Mathematic Classes for Children - Assignment Example

Professional Learning Portfolio Students Name Institution Supervisors Name Date Part A: Diagnostic / Assessment Tasks Curriculum Focus Mathematics for Children: Challenging Children to think mathematically (4th ed0 Frenchs Fprest, NSW Pearson Education Australia, is the curriculum that will be used in the diagnostic assessment learning portfolio (J.Bobis, J.Mulligan, & T.Lowrie, 2013). The task will contain the following section: 1. Comparison of numbers and place value. 2. Looking at numbers that contain different values. 3. Use of mathematics formula like multiplication and addition. 4. Explanation of mathematic formula Narrative This is a portfolio assessment for Tony ( 7 years old) in order to gauge his level of learning mathematics by use of numbers and place value. As the spring season is here, Tony has continued to demonstrate a lot of eagerness in learning mathematics, this is due to the fact that most of the things Tony has been doing during in his free time is on learning mathematical formula. The task in this assessment will begin by filling holes. In this task, the educator has dug five holes and allocated 9 stones of the same size which can fit in to the hole. After the arrangement of the holes and stones, Tony was asked to fill each hole with 2 stones and count the number of stones that were needed to fill the five holes in a set of two. Educator ( E): Can you count the number of stones you have filled on the 5 holes, what do you realize? Tony (T): There five holes but one hole only contains one stone. We do not have one stone. E: How do you know we do not have one stone? How many stones are in each hole? T: Each hole has two stones; however one hole has one stone. They are supposed to be two like the other holes; this means one stone is missing. E: That is very right! Now do you think you can make all the holes have equal number of stones? What will you have to do in order to make all stones have equal number of stones? T: I will leave the hole with one stone, the remove a stone from each of the other holes. At this moment, Tony spent time removing a stone from each hole, except the one with one stone. T: I have removed one stone from each hole but the one with one stone. Now each hole has one stone. E: How many stones did you remove in total? T: Let me count, (Tony spends time counting the stones as he moves them aside) One, Two, Three, four ( Tony is excited) I have removed four stones from the hole. E: How many stones remain in the hole then? Are you able to tell the number of stones that remain on the hole? T: Yes I can, let me count. E: Begin with the hole that had one stone. T: One, Two, Three, Four, Five!...... there are five stones in the hole. E: Very Good, now I want you to place the stones on the hole, one side and the other stones to remain where they are. (Tony does as directed, he picks one stone to another and places them on the right side as the other stones remain on his left side.) E: Good job, now I want you to count the number of stones on your left side and the number of stones on your right side. T: Ok (Tony counts the stones) E: Now I want you to tell me how the place value of the stones in total by using the addition formula. Here is a paper and a pen. T: Ok. (Tony takes the paper and pen and then counts the stones on the right, one by one as he records through a mark on the paper. He stones he picks is represented by a mark. After completing the stones on the right, he draws the addition symbol the counts the stones on the left, he marks them on paper. After Tony completes this, he the counts all the stick marks he put on paper) they are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten…. (He hesitates) Nine!. They are ten. E: That is great, now what can we do in order to have each hole filled with the same number of stones. T: I do not know, we only have nine stones! Reflection This task used more of a hands on approach to learning, the materials that were used in the scenario above, ( stones) are manageable in supporting young children of Tony’s age as it enables the to make connections between numbers and place value and be able to understand mathematical concepts, especially on the issue of numbers and place value and using the units of measurement. In this scenario, the education has been able to explain the concept of mathematical addition and subtraction as stated in the Bobis, J., Mulligan, J. & Lowrie, T. (2013). Mathematics for children: Challenging children to think mathematically, book. In this scenario the task that the educator gave Tony was to compare numbers by counting the number of stones in the holes. After this the Tony was asked to count them in order to find out the missing number so as to fill the holes with the same number of stones. The educator then assessed the ability of Tony to count and subtract by asking him to subtract the number of stones in order to make each hole have one stone. The educator then asked him to count the total number of stones by using the addition value, and then tell the number of stones that were missing from the total value. Looking at the way that Tony did the whole exercises, it was very open that Tony has a grasp of mathematical concept of addition and subtraction. He also understands the terms more, less, equal, add and subtract. This is because he responded positively to the number of questions that were asked by the educator, he also used terms such as adding and removing when referring to the stones. He was very articulate in the way he organized the stones in the hole and outside the hole as he counted them. This shows that he had the ability to organize a mathematical formula at an early stage, However Tony also displayed some confusion when it came to making each hole even. He was able to identify the hole with the missing stone, he was also able to count the total number of stones in the hole, he however was a bit confused when asked to tell the number of stone that were needed to make each hole even with two stones. Using the above curriculum, the educator will focus on odd and even numbers so as to allow Tony to grasp. Part A: Diagnostic/Assessment Task 2 Curriculum focus Mathematics: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting and Authority (ACARA). (2010). Foundation – year 10 curriculum (AustralianCurriculum, 2014). Breakdown of content description to be assessed: 1. Answering questions about numbers and Place value and data representation and interpretation 2. Representing the answers to the questions by using simple drawings or sketches. 3. Using accumulated data to answer the questions at hand. Narrative In this assessment, the educator initiated a discussion about the number of color pencils that Tony was bought in the day of the assessment, Tony explained to the educator that he and lots of pencil colors, some of them were long pencil colors and other were short pencil colors. The educator then brought up the topic of the number of colors and the number of pencils that contained the same color. (at this point Tony did not know that his pencil colors only contained pencils with only four types of colors, red, blue, yellow and black) When he was asked what is favorite color was, tony replied by saying that it was ‘Red’. The educator then brought forward a question to Tony, ‘I wonder how many pencil colors in the box are red. Tony was then given another four empty boxes with colors matching the pencil colors. He was then asked to sort out all the colors and put them in the matching boxes. Tony was then invited to put the remaining colors in their corresponding boxes. (Tony at this point did not know that there were 6 red pencil colors, 4 yellow colors, 6 black colors and 4 blue colors making 20 pencil colors in total). The educator then asked tony to record each number of colors he put in a box with a tick on a piece of paper, on columns labeled red, blue, yellow and black. Tony confidently put the red colors and counted, put the blue pencil colors and counted, the same with the rest of the colors. He however kept on looking at the educator as he counted the number of colors in each box. At some point he hesitated when he realized that the number of colors in the blue box were less than the number of colors in the red box. So he recounted just to confirm. After data from the four pencil color boxes was recorder, tony was asked to observe the table and find out which colors had most of the pencils. Tony required prompting on this area. Reflection This task extends on the stone counting which tony had been interested and involved in durin the fast assesment. The educator realised that when you prepare mathematical tasks that are centered on what children love, in this case colors and color pencils, where the child is able to realise purpose and relevance is very vital in supporting learning among children. This is because this kind of learning makes them motivated to learn mathematical formulas and understant the value of numbers. This kind of motivated learning will also make children be eager enough to solve problems. For example, in this task, when Tony realised that the Blue color pencils where fewer than the red ones, he hesitated and recounted the number of pencils just to be sure that he did the right thing. In this task, Tony was very enthusiastic all the way throught exercise, he could shout out loud the number of colors that were in the general box and also was able to identify and shout the total number of his favourite color pencil. As part of learning, Tony also showed willingness to collect and analyse data when he required assistance from the educator to identify the total number of pencil colors as represented on the table. In order to enable Tony to realise this, the educator asked Tony several questions so as to enable him achieve his task: How many pencils are in the column with the red label, how many are in the blue column, the yellow column and the black column. When you add them all, how many pencil colors are there in total? Anytime that Tony showed signs of doubt with what he was doing, the educator would repeat these questions to him in order to allow him to focus on the numbers. During the last three attempts on the data that he entered, Tony showed the educator that he was beginning to grasp the concept. He realized that the blue pencils did not have to be total in number as the red pencil colors. Meaning that Tony was able to learn the concept of differentiation. However, the supervisor realizes that more effort is needed towards this direction so as to enable Tony grasp the concept further. The educator then invited Tony to count the number of ticks in each column and differentiate the missing pencil colors in order to make each color even with each other. Part C: The Experience Plan Time: Mid Morning ( after Mid Morning Tea) 45 Minutes Target Age: 7 years ( Junior Year) Topic/Experience Title: Using units of measurement, Who is the missing Soldier? This experience is designed in a way that it is supposed to be implement by the children in Tony’s class, however, for the purpose of doing this assignment, the experience was carried out with the educator, Tony and Educators assistant. The experience described below can be affective in either setting. Preparation Curriculum Links: Bobis, J., Mulligan, J. & Lowrie, T. (2013). Mathematics for children: Challenging children to think mathematically (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Objectives: Students to make a line of three soldiers in a row and in a column of three. Environment Preparation/Resources: Three ropes, a square drawn box and 8 ‘toy soldiers’ Procedure Once the group of children are gathered together on the square box, the will be called names of each toy soldier and asked to take the spot. After the names of toy soldier are called the children will be asked to name the total number of solders in one straight line and the total number of soldier in a row. Introduction Recall the previous day experience with the pencil colors, for example remember the number of colors that were in each column, for example how many colors were in the red column and how many colors were in the blue column. Do this with the rest, also remember the number of stones that were in each hole. How many stones were in each hole, and which hole had the least of stones; counting the total of pencil colors and the total number of stones. How many stones were missing to make the mathematics even and how many colors were missing in each column to make the mathematics even too? Main Body Experience After the exercise and the reviewing of the previous assessment exercise initiate a discussion about the missing soldier. For example what did your realize when all of you were called to make a matching parade, who remembers the exercise about the missing stone? Which line has caused a mismatch in the parade, is it the one with the missing soldier or the one standing straight in a row? Recap ( and write the total number of soldiers in each line) Introduce a task: I wonder if you can be able to make a matching parade without the missing soldier? Are you able to make the parade match without the missing soldier, if so, how is it going to be possible? At this you point out the even numbers in each line and the odd numbers. You can make a drawing using the ropes in order to tip the children how they can be able to make the matching parade uniform without the missing soldier. Observe the children in the square box during the whole exercise and provide assistance where necessary. Closure Invite children who were able to identify earlier the missing soldier to and fomular of making the match parade even to one corner to read a book as the rest of the children to continue to do the math. Once all the children have completed the task, invite them to return to the square box, sing a song together or recite a poem in order to get the children attention. Reflect on the learning experience. How did everyone find the task? Did you enjoy looking for the missing soldier? Nominate one student to share his experience with the rest of the class. At this juncture, discuss each of the students’ answer. Reflection The above examples used one of the children’s favorite toys, ‘soldiers’ by doing this, the educator was able to arouse enthusiasm among the children in working on the task. This is actually very important in enabling the children familiarize themselves with even and uneven numbers. Tony was able to count the number of Toy soldiers in each line and realized that one of the three lines had less one soldier, in this way, Tony realized that the missing soldier was in the third line. He did this by noting that all the other rows had 9 soldiers except the third row which only had 8 toy soldiers. In order to match the parade, Tony realized that since there other soldier was missing, the only way to match the parade was to do away with one two soldiers from each of the first two rows. This will make each row have 8 soldiers meaning that the parade would match. Self-Reflection During the whole exercise, I have come to learn that it is easy to teach children mathematic by the use of items instead of giving numbers. As a private tutor, one will be able to succeed even more when the child is taught addition and subtraction by using his favorite toys. I noticed that Tony was more attentive when it can to counting of color pencils because he loved playing with colors during his free time. Throughout the exercise it was a great experience working with a 7 year old and being able to observe the whole process of learning mathematics at a younger age. Bibliography AustralianCurriculum. (2014, October 31). Curriculum. Retrieved October 31, 2013, from www.australiancurriculum.edu.au: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/mathematics/curriculum/f-10?layout=1 J.Bobis, J.Mulligan, & T.Lowrie. (2013). Mathematics for children: Challenging children to think mathematically (4th ed.). . Frenchs Forest: NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Read More