This is intentional to protect particular students.
*Freebie - is language from the Kathy Walker Learner Program as is 'tuning in'. This is something that I was PD'd in at my first school via my Team who had done the training/PD with Kathy. It is a style of learning and teaching that I have continued to try maintain within reason at my subsequent schools. I introduced this style of learning at TCPS when I joined the Prep Team there which improved oral language, literacy and numeracy outcomes. I have continued to speak about it with the current Prep Team at my current school, as this area is a strong passion of mine.