I work with students of diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Roughly 50% of our students are on free or reduced lunch. The latest National Math Panel report finds that children of low-income backgrounds enter kindergarten with far less knowledge of numbers than their peers from middle income background. My need to have my grant funded comes from a desire to level the playing field and close the achievement gap by immersing all kindergarten and first grade students in real-world applications of numbers - the foundation of algebra.
Due to the recent National Math Panel findings I believe, and research concludes, that if our students in grades K and 1 were given the opportunity to have multiple experiences with representations of numbers it would improve number sense and mathematic abilities. Moving themselves or objects on a number line provides ample opportunities for children to take number from the visual to the concrete. Students will be exposed to numbers in quantity and magnitude and number relationships. Teachers will have on-going assessment to drive instruction. Teachers have the opportunity to create real-world application of numbers as students move along this number line. According to the findings by the National Math Panel, fluency in whole numbers is the critical foundation for algebra. It states that students must have a robust sense of numbers that includes place value, where and how numbers appear on a number line and the ability to compose and decompose numbers. The repetition of number and activities on the number line builds automatically which frees up short-term memory for problem-solving.
I would like to purchase a step-by-step number line for all kindergarten and first grade classrooms at my school. This will provide all students access to developing the strategies needed to build number sense - the foundation for algebra.
The National Math Panel found that less than one-half of American high school graduates are prepared for college-level math. Now is the time to invest in research-based techniques to improve number sense, with our youngest students. The result will be more students prepared with the skills needed for algebra.
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