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Unit 3: Combining Our Learning

From KNILT

Go To: Shane Devlin's Mini Course

Go To: Kindergarten Math Centers

Learning Objectives for this Unit

Teachers will...

  • Construct centers that are based on state Math standards.
  • Create centers that are engaging and hands on.
  • Appraise their own classroom needs to create centers.

Activities for this Unit

  • Teachers will be creating their own math centers to use in their classes. These centers will be aligned with the state standards, be hands on and engaging, and be based on student needs.

Engaging and Hands on Centers

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Creating a Comforting Environment To get students to participate actively in the centers you've created there are several different things you can do including:

  • Make centers welcoming and warm to all, just like how we do for our entire room. This could be accomplished by using cozy corners, rugs, or decorations. (Shalaway, 2016)
  • Provide opportunities for students to choose their own activities (Shalaway, 2016) This could be done by having students pick the order their complete their centers or by having a variety of different materials to use at each center to pick from.
  • Get students to feel comfortable with taking on responsibility for their own learning (Elementary CORE Academy, 2003) By getting students to do so, it will get them to be active learners because their are accountable to learn the skills that the centers are getting them to practice.

Individual or Group? Should centers be individual or group focused? Do students need to practice the skills by themselves or with a partner? The option that is chosen will determine how the students will be thinking and building skills.

  • By having students work individually at a center, the student will be working on his or her independent thinking skills (Elementary CORE Academy, 2003) By working on the intrapersonal skills, each student will be providing to themselves that they can accomplish the task at hand.
  • When students work together, the can excel. In group work, students learn collaboration skills. For example, as students solve a problem they can build their interpersonal skills by talking with one another on what strategy they might use (Elementary CORE Academy, 2003)
  • Additionally, in a group setting, students will practice their communication skills (Mather, 2001)

Structuring Engaging Centers

  • Use standards or curriculum that are developmentally appropriate for the students that are going to be participating in the center (Cook, 2015) If the activity too difficult or easy, students will not be as engaged. It is important to find the happy medium.
  • Centers can focus on many different topics of Math, whether it is a new or old skill. Centers can have students practicing skills that they learned months ago, develop new math vocabulary/skills, or conduct appropriate research. (Elementary CORE Academy, 2003) All three of these things could be happening simultaneously around the room at different spots.
  • Centers can be engaging based on how it is set up for the students to participate in. A center could be structured with a very specific sequence of tasks for the students to work on. Vice versa, a center can be more open ended with different materials so students can use their creative thinking to problem solve (Elementary CORE Academy, 2003)

Centers Based on Ability

When constructing engaging and hands on centers, it important to think of all your learners. In Kindergarten, it is very common to have students with a variety of different skills and ability levels in your room. With this, planning for those needs is highly important. Like the Elementary CORE Academy expressed, the needs of students dictate how the center are structured and ran. If students do not find the activity engaging or hands on, than they may not want to participate. For example, since my students love to use blocks, I have them use blocks when they are working on 1 to 1 correspondence or even when measuring objects. By using a material that students enjoy, they are more likely to become an active member of the center. Additionally, students who struggle with Math, may need assistance as well. For a student who struggles with remembering what number comes after 19, could have a number line in close proximity to them at a counting center.

Not only do students need to learn Math content during Math focused centers, they are social skills that need to be learned as well. Kindergarten students need to learn how to share, work with others, or be a friend. Center time is a perfect occasion to help students learn interpersonal skills to become more socially competent (Elementary CORE Academy, 2003) Students can learn what it means to work with a partner when building a tower with just square pieces or how to compose two numbers. Additionally, social responsibility can be mastered during Math centers. Since young centers use lots of manipulatives for hands-on learning for Math, centers should be cleaned up before rotating or finishing for the day. This means that students will be needing to work together or by themselves to clean up a mess.

Math Center

Based on my students need for hands-on activities to solidify their concrete understanding of what 1 to 1 correspondence means, one center for this week will be based on combining those two topics.

Center: 1 to 1 Correspondence

Standard: K.CC.B.4 (Count to tell the number of objects)

Learning Objective: Students can count an amount of objects and state how many there are.

Materials: 1 inch cube blocks, number index cards

Activity: For this center, the students will work with a partner. First pick a numbered index card from the bin. Once they have the number, then the student will start to represent that number with the cubes. After the student counts the blocks and believes he/she is correct, the other partner will then count the blocks to check if it is correct. If correct, have the roles rotate. If not correct, have the partner how originally counted the blocks to try again.

Differentiation: For a student who struggles with 1 to 1 correspondence, they could use a template with spots available for however many objects they need. This means that there would be a template for numbers 1 through 20 if those are the numbers they are working on at the center. This template will help a student count the objects, organize them, and take guessing out of the situation.

Final Project

Here is a link to the page that we can share our Final Project. In this space, please follow the directions that are provided for you. Use all your learning from the three units in this Mini-Course. It is a Google Drive document. Final Project Page

References

Final Thoughts...

First, I want to thank you for participating in my Mini Course on Kindergarten Math centers. I am hoping that you are either taking away new knowledge, reviewed ways of creating centers, or saw some new ideas or activities to use.

As a final stopping point for this Mini-Course, I would like for you to review the learning objectives from the course to assess your own learning.

The objectives were:

  • Teachers will identify parts of engaging and hands-on centers.
  • Teachers will express state Math standards.
  • Teachers will describe how to structure centers to be successful.
  • Teachers will construct centers based on state Math standards.
  • Teachers will create centers that are engaging and hands-on.
  • Teachers will appraise their own classroom needs to create centers.
  • Teachers will reflect on successful and unsuccessful centers to understand what works best for their students.
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