Math

We are learning routines that will serve us all year in math. Many days start with counting how many children are in school. We continue to see this as a unique problem each day, as we write down how many children are in our class, how many are in school today and how many are absent. We also form a counting stick and pass around cubes to represent how many children are in class each day.

We have done surveys such as "are you a boy or a girl?" and "are you the oldest child in your family?" We discuss the data with the group and ask the children what conclusions they can draw from the data. We have a Counting Jar with a collection of objects in it. Children are asked to count the objects and make an equivalent collection of buttons on a plate. After they have practiced this, they begin to record their count in a Counting Jar Book.

We are exploring materials that we will use all year in math. Having familiarized ourselves with these materials we will already be interested in working with them as they roll out in the context of particular units. The most impressive part of our math class this year is the willingness of children to engage in discussions about math ideas with each other. They are listening to each other and we hope to build a culture where children can talk about each other's ideas. This is a stretch as five-year olds are expected to be egocentric rather than able to listen to others' points of view, think about what they have heard and decide to adjust their point of view or reaffirm their own statement.

We will have more pictures next month.