My small, ethnically diverse rural school district serves students from three communities, and every child receives free breakfast and lunch. Second through seventh graders come to my classroom for extra help in math and/or reading. I work with groups of three to twelve students at a time to provide them with assistance outside of the regular classroom. These groups are flexible and change every couple of weeks based upon students' needs.
The students I teach need additional support in order to master grade-level standards in math and reading.
Individualized instruction and hands-on exploration help my students achieve academic success. In my classroom, we embrace our mistakes and use them as opportunities to grow. My students are inquisitive, creative, and a joy to be teach!
My Project
Both the pattern blocks and linking cubes will be used in a variety of ways to support my primary, elementary, and middle school students in their mathematics development. They will enhance students' understanding of numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, and measurement. The hands-on manipulatives will make difficult math concepts more concrete and attainable for students who struggled to master them in the regular classroom setting.
The pattern blocks and linking cubes will also be used as tools for STEM challenges that require students to employ higher level thinking and problem solving skills in order to complete tasks.
This will help motivate students as well as push them to take their mathematics understanding to the next level. I believe students of all levels benefit from hands-on investigations involving authentic mathematics tasks. Not only does this exploration keep them more engaged, but it also helps them truly understand the mathematics involved rather than just memorizing rules or procedures.
These manipulatives will enable me to better support my students by giving them a deeper understanding of mathematics while keeping them engaged in learning.
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