This week for my math class, I read a vignette titled "Number Sense in the Classroom." It is written by someone who observed a math lesson in a 4th and 5th grade classroom. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics developed standards that define what students need to understand. This particular lesson emphasizes the need for students to develop an understanding of number concepts and operations. The teacher says, "I want the children to be able to develop and modify an algorithm and to root the work in reality." This sums up what I would want my future students to be able to do. I want them to understand the reasoning behind all of this math--the who? what? where? when? and why? of it all.
I also read through the Number and Operation Standards for grades pre-k to 2nd. The emphasis is placed on students understanding different ways to represent numbers and the relationships. One website displays a crowd of people and has the user guess how many people are in the crowd. It is anywhere from 15 to 2,000 people. This activity can give younger students the idea of how many a certain number represents. Another website uses a common concept of base ten blocks to help students understand place value.
The more I go through the course, the more I understand that I have to present as many real-life scenarios as possible to students otherwise, these math concepts mean nothing to them. The vignette I read demonstrated that students understand what 126/9 = if they pick and choose how they want to solve the problem. If they apply it to a life-like situation, then the "whys" of division make sense to them. This concept applies to my two links. When younger students estimate how many, they can see what their estimate truly represents. This will make them more likely to try to estimate more accurately. Needless to say, the more hands-on activities I can present to my students, the better! I better brush up on my cooperative learning skills.
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