Resources in the Classroom

Yesterday in class, we had the opportunity to look through the resources available in K-6 Newfoundland and Labrador classrooms. I had been exposed to some of these resources already through my observation days, but had no idea there were so many available.

I think that the picture and lap books that are available for K-2 students are an excellent resource. The books have engaging pictures and simple text that facilitate the understanding of and interest students in the topics being taught. I feel that the "fun" is sucked out of math as students get older (grade 3 onward); there are no longer any picture books, the workbooks no longer have colour, and there is a lot more work being done from the textbook. I know this is necessary as students are maturing and are capable of now answering these types of textbook questions, but why should we take away the aspects that keep them interested and motivated? I know even as an adult, I am more attracted and more likely to pay attention to a worksheet that has bright colours and images as opposed to one that is dull with all text. Why are there no books available in grades 3-6 classroom resources? Due to a blog post for another course, I know for a fact that there is an abundance of math picture books available for K-6 classrooms. Some of these books include: The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins, The Sir Cumference Series by Cindy Neuschwander and Wayne Geehan, and Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream by Cindy Neuschwander. 

I feel comforted by the amount of resources available to teachers, however I know I will be incorporating these books and many other outside resources in my classroom. 

What is Math?

Have you ever searched “What is math?” on Google? If you have you know there are approximately 445,000,000 results for this question. Many of the results state that math is about solving problems, numbers, quantity, logic, change, and so on. When I think of math, I think about problem solving, numbers and logic. When you think of math, you may think of something completely different; your answer depends on the experiences that you have had with it.

What does it means to do mathematics? Math doesn’t have to be about sitting down and trying to solve a problem on paper (but it can be). To do math, you could be counting your change when you buy your Dairy Queen, so that you don’t have to break a twenty. Or you could be measuring the length of the new table you want to buy, to see if it’s going to fit in your dining room. You could even be reading a weather graph of the temperature for the next week, to see if it’s really necessary to buy that new coat. Math isn’t always difficult, in fact most of the time it’s actually pretty simple.

What is going on if you are thinking mathematically? According to Doctor Edwin, “thinking mathematically is the ability to lift the abstract structure of a situation away from the specifics and answer it based on that alone.” He gives the example that he doesn’t have to sit down to figure out that two people times three meals a day, is six. Personally, I think that thinking mathematically means that you are taking things that you have previously learned and are using them subconsciously in every day life.