At Home Learning Resources

Hi all!

Oh man do we miss being in class!

Until we're able to be back in schools again, we thought we'd pass along some resources for learning at home. Parents, we know this is a difficult time as many of you are not only parenting/teaching but also working from home. So, we hope some of these resources help you during this time.

1. Scholastic- Learn at Home
This website has Grade level books and activities on various curriculum topics daily.

 https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

2. York Region District School Board website

The YRDSB has created a document that has countless links to free resources online. Each link tells you grade level and subject area. 

http://www.yrdsb.ca/Students/Pages/Online-Resources.aspx

3. Ministry of Education- Ontario

The Ministry has created a list of free resources available to families at home. 

https://www.ontario.ca/page/learn-at-home

4. Reading at Home for Parents

This website has video tutorials to help parents get their kids reading at home. They also have links to many free reading resources online.

https://www.thedailycafe.com/content/reading-home-parents

 5. Art for Kids Hub

This website has drawing tutorials. You can search topics on the website, which you can't do on YouTube. Their YouTube channel has many free drawing tutorials. 

https://www.artforkidshub.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/ArtforKidsHub

6. Cincinnati Zoo

The zoo is doing live safaris each day at 3pm EST. You log in through Facebook to watch. 

http://cincinnatizoo.org/news-releases/cincinnati-zoo-is-bringing-the-zoo-to-you/

7. Audible

Audible has created a free list of books for young readers. 

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

8. Toronto Zoo

The Toronto Zoo has some resources for parents with links to activities as well as some live videos of animals.

http://www.torontozoo.com/zootoyou

9. Storyline Online

This YouTube channel is full of stories. There are videos of celebrities reading various books aloud.

https://www.youtube.com/user/StorylineOnline/videos

Inquiry Time

Welcome to Grade 1 and 2 in Room 116! 

We have had a great first month in our class. Students are settling into routines and building friendships. Let us tell you a little about how we start our days. We start each day with ‘Inquiry Time’. During this time students are engaging in a variety of activities of their choice. We use this time for ‘work on writing’ as well as small group reading instruction. Our students make choices about where they want to engage in the classroom and then they select a writing format to share their thinking, creating and ideas. 

It seems we have a class of architects and engineers as building and creating seems to be a favourite activity. Here are some of their creations:

Soccer field 

Toronto

A library

Using base 10 blocks for a house

Canada's Wonderland

Students also explore a variety of math concepts during this ‘Inquiry Time’. They have done:

• geometry

Pattern Blocks (click for link to purchase)

Pentominoes (click for link to purchase)

• counting

• adding 

Exploring making 10 with Sum Blox

• patterning 

Keva Planks (click to purchase)

• measurement 

Measuring with Linking Cubes 

We believe that you can use play and open exploration to engage students and we need to remember that in Grade 1 and 2 they are still kids and deserve time to explore ideas through play. Providing this time allows students to:

• build social skills
• build curiosity and learn to ask questions
• learn to take responsibility for their learning
• use creative thinking
• express their ideas and knowledge in various ways (structures, loose part creations, writing, conversations, etc.)
• build problem-solving skills
• access various curriculum strands
• work on learning skills
• share explorations through various writing formats

Complex Math Through Play

"Every child has a different learning style and pace. Each child is unique, not only capable of learning but also capable of succeeding.

- Robert John Meehan

Many people believe that Kindergarten students are unable to grapple with complex mathematical ideas. This is not true. Kindergarten students are capable of exploring mathematical ideas when it is done through play and is initiated by their ideas and interests. As educators, we need to be listening, watching, questioning and prompting as they explore. 

A group of Year 2 students were using cuisinaire rods (a math manipulative) to create the solar system. They ensured that the sun was yellow, Earth was green and blue and all the other planets were accurate. They then wrote about their creation, sticking mostly to science understanding and sharing their learning from our space inquiry. 

The initial creation.

We prompted them to count how many cubes were in each planet they created. As the cuisinaire rods are grouped together, they could not separate them to count one by one. We worked on using different counting strategies- counting by 10s, using friendly numbers and counting on. They recorded the totals on sticky notes. As the educators, this was our goal- building math strategies to count larger numbers of objects. But, what unfolded next was because of these mathematicians thinking critically about their work and their knowledge about planets. 

The final version.
(You can see the changes to the total number of cubes in each planet after they problem solved the size issues for each planet. The sun is on the right and Neptune on the left)

After they added the totals to each planet they noticed a problem, which led to some very complex math and science thinking. We'll let you hear it from them. We have transcribed the conversation with the students explaining their problem solving:

What did you do first?

D.S- We made the solar system and then we counted them and we wrote the numbers

What was the first problem?

D.S- First Jupiter was smaller than Neptune

What did you do?

I.S- I took 30 blocks away from Neptune to make it smaller

D.S- I made 2 more for Jupiter to make it bigger (she added two rows to each side of their initial 'Jupiter' creation)

But that made a new problem...

P.W- And then the sun was smaller, so we all made the sun bigger

Then you noticed two other problems...

J.C- So when I came, Saturn was thin then I made it thicker and then I saw that Venus is supposed to be the same size as Earth, but we did Mars as the same size as Earth. So we changed it so Venus is the same as Earth.

Which was the smallest?

All- Mercury!

And is Mercury the smallest planet in the solar system?

All- Yes!

What happened when you added more cubes to Saturn?

J.C- It's the second biggest planet

Which is the biggest in the solar system?

P.W- The sun!

How many cubes was the sun?

D.S- 70!

At first it was, but then you made it bigger. How many did it have after?

All- 140!

As you can see, these mathematicians were thinking about so many different concepts during this play experience. Using Cathy Fosnot's math landscape, you can see they have begun to use a variety of strategies and explore and use a number of different mathematical concepts and skills.

They combined their learning about the planets with their understanding of quantity and size. 

Give your students (or your child) the chance to experiment with complex math through play. Provide open ended materials that encourage a variety of play, but most importantly...believe they are capable, listen to their ideas and challenge them to think critically about their creations.

Spatial Reasoning Skills

As an educator team, we have been exploring the importance of teaching spatial reasoning to our mathematicians. We have been amazed at the complexity of thinking required to be efficient with these skills. As educators it is important we are providing many opportunities for our learners to explore geometry-- and recognizing that geometry is much more than just naming shapes and stating their attributes. Spatial reasoning can be broken down into the following skills (from Taking Shape):

• Visualization 
• Mental rotation
• Visual-spatial working memory
• Information processing
• Spatial langugae
• Gestures

We need to be looking at all of these skills when exploring geometry, not just the language piece. This also provides an access point for all learners, no matter their skills.

The Hexagon Card Game from Taking Shape (see below) 

A symmetrical design

Recreating her design

Directional language & coding 

Using mandalas to create symmetrical designs

Finding pentominoes that fit where the cubes or spaces are.

 

If you're looking for some practical resources to support your own learning about spatial reasoning, here are a few we enjoy:

Taking Shape - As a Kindergarten team, we are working through this book. It has lesson plans, activities and black-line masters. We highly recommend this.

Paying Attention to Spatial Reasoning

Five Compelling Reasons for Teaching Spatial Reasoning to Young Learners

Why Spatial Reasoning is Crucial for Early Math Education

Mathematicians at Work!

"The development of understanding of mathematical concepts is not limited to a particular time of the day. Mathematics learning is incorporated throughout the day. 

Young children have the curiosity and the capability to engage in complex mathematical thinking and learning."

- Ontario Kindergarten Program Document

We have been learning a lot about mathematics as an educator team this year. Mostly we have been learning to take on the observer role and notice all the math our learners are doing daily. From there we have been supporting their math thinking. Our mathematicians this year have been exploring counting and numbers in their play very regularly. They have become curious and fascinated about using math tools to count large volumes of materials and exploring growing number patterns through building. What has been so interesting to us is that many different mathematicians are beginning to explore these concepts at their developmentally appropriate level. Math through play allows learners to enter in at their level but to be challenged to expand their thinking and skills.

Our mathematicians observe what their peers are doing and then work to create their own representation.

Our mathematicians explored how they can show numbers. They loved using 10 frames as a tool for showing numbers.

We also used numerals and dice to show numbers.

Working on sorting and counting the number of sides on the shapes.

Mathematicians explore numbers outdoors during Outdoor Learning. Two boys worked together to use their bodies to create numerals. We always have clipboards available during outdoor learning and this Year 1 decided to show her thinking of how to add numbers together.

Retelling stories through the use of math.

Playing the game Tenzis to work on subitizing skills.

This mathematician created a growing pattern through the use of addition sentences (see the white board). She was then encouraged to use the counters to show her thinking. She was then able to see the pattern growing and determine which would come next.

Another way to use counters to show knowledge of numbers.

Creating towers of numbers and noticing the patterns inside them became a favourite of our mathematicians. They created growing patterns inside their towers or growing patterns between the towers. Once one student tried it, others were inspired as well. 

As a class we counted the seeds in our pumpkin. We used 10 and 5 frames to help us. Afterwards a group of students worked together to count all the seeds from the other pumpkin. They persisted and filled the entire carpet with 10 frames to count the seeds. They shared their work with the class and this has since inspired many variations of counting materials in the room. 

Counting the manipulatives

Sorting and counting the 3D shapes.

Sorting by colour, counting and recording the number on sticky notes.

After sorting the colours at the light table these girls worked together to count each colour and then record the total with numbers.

Another group did the same thing another day

Counting and representing

With all this counting we have begun to explore efficiency of strategies (i.e. counting every single counter starting at 1 is going to be hard and take a long time). Many of our mathematicians will tell you that we should count by 10s. To build their fluency with counting by 10s we have listened to some songs.

We're looking forward to seeing what our mathematicians do next!