Artifact 4.3

Submission II

INDIVIDUALIZED PLANNING

I would like to work on counting, as well as writing numbers and showing how many objects match that number with Autumn. From my observations, I have noticed that Autumn cannot always successfully count to ten, she cannot successfully count more than 5 objects, and he cannot draw more than four objects. Ahe can, however, recognize printed numbers 1 though 10. According to the Omnibus Guidelines five year olds should be able to count to 10 or 20 successfully. They should also be able to explain how a quantity changes when something is added or taken away from a group. It is clear that Autumn still needs to work on developing an understanding of relationships between quantities and understanding that a number represents an amount of objects.

Strategies

            To enhance Autumn learning, one adaptation I plan to implement is more counting and number games. Games such as number bingo, cross the river, counting duck duck goose, and mankala would be an engaging way for Autumn to interact with and use numbers. Counting bingo could be done in various ways, but the way that I think would be most beneficial for Autumn would be for the grid to have squares with different numbers of dots in them and then for the caller to say the number. That way she can began to associate a number with an actual amount of something. Mankala will help him with counting skills as he picks up a pile and distributes one gem at a time to each spot. Cross the River is a game in which a child must jump from mat to mat, but on each mat are numbers or a certain number of objects that the child must count when he or she jumps to that mat. The object is to get to the other side of the room or “across the river.”

            The biggest problem that I have been noticing in my classroom regarding Autumn’s math work is that the assignments are not differentiated for her, or anyone else for that matter. It is a combined kindergarten and first grade classroom; yet, everybody always does first grade math work. One strategy that I plan to implement is talking with my teacher about differentiating her assignments. This will also help to lower and prevent her frustration level because I fear that if she is always given work that is too challenging for her he may become discouraged and unmotivated when it comes to doing math.

            I also plan to use strategies such as rhymes, repetition, and incorporating numbers into everyday aspects of our routine. For example, one rhyme that might help with understanding relationships between quantities and understanding about adding and removing objects from a group is called “Down by the school, by the bakery shop.”

Down by the school, by the bakery shop

There were nine little donuts with sugar on top,

Along came Autumn all alone,

She picked up the red one and he ran home.

This involves each child physically getting up and removing an object from the group. Ways that I plan to incorporate numbers into his everyday activities is by having her count numbers while walking on the stairs, incorporating it into clean up (“I would like everybody to clean up 5 things”), and having her help to pass out snack (give everybody 7 crackers). Also having her go around the room and count certain things, such as paint cups or plants and having her write the number on an index card to hang up next to the objects. These are all indirect ways to get Autumn more familiar with numbers in a way that does not require her sitting down for long periods of time.

Rationale

I chose these strategies because based on my observations it is obvious that Autumn still needs some practice with counting and numbers to be considered at kindergarten math grade level. Most of this was observed through a kindergarten math interview that I gave her. When I first asked her how high she thought she could count she said, “five.” I then asked her to count for me and she successfully counted to eleven. When I asked her to name some numbers while looking at them she could name all of the numbers 1 through 10, but then when looking at double digit numbers she would seem to only notice the first digit. When I gave Autumn a blank grid and asked her to write numbers in the squares, she wrote a lot of letter like symbols. Only after I asked her to write a one, she did. She also could write a four, but it was backwards. Her five and six were formed correctly, but every number after that resembled a nine. When I placed fifteen objects in front of her and asked her to count them she pulled them from the pile and moved them aside as she said, “1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 1.” Then when I gave her a pile of objects and asked her to put them into groups of five, she made three piles and put four objects in each pile. So then I asked her to put two in each pile and she successfully did that. When I asked her to put four objects in each pile she began taking handfuls of color tiles and placing them in each pile. I have observed similar characteristics when working with Autumn on other math activities. When she was completing a worksheet that asked her to glue a card that had the matching number of dots to the number printed she could successfully find the cards for the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. When she got to the number six she glued down a card that four dots on it and when she got to seven she glued down a card with 5 dots on it.

Planning         

Most of these strategies will be implemented as little side activities to do during the students’ open project time. For example, going around the classroom and counting objects as well as handing out snack can be done during this two-hour time period. Strategies such as counting while walking down stairs can be done on the way to lunch everyday. This repetition will be helpful in building his counting skills. The differentiated instruction will be done for activities the teacher has the students do by talking with her about alternative activities. For example, when she had the students glue dot cards next to a number to show what numbers can be added to make that number, Autumn was having a really difficult time with that. The teacher and I discussed maybe having her work with smaller numbers less than six and just glue one dot card next to the number that was equal to that number. Autumn really succeeded at that task.

Other things I will plan lessons for to help Autumn further develop her number sense. Below is a lesson plan I developed that was geared towards her needs regarding matching quantities with numbers.

Stage 1 – Desired Results Learning Goals: Students will become more familiar with the numbers one through ten so that students can strengthen their knowledge of numbers and their basic counting concepts.
Understanding / Goals Students will understand: That counting helps us gather information. That a number is connected to an amount of objects or things.	Essential Questions: How can numbers help our in my everyday life? How can counting help us?
Student Objectives (Outcomes) Students will be able to: Count the numbers one through ten out loud. Identify they numbers one through ten. Show the numbers one through ten using manipulatives.
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks: Students will count items in various bags and record their findings in a table. Students will say the correct number when it is their turn in the stand up - sit down game.	Other Evidence: Students will check each other at each station and as we share results.

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

The first things I will do is write several numbers on the board. I will ask the students what are these? What do you notice about them? Once students have shared their ideas I will ask them when do we use numbers in our everyday lives? After students have shared their ideas I will then add that we also use numbers and counting to gather information. Today we are going to go on a counting scavenger hunt to find information out about objects that are in paper bags. We will use our counting skills to find information. I will then explain that before we do that, we are going to play a counting game called, stand up – sit down counting. We will go around the circle and the first person will stand up and say, “one.” The next person will stand up and say, “two.” We have fifteen students in our class so we will count up to fifteen then we will do it one more time and this time everyone will say a number and then sit down. I will demonstrate with a bag what the students are to do at each station. The bags will already be placed around the classroom. I will hand each child a table to record their data and tell them which bag to start with. They will go to that location and empty the bag to count the number of items inside it, then record the data on their table. They can then choose where to go next, but must eventually go to every bag. There can be no more than three people at each bag. Once some children have counted the items in every bag they will be instructed to order the containers in correct number sequence. The students can then count up all the items for a grand total. We will all come back together as a class and share our findings. I will record what they say on a large table like theirs drawn on the board. Next we will compare various objects. I will ask were there more erasers or pencils? Etc. Materials to be used: 6 paper bags filled with various materials (rulers, erasers, counters, crayons, ect) Paper with table for students to record their information Activate Prior Knowledge: I will activate prior knowledge by writing numbers on the board and asking students to tell me anything they know or notice about what is written on the board. I will also ask them when we use numbers in our everyday lives. ELLs and IEPs / differentiated instruction: This lesson offers various levels for different students. The students who have the least familiarity with it will simply count the items and record the number. The students who this activity may be too easy for can then order the bags in the correct number sequence. They can also then find the total of all the objects in all the bags. Lastly, they could come up with number sentences for various bags. For example, Bag A has 4 erasers and Bag B has 3 bears. If I put bags A and B together I would have 7 objects. Integration of content areas: This lesson incorporates English Language Arts because students will be using communication and listening skills to share their ideas about counting and numbers. Standards: Math Standards K.N.1 Count by ones to at least 20. K.N.4 Compare sets of up to at least 10 concrete objects using appropriate language (e.g. none, more than, fewer than, same as, one more than) and order numbers. Rationale: The students will be doing pumpkin math this week and will be weighing pumpkins, measuring them, and counting their seeds. A few children in my class still need some practice with counting to twenty and even just counting to ten. Therefore, this lesson was designed to give them some practice counting before they were asked to count the seeds in their pumpkin. This lesson was designed as an activity in which the students get up and move around because a few of the students work better when they are not sitting in one spot for so long. Also there will be about three children at each bag, which will provide students the opportunity to check each other. This is an interactive activity that provides students with concrete examples of one-to-one correspondence.