{"id":1603,"date":"2014-10-13T11:38:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T18:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2014-10-13T11:38:15","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T18:38:15","slug":"early-numeracy-mathematicians-at-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/?p=1603","title":{"rendered":"Early Numeracy: Mathematicians at Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ENTPic2\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

“Problem solving is natural to young children because the world is new to them &\u00a0they exhibit curiosity, intelligence &\u00a0flexibility as they face new situations. The challenge \u2026 is to build on children\u2019s innate problem-solving inclinations &\u00a0to preserve &\u00a0encourage a disposition that values problem solving.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 Principles &\u00a0Standards for School Mathematics<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We want all children to see themselves as confident and competent mathematicians. They need to be able to explore ideas, solve problems and communicate their thinking. Mathematics continues to be a barrier for some struggling learners and we recognize that early intervention is the key to improving outcomes. The Early Numeracy Teacher (ENT) position has been developed to support these learners in the Early Years.<\/p>\n

The Early Years are a time for exploring \u2013 for play, talk and investigations. Our youngest learners come to understand key concepts through their play. They spontaneously explore mathematical concepts through activities that are engaging and encourage them to think. The ENT works collaboratively with the classroom teacher to scaffold, discuss and develop the students\u2019 deep understanding of important mathematical concepts.<\/p>\n

In 2014-15 Early Numeracy Teachers will provide support to kindergarten and grade one students in 13 elementary schools. It is based on a collaborative model between the ENT and classroom teacher to provide in-class, targeted small group instruction, through meaningful engaging activities.<\/p>\n

Early Numeracy Teachers are trained in current research and pedagogy on early learning and numeracy, under the guidance of Sandra Ball, one of our district Helping Teachers. They are also trained in the use of assessment tools such as the early numeracy \u201cWhat Do They Know?\u201d (WDTK)<\/a><\/span>. Classroom teachers and Early Numeracy teachers work collaboratively to assess what the students know (a strength based model) and develop instructional strategies to support the learning.<\/p>\n

In order to be successful in the early years, students need to demonstrate capacity in three areas of numeracy: subitizing (the instant recognition of a quantity), partitioning or decomposition (the ability to break apart a number and put it back together again), and patterning (the ability to recognize, represent and describe repeating patterns with different attributes). These are the main concepts that the ENT will focus on with our \u2018at promise\u2019 students.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Early numeracy support has been provided to schools for three years. Comments from teachers indicate the importance and value this work has had for learners and for their own growth as professionals.<\/p>\n

The Perspective of Early Learning<\/strong> Teachers:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly I have seen the importance of \u2018not teaching the intuitive knowledge out of students\u2019 while developing our young mathematicians. The role\u00a0allows students the time and space to invent and play with their own strategies, permitting a more flexible rather than rigid approach to numeracy, and they begin\u00a0to show a more\u00a0in-tune understanding of math concepts because they were personally involved in the making-meaning process<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative to\u00a0<\/em>\u2018catch them when they’re young\u2019. \u00a0I have discovered that children as young as kindergarteners can do the work of a mathematician if they are given that mindset. They are most proud of their work when you tell them they are \u2018being\u2019\u00a0mathematicians and \u2018thinking\u2019 like one. \u00a0I have learned that there are three basic fundamental concepts that form the foundation which leads to understanding. \u00a0By focusing on these three areas, I have found that \u2018at promise\u2019\u00a0students have the capacity to become confident learners in numeracy. \u00a0In the process of \u2018doing\u2019 math, they are also developing a positive attitude, bringing much joy and excitement to the tasks as I hear them\u00a0express: \u00a0\u2018I’m good at this game, I love Math. It’s so much fun, I wish we could do Math all day.\u2019 \u00a0I have learned that generally it takes \u2018at promise\u2019 students longer to grasp concepts, but when you present\u00a0the concepts through the use of many different game formats and interesting hands-on manipulatives, they stay actively engaged. \u00a0 They often\u00a0surprise\u00a0you with their thinking and understanding, and I have had the privilege to be present to share in their thinking, see where they are struggling, and to celebrate their successes. \u2026They begin to see relationships between numbers and patterns and they become more flexible in their thinking and problem solving. \u00a0Part of my role is to help these students see themselves as capable learners.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Perspective of Classroom<\/strong> Teachers:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ENTPic1\"\u201cWorking with the ENT has made me a much more confident math teacher. The program has encouraged us to stay focused on math at certain set times during the week. The students look forward to the hands on\/tactile activities and games each week. I love how we can focus on small groups and tackle different learners in different ways. Over the past 2 years we have created so many stations\/games for the students to use. They want to go to those stations even when it isn\u2019t math time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Perspective of a Principal<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

A principal describes why she felt the early numeracy support was beneficial to her school:
\n\u2022 T<\/em>he ENT develops positive, trusting relationships with staff and students over time
\n<\/em>\u2022\u00a0S<\/em>tudents change perception and self-confidence in numeracy and are more positive \u201cMath is fun!\u201d
\n<\/em>\u2022\u00a0Working collaboratively with classroom teachers over time to model best practice and expose highly engaging activities, resources and manipulative strategies for teaching
\n<\/em>\u2022\u00a0There is <\/em>easier transfer of number sense, patterning, etc. understanding to classroom lessons<\/em><\/p>\n

The role of the ENT is to work collaboratively to support students who need to build their confidence, competence and disposition of mathematics. The redesigned mathematics curriculum emphasizes problem solving. <\/strong>Just as there is more to literacy than teaching the rules and procedures of language, there is more to numeracy than teaching the rules and procedures of mathematics. Numerate individuals not only \u201cknow\u201d mathematics, but also understand it in personally meaningful terms. They feel competent and confident about their ability to draw on the necessary knowledge and apply it in new and relevant ways. The results we have collected over the last few years strongly support the importance of this work for our \u2018at promise\u2019 mathematicians.<\/p>\n

Note<\/em><\/span>: Karen Alvarez (@_alvarez_k) District Principal (Early Learning, Literacy, Fine Arts) and Sandra Ball (@SandraBall1), our Early Learning Inner City Helping Teacher, co-authored this post. A wealth of resources and examples for supporting Early Learners can be found on Sandra Ball\u2019s website (see here<\/a><\/span>). For more information on Numeracy projects in Surrey Schools, including a program review, check out this tab<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Problem solving is natural to young children because the world is new to them &\u00a0they exhibit curiosity, intelligence &\u00a0flexibility as they face new situations. The challenge \u2026 is to build on children\u2019s innate problem-solving inclinations &\u00a0to preserve &\u00a0encourage a disposition that values problem solving.” \u2022 Principles &\u00a0Standards for School Mathematics   We want all children…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245,3,244],"tags":[291,248,61,247,60,246],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1603"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1638,"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions\/1638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}