Hey Everybody,
Here is an interesting site, to continue Rebecca's debate on ZERO. I finally have a bit of time to check it out and it is awesome, thanks to Paula Blower, one of the secretaries at East End!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/o_number
Have a great summer!!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Origami
Hi Everybody,
Now that we can relax for a while, I must say that I was more nervous than I thought I was on Wednesday. I tried hard not to think about it because I needed to pay attention to what I was trying to learn from Maggie, so when my time came I never even looked at the notes I wrote to myself!! I was overcome by the memories of my family in Indonesia and sharing about my Dad was not part of my presentation!! But I was glad that I did. So, when Maggie was singing her song I was also thinking of my family in Indonesia, including my daughter who has been there since January, teaching English at a university in my hometown. She will be back at the end of July.
Anyway, what I was trying to do now is ask you all to think back before the presentation and what you wrote on that bright yellow paper!! Please think about what you wrote (without divulging anything), unless you so incline, and find out how you think you can connect Origami to Math! What are the things that you saw or did during the time you "manipulated" the paper into a boat/crane, that you think can be useful to teach Math? Do you think that students can "get it" by using this kind of manipulative?
In the past I have used Origami workshops at ESL conferences to help LA teachers understand what their students have to do in order to understand English. As I said, they told each that after about 10 minutes of listening and trying to follow directions in a different language, they had a headache. I used these workshops to get "free" admission to the conferences:):):) Now I intend to expand Origami into Math because in the past it never occured to me that what I consider mental therapy could be a great tool to help students learn Math concepts, at the same time taking the product home, which I think is instant gratification.
So, when you have a minute, please tell me what you got out of that, a short post reflection to help me find more "angles" and "hooks" to connect Math to Origami!! Believe me, I was plenty nervous, and I had to sit down to calm my nerves but you all were such great and supportive audience, and I really appreciate it. It was hard to stand in front of you and try to remember what I was supposed to say:):):) I am glad that it was not too hot that day, or I would have been "sweating."
There is also another recent connection to Math that I found. I taught five elderly ladies, to (each) make a pinwheel bag at Whole Foods (WF) when we finished the coaches meeting on Thursday, and they paid handsomely so I can get more paper!! Actually, that was my true "connection" to Math, the dollar value:):):) They want me to continue working with them!! AND, when the marketing director at WF saw me do that she asked me to teach Origami at WF because they have sushi classes there!! Sound delicious huh....eating sushi and doing origami.....hmmm........!!
Maggie, I don't know how you can so calmly teach so many adults. You always looked so relaxed and composed.........My hat off to you Maggie!!
I look forward to hearing from you all.........:)
Now that we can relax for a while, I must say that I was more nervous than I thought I was on Wednesday. I tried hard not to think about it because I needed to pay attention to what I was trying to learn from Maggie, so when my time came I never even looked at the notes I wrote to myself!! I was overcome by the memories of my family in Indonesia and sharing about my Dad was not part of my presentation!! But I was glad that I did. So, when Maggie was singing her song I was also thinking of my family in Indonesia, including my daughter who has been there since January, teaching English at a university in my hometown. She will be back at the end of July.
Anyway, what I was trying to do now is ask you all to think back before the presentation and what you wrote on that bright yellow paper!! Please think about what you wrote (without divulging anything), unless you so incline, and find out how you think you can connect Origami to Math! What are the things that you saw or did during the time you "manipulated" the paper into a boat/crane, that you think can be useful to teach Math? Do you think that students can "get it" by using this kind of manipulative?
In the past I have used Origami workshops at ESL conferences to help LA teachers understand what their students have to do in order to understand English. As I said, they told each that after about 10 minutes of listening and trying to follow directions in a different language, they had a headache. I used these workshops to get "free" admission to the conferences:):):) Now I intend to expand Origami into Math because in the past it never occured to me that what I consider mental therapy could be a great tool to help students learn Math concepts, at the same time taking the product home, which I think is instant gratification.
So, when you have a minute, please tell me what you got out of that, a short post reflection to help me find more "angles" and "hooks" to connect Math to Origami!! Believe me, I was plenty nervous, and I had to sit down to calm my nerves but you all were such great and supportive audience, and I really appreciate it. It was hard to stand in front of you and try to remember what I was supposed to say:):):) I am glad that it was not too hot that day, or I would have been "sweating."
There is also another recent connection to Math that I found. I taught five elderly ladies, to (each) make a pinwheel bag at Whole Foods (WF) when we finished the coaches meeting on Thursday, and they paid handsomely so I can get more paper!! Actually, that was my true "connection" to Math, the dollar value:):):) They want me to continue working with them!! AND, when the marketing director at WF saw me do that she asked me to teach Origami at WF because they have sushi classes there!! Sound delicious huh....eating sushi and doing origami.....hmmm........!!
Maggie, I don't know how you can so calmly teach so many adults. You always looked so relaxed and composed.........My hat off to you Maggie!!
I look forward to hearing from you all.........:)
Monday, June 22, 2009
From Zero to Infinity
The debate and sharing of ideas regarding "zero" as a number has been quite interesting. I appreciate all the comments, musings and the effort to share. My kindergarten teacher mind is always thinking about how to make concrete connections to language that we use for mathematical concepts. Zero is a word, but what I find interesting is how students explain it's meaning in their minds. "It means nothing!" "There is nothing there (questioning look on students face)." "It's invisible." "It's like when my glass is empty and I haven't got any more milk." This last comment by a kindergartener is one of my favorites because it is connected to a real experience. It is very concrete.
The continued debate about zero jogged my memory about another student conversation about number words and math language. Two kindergarten boys were hotly debating which was bigger google-plex or infinity. For them it was a matter of whose idea was winning. As they argued a little girl in my class walked up to the boys with her hands on her hips. “You guys should know that both of those [meaning google-plex and infinity] are words. Google-plex and infinity are too big to count so we use words for them.” Wow! I was amazed. I couldn’t have said it any better.
MTM academy has reaffirmed for me how important it is to really listen to my students. It is so easy to get swept away by our curriculum expectations, etc. and forget to hear where the students are coming from. So….. “To infinity and beyond.”
The continued debate about zero jogged my memory about another student conversation about number words and math language. Two kindergarten boys were hotly debating which was bigger google-plex or infinity. For them it was a matter of whose idea was winning. As they argued a little girl in my class walked up to the boys with her hands on her hips. “You guys should know that both of those [meaning google-plex and infinity] are words. Google-plex and infinity are too big to count so we use words for them.” Wow! I was amazed. I couldn’t have said it any better.
MTM academy has reaffirmed for me how important it is to really listen to my students. It is so easy to get swept away by our curriculum expectations, etc. and forget to hear where the students are coming from. So….. “To infinity and beyond.”
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sum Help: New Search Engine for Mathletes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124516890985419379.html
My husband is teaching himself Trigonometry. We have interesting math conversations.
He brought home an article from The Wall Street Journal today. Wolfram Alpha is a new search engine and people are debating mastering algorithms when "computational power is always at hand."
Check it out! I say it is a website that can be useful tool , just like a calculator is (at times) in my own classroom. I wonder where this search engine will take us.
Rita
"But I thought this was math!?"
My math class just finished reading "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Baillett. It is the first year that I have done it (reading a novel in math). I teach a high group of 4th graders and I felt that it was the message that I wanted to send them away with: Be curious, be diligent, be bold. The characters are all of the above and more. The story includes a lot of logic, patterns, codes, and pentominoes. It took three weeks to read, but I balanced my class with more "traditional" math and left out the weekly challenges. I used the IGETIT approach, and let the kids discuss and figure things out, and the classes were perfectly unpredictable. It worked out better than I envisioned, (better next year, though) and suprisingly, I had no complaints from parents. Talk to me next week if you are interested in more info. I think the book is best for 4th-6th grade.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
zero
(I am posting this for Rebecca)
We had a big argument in the classroom today (kindergarten/First Grade) It started by saying that a person couldn’t be less than 1 year old because they couldn't be 0. I asked a student about her dog who is 6 months. Some of the kids figured out that 6 months is 1/2 way between birth and 1 year. Others were stuck on the idea that when you were born you were 1-year old- they didn’t get that the 1st birthday signified 1 year of life. So we talked to Mrs. Nelson about her baby, when he was born, how old he is now and when he will be 1. Eventually everyone pretty much accepted that you are not 1 year old when you are born and that you are officially 1 when you have been alive for a year ( I didn’t mention some cultures start counting life from conception so they actually turn 1 aprox 3 months after being born - We had enough problems already!). Anyway…at that point I was feeling like we could move on with life but I was oh-so wrong........The next issue to arise was: "0" is not a number. I was thinking that 0 represents an amount, an amount of nothing but it does signify that there is nothing there and either side of 0 is a number representing positive or negative units of measure. Several students who go to another teacher for math insisted that Zero is nothing and since it is nothing it is not a number. They told me "Mrs. Linevitch says 0 is not a number". I told the kids I wasn’t sure and we could gather information and try to figure this out. I went on line because there is sooooooo much I don’t know about math and found a lot of contradicting information. I need help! Is Zero a number? Why do some sources say yes and others no? I have polled staff around the building and have found some believe 0 is a number while others do not. I am so confused - has my belief in 0 as a number been wrong all my life? Help!
Rebecca
Rebecca
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Chunking
I recall Maggie replying to what I wrote, long time ago on the blog, with a question about how I transfer methods to teach Literacy into Mathematical implementation, and, I was stumped. I was always under the impression that teaching Math is nothing like teaching Literacy. Since I was stumped by Maggie's question I have been thinking about it and, at my age, I feel that learning is a never ending process. Well, I don't want to waste whatever time I have left:):):)
A few days ago, in one of my third grade Read 180 groups, (not even working on Math), there was a sentence containing a six digit number: 330.000 of something. The student couldn't read the number and he just said thirty three, and just kept saying that three times. I had to do a "mini" Math lesson in the middle of a reading program, without getting my "tucked away" home made Place Value chart. So I covered the three zeros and asked him to read 330, and he did beautifully. I uncovered the rest of the numbers and asked him to read the whole six digit number but he lost it again.....and said three hundred thirty........over and over again. I empathized with him, because some of the other four students barely had their eyes attached to their sockets. They knew how to read that. However, I have always told them that giving someone the answer without giving them a chance to think is like robbing/cheating them from the learning/thinking process. They have been great about not blurting the answer......now!!
So I HAD TO get my chart......and asked him to put those numbers on the chart, noticing that the 330 is under the thousand "roof." Bingo......he could read the numbers and he was so proud of himself! To me the process of covering the zeros resembles chunking in Literacy, reading a long word by identifying the shorter words in it, seemed to be an AHA to me but perhaps to others it is not news:):):)
I had to share this with you all. I was too lazy to get my chart to begin with, at times being lazy has its own advantage:):):) Hopefully this makes sense to you. Thanks for taking the time to read.
A few days ago, in one of my third grade Read 180 groups, (not even working on Math), there was a sentence containing a six digit number: 330.000 of something. The student couldn't read the number and he just said thirty three, and just kept saying that three times. I had to do a "mini" Math lesson in the middle of a reading program, without getting my "tucked away" home made Place Value chart. So I covered the three zeros and asked him to read 330, and he did beautifully. I uncovered the rest of the numbers and asked him to read the whole six digit number but he lost it again.....and said three hundred thirty........over and over again. I empathized with him, because some of the other four students barely had their eyes attached to their sockets. They knew how to read that. However, I have always told them that giving someone the answer without giving them a chance to think is like robbing/cheating them from the learning/thinking process. They have been great about not blurting the answer......now!!
So I HAD TO get my chart......and asked him to put those numbers on the chart, noticing that the 330 is under the thousand "roof." Bingo......he could read the numbers and he was so proud of himself! To me the process of covering the zeros resembles chunking in Literacy, reading a long word by identifying the shorter words in it, seemed to be an AHA to me but perhaps to others it is not news:):):)
I had to share this with you all. I was too lazy to get my chart to begin with, at times being lazy has its own advantage:):):) Hopefully this makes sense to you. Thanks for taking the time to read.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)