Looking Good...
9/28/2018
This week was picture day at PNA, and in the shots above you get a sneak peek at what Third, Fourth and Fifth grade classes will look like! This week, though, Sheryll and I would like to focus on highlighting what we're doing with Bridges math at the Third and Fifth Grade levels. As parents know, PNA uses the Bridges In Mathematics curriculum, developed by The Math Learning Center. Bridges takes a very open approach, highlighting multiple ways to solve problems, emphasizing the methods and processes (not just the correct answer), and encourages students to choose their own best path for learning. A traditionally 'right' answer may not be right if work is not fully shown, and a traditionally 'wrong' answer may not be so wrong if the student has shown with their work that they understand the process. In this way, students learn flexible and efficient ways to solve problems that they are able to use not just in a worksheet, but later in real life. Mathematicians At Work...In these pictures, the Third Grade class uses Work Places -- sets of games specially designed to highlight principles of mathematics -- to practice techniques and methods that they've been studying in class. Clockwise from upper right to upper left, the games being played are Blast Off to practice subtraction, Brain Fuel, a Bridges computer game, to practice both addition and subtraction, Addition Top-It to practice addition facts, and Carrot Grab to practice counting by 10s. As you can see by the reactions of the Third Graders, just because it's math doesn't mean it can't be fun! Next up, with have the Fifth Grade class. In the photos below, students play the Work Place game The Multiple Game for, practicing factors and multiples. In The Multiple Game, students challenge each other to find the factors of a multiple chosen by their opponent. Below, you can see the instructions for the game. Looking at the them, and the gameboard, above... how many factors can you find? Currently in Fifth Grade Math, students are taking a look at ratio tables, area models and tiled arrays. In the video below, students work not just to figure out what six times four is, but what it looks like when represented visually. Fifth graders are first given word problems: Bob is building a display of 24 baseballs for his store. Each column of the display has six baseballs. What does the display look like, and how many rows and columns will the display have? And are then asked to build the display for Bob, helping them visualize what six times four looks like. In this way, Bridges really does take much of the mystery out of mathematics, and helps students to build a deeper understanding of concepts and carry those concepts out into the real world! Oh, and then there's also the fun of ratio tables... Until next week... excelsior!
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Jessica GrahamMs. Graham graduated from the University of Alabama with a BS in Early Childhood/Elementary Education, and is currently working on her master's in reading. She enjoys hiking, traveling, arts & crafts, and playing the ukulele. Archives
April 2021
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