A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 171
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.”
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s standard will be listed in blue, followed by its ambient counterpart.
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Work with time and money.
7. Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using am and pm. Know relationships of time (e.g., minutes in an hour, days in a month, months in a year).
This is still too abstract and advanced for second grade. For reasons cited in earlier posts, the optimal time to teach time is third grade. A more generalized sense of time can begin early on, but it’s a sense that must be allowed to grow gradually, not be taught abstractly with apps or worksheets.
Form drawings can point to the concepts of time with the divided circle. Many variations on the 12-circle can help prepare for reading an analog clock or watch. But beyond mere knowledge of time on the “face” of it, lies a greater awareness of the 12-hour day and night cycle as an archetypal form. The teaching and learning spiral method comes into play here, beginning with fairy tale time and gradually becoming more “real” as the child’s awareness grows.
Time stories will be told in Grade 3 when there is a window of readiness, and those will build on the foundations laid in Grades 1 and 2. Minutes in an hour can naturally grow from the 12-divided circle, the month will be related to the moon, so its 30-day cycle makes sense in its original context, and twelve months in a year can come back full circle to the fairy tale, “The Twelve Months.”
Stories can be told about how the days of the week and months were named, and then the stories can be illustrated for greater clarity and retention (see below). Here’s a teaser for Grade 3. Why are September, October, November, and December named as if they were months 7, 8, 9, and 10, instead of 9, 10, 11, and 12? Tune in to next month’s Grade 3 posts to find out.
All of this comes when the time is ripe for time! If these concepts are illuminated with stories and art, they impart a deep respect and love for the way the world turns and time passes. Rather than a dry, abstract approach, the child learns the why of all things, which is after all childhood’s most pressing need.
8. Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, using dollar and cent symbols appropriately. Example: if you have 2 dimes and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have?
In Grade 4, there’s such a perfect window for this, that waiting is well worth it! As usual, there will be an awareness of money values, bills and coins, well before this. But it can be formally taught then in conjunction with decimals and fractions. Such a natural fit! There is little to no need to cram too much into the Grade 2 school year. As said earlier, learning place value and regrouping as well as making good, solid inroads into learning all of the times tables is quite enough for now. See below for some Grade 4 examples of relating coins to decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers.
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for more Common Core measurement standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post 2.MD 7-8: Not Time Yet to Tell Time Or Count Money (#171) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 170
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.”
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s standards will be listed in blue, followed by their ambient counterparts.
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Relate addition and subtraction to length.
5. Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems involving lengths that are given in the same units; e.g., by using drawings (such as drawings of rulers) and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
6. Represent whole numbers as lengths from 0 on a number line diagram with equally spaced points corresponding to the numbers 0, 1, 2 . . . , and represent whole-number sums and differences within 100 on a number line diagram.
“Drawings of rulers” stumped me. I must admit that I am at a loss to create foundational lessons and activities that would fulfill these standards. My online search for lesson plans aligned to standard 5 yielded materials that represent many teacher/student/parent hours of planning, teaching, and practicing, both at school and at home. Similar to yesterday’s worksheet however, most are based on out-of-context content. Some are hands-on, using snap-together plastic cubes to represent length, but most are worksheet formatted or digital.
The whole has been lost in search of the parts. And children feel this loss most deeply since they need wholeness more than we do. For better or worse, we for the most part have acclimated to the separation and disjointedness that represents modern life. But they, being new to the planet and the way we do things here, have not. And we, their mentors, parents, and teachers, can help by dipping into the pool of wholeness for their sake (and it’s healing for us as well).
Word problems ideally should have a purpose and be rooted in experience and necessity. See below for my favorite Charlie Brown cartoon about the irrelevance of most math word problems. Meaning means more to children; it’s like air or nourishment, and should be the basis of everything they’re taught. Math By Hand introduces the positive and negative concepts of the number line along with beginning algebra concepts in Grade 4. The rules for using the number line and the 4 processes in algebra are so complex that waiting to introduce them is wise.
The Math By Hand Grade 2 lessons and materials cover learning all times tables up to 12 and regrouping in addition and subtraction. Simple but sufficient. Mastering these skills is quite enough for any 8 year old. I will conclude on a heartening note with a letter from the administration at the Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire, praising a young student who had just completed standardized testing and “demonstrated huge amounts of commitment and tried your very best during this tricky week.”
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for more Common Core measurement standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 170
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.”
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s standards will be listed in blue, followed by their ambient counterparts.
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Relate addition and subtraction to length.
5. Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems involving lengths that are given in the same units; e.g., by using drawings (such as drawings of rulers) and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
6. Represent whole numbers as lengths from 0 on a number line diagram with equally spaced points corresponding to the numbers 0, 1, 2 . . . , and represent whole-number sums and differences within 100 on a number line diagram.
“Drawings of rulers” stumped me. I must admit that I am at a loss to create foundational lessons and activities that would fulfill these standards. My online search for lesson plans aligned to standard 5 yielded materials that represent many teacher/student/parent hours of planning, teaching, and practicing, both at school and at home. Similar to yesterday’s worksheet however, most are based on out-of-context content. Some are hands-on, using snap-together plastic cubes to represent length, but most are worksheet formatted or digital.
The whole has been lost in search of the parts. And children feel this loss most deeply since they need wholeness more than we do. For better or worse, we for the most part have acclimated to the separation and disjointedness that represents modern life. But they, being new to the planet and the way we do things here, have not. And we, their mentors, parents, and teachers, can help by dipping into the pool of wholeness for their sake (and it’s healing for us as well).
Word problems ideally should have a purpose and be rooted in experience and necessity. See below for my favorite Charlie Brown cartoon about the irrelevance of most math word problems. Meaning means more to children; it’s like air or nourishment, and should be the basis of everything they’re taught. Math By Hand introduces the positive and negative concepts of the number line along with beginning algebra concepts in Grade 4. The rules for using the number line and the 4 processes in algebra are so complex that waiting to introduce them is wise.
The Math By Hand Grade 2 lessons and materials cover learning all times tables up to 12 and regrouping in addition and subtraction. Simple but sufficient. Mastering these skills is quite enough for any 8 year old. I will conclude on a heartening note with a letter from the administration at the Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire, praising a young student who had just completed standardized testing and “demonstrated huge amounts of commitment and tried your very best during this tricky week.”
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for more Common Core measurement standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
July 16th, 2014 · Uncategorized
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 170
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.”
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s standards will be listed in blue, followed by their ambient counterparts.
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Relate addition and subtraction to length.
5. Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems involving lengths that are given in the same units; e.g., by using drawings (such as drawings of rulers) and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
6. Represent whole numbers as lengths from 0 on a number line diagram with equally spaced points corresponding to the numbers 0, 1, 2 . . . , and represent whole-number sums and differences within 100 on a number line diagram.
“Drawings of rulers” stumped me. I must admit that I am at a loss to create foundational lessons and activities that would fulfill these standards. My online search for lesson plans aligned to standard 5 yielded materials that represent many teacher/student/parent hours of planning, teaching, and practicing, both at school and at home. Similar to yesterday’s worksheet however, most are based on out-of-context content. Some are hands-on, using snap-together plastic cubes to represent length, but most are worksheet formatted or digital.
The whole has been lost in search of the parts. And children feel this loss most deeply since they need wholeness more than we do. For better or worse, we for the most part have acclimated to the separation and disjointedness that represents modern life. But they, being new to the planet and the way we do things here, have not. And we, their mentors, parents, and teachers, can help by dipping into the pool of wholeness for their sake (and it’s healing for us as well).
Word problems ideally should have a purpose and be rooted in experience and necessity. See below for my favorite Charlie Brown cartoon about the irrelevance of most math word problems. Meaning means more to children; it’s like air or nourishment, and should be the basis of everything they’re taught. Math By Hand introduces the positive and negative concepts of the number line along with beginning algebra concepts in Grade 4. The rules for using the number line and the 4 processes in algebra are so complex that waiting to introduce them is wise.
The Math By Hand Grade 2 lessons and materials cover learning all times tables up to 12 and regrouping in addition and subtraction. Simple but sufficient. Mastering these skills is quite enough for any 8 year old. I will conclude on a heartening note with a letter from the administration at the Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire, praising a young student who had just completed standardized testing and “demonstrated huge amounts of commitment and tried your very best during this tricky week.”
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for more Common Core measurement standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post 2.MD 5-6: Word Problems & the Number Line (#170) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 169
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.”
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s standards will be listed in blue, followed by its ambient counterpart.
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Measure and estimate lengths in standard units.
1. Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools, such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes.
2. Measure the length of an object twice, using length units of different lengths for the two measurements; describe how the two measurements relate to the size of the unit chosen.
3. Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters.
4. Measure to determine how much longer one object is than another, expressing the length difference in terms of a standard length unit.
Measurement and time are not taught directly in the Waldorf method until Grade 3. Why? Here is an excerpt from the Common Core Kindergarten and Grade 1 measurement standards that may explain the reasoning behind the wait.
As with many other elements, exposure to time and measurement will most likely happen way before third grade, but its formal introduction doesn’t happen till then. The reasoning is that the child crosses a significant boundary at age 9. Just as a readiness for learning becomes optimal at age 7, the first real steps out of the garden of childhood are taken two years later, at 9. Creation stories are told in third grade, as the child’s powers of reasoning develop alongside a beginning recognition of the realities of growing up.
As a thread that runs through most cultures’ creation stories, the expulsion from the garden is a theme that reflects this stage of development. Teaching practical things like housebuilding and farming / gardening are perfect at this time, because that’s how we collectively learned to live on the earth on our own, after leaving our respective gardens. Time and measurement fit this context nicely and for now, aspects of it can be shown and absorbed (rather than taught and learned) in a purely experiential and playful way.
Lessons and activities aligned to the above standards could easily slip into busy work. The essence of time and measurement needs to be relayed through anecdotal and historical stories before the particulars are taught and learned. For instance, the stories of how units of measurement came about and evolved are essential building blocks to a right method of teaching this subject. Here’s an excerpt from the Math By Hand Grade 3 binder, a description of where the term “yard” originated:
Yard comes from the German gierd (pronounced gyard) meaning girth, to encircle. One theory is that the yard originated as the waist measurement of the king (36 inches). Another is that King Henry I of England decreed that a yard should be equal to the distance between his nose and extended thumb!
It could be noted that the latter method is used to estimate the length of a yard to this day. And that the term yard (as in back yard and front yard) also fits this description by encircling the house. In contrast, please see the worksheet below. It’s a good example of measurement taken out of the context of the human story and how we relate to what we discover, invent, and use.
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for the more Common Core measurement standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
July 14th, 2014 · Uncategorized
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 169
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.”
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s standards will be listed in blue, followed by its ambient counterpart.
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Measure and estimate lengths in standard units.
1. Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools, such as rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes.
2. Measure the length of an object twice, using length units of different lengths for the two measurements; describe how the two measurements relate to the size of the unit chosen.
3. Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters.
4. Measure to determine how much longer one object is than another, expressing the length difference in terms of a standard length unit.
Measurement and time are not taught directly in the Waldorf method until Grade 3. Why? Here is an excerpt from the Common Core Kindergarten and Grade 1 measurement standards that may explain the reasoning behind the wait.
As with many other elements, exposure to time and measurement will most likely happen way before third grade, but its formal introduction doesn’t happen till then. The reasoning is that the child crosses a significant boundary at age 9. Just as a readiness for learning becomes optimal at age 7, the first real steps out of the garden of childhood are taken two years later, at 9. Creation stories are told in third grade, as the child’s powers of reasoning develop alongside a beginning recognition of the realities of growing up.
As a thread that runs through most cultures’ creation stories, the expulsion from the garden is a theme that reflects this stage of development. Teaching practical things like housebuilding and farming / gardening are perfect at this time, because that’s how we collectively learned to live on the earth on our own, after leaving our respective gardens. Time and measurement fit this context nicely and for now, aspects of it can be shown and absorbed (rather than taught and learned) in a purely experiential and playful way.
Lessons and activities aligned to the above standards could easily slip into busy work. The essence of time and measurement needs to be relayed through anecdotal and historical stories before the particulars are taught and learned. For instance, the stories of how units of measurement came about and evolved are essential building blocks to a right method of teaching this subject. Here’s an excerpt from the Math By Hand Grade 3 binder, a description of where the term “yard” originated:
Yard comes from the German gierd (pronounced gyard) meaning girth, to encircle. One theory is that the yard originated as the waist measurement of the king (36 inches). Another is that King Henry I of England decreed that a yard should be equal to the distance between his nose and extended thumb!
It could be noted that the latter method is used to estimate the length of a yard to this day. And that the term yard (as in back yard and front yard) also fits this description by encircling the house. In contrast, please see the worksheet below. It’s a good example of measurement taken out of the context of the human story and how we relate to what we discover, invent, and use.
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for the more Common Core measurement standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post MD.2 1-4: Measurement Waits Till Grade 3, No Specifics Yet (#169) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 168
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s post will review some previously posted Common Core ELA standards along with the last of the standards in this set, listed in blue and are followed by their ambient counterparts.
English Language Arts Standards > Language > Grade 2
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4A
Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4B
Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known prefix is added to a known word (e.g., happy/unhappy, tell/retell).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4C
Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., addition, additional).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4D
Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words (e.g., birdhouse, lighthouse, housefly; bookshelf, notebook, bookmark).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4E
Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5
Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5A
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5B
Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender skinny, scrawny).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.6
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
At the risk of lumping all of these standards together, I will attempt to address them as a group. Much or most of this is a parts to whole approach, dissecting rather than discerning. Discerning is possible only when a reasonable grasp of the whole is present. Until the ability to reason abstractly has begun at age 11 or 12, the young child yearns for the world to be whole. Dissecting language is just one example of tearing apart that which needs to remain intact. With this in mind, I will attempt to address the above standards, in order.
Relying on watered down, “grade level” reading material is a mistaken attempt to make reading accessible at a younger age than it would otherwise naturally and healthily occur. No array of strategies can match an exposure to and immersion in quality literature. In this glorious context, the meanings of many unknown and multiple-meaning words are easily accessed. Easily, because the acquisition is painless, in the sense that it’s delivered whole and all-of-a-piece, with the child left in peace and allowed to take it in at his/her own pace.
Sentence-level context is experienced as complex sentences are repeatedly heard in the stories that are told and retold every day. Some of these are written/copied as captions and text that accompany drawings and illustrations of the story, so reading is learned through listening and writing.
Prefixes, suffixes, and roots are best learned when an understanding of their origins (Latin, Greek, French, etc.) can be approached and understood: later on. Although a solid sense for this relationship is built through many examples taken from stories/literature heard and told.
Learning the meaning of individual and compound words can be approached playfully and concretely. The main word could be colorfully illustrated in the center of a page, with its derivatives scattered in a circle around it. For instance, a house in the center, surrounded by playful renderings of a light, a bird, and a fly. Or the words could be mimed like this: holding a book up, have the child say “book,” then walk over and place it on a shelf as the child says “bookshelf,” and so on. This could be followed by illustrations with the words written beneath each item.
Reference books are best kept for later. Until the age of reason, the teacher is the buffer between the child and everything there is to know in the world. The Waldorf method is that everything comes to the child through the filter of a teacher/parent who is known, loved, and trusted. It’s a long childhood, and rightly so. If left to ripen the fruit will be sweet, but if plucked prematurely it has little to no value and is bitter.
Relationship and nuance are best attained through quality literature. The meanings may not be readily produced yet, but they are there waiting for the right time to emerge. Real-life connections are best made through experience. If the child is exposed, through adult example and behavior, to the subtle meanings and qualities of words, it will bear fruit in time.
Shades of meaning among closely related words too, is acquired through absorption and osmosis, the same way every child learns language. What a feat this is at ages 1, 2, and 3! Why do we have faith that this will happen naturally and then lose that faith when we teach with a drill and dull worksheet approach?
Words, phrases, adjectives and adverbs. All will be acquired through conversations, learning and reciting poetry, singing songs, saying limericks and tongue twisters, hearing and retelling wonderful stories! It really will happen, and most definitely, “when the kids are happy, that makes teachers and parents happy.”
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Back to Grade 2 Common Core math standards tomorrow!
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 168
Note that the new blog title theme reflects the changes on the Math By Hand website. Please note the easy blog index feature on the new MBH website.
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s post will review some previously posted Common Core ELA standards along with the last of the standards in this set, listed in blue and are followed by their ambient counterparts.
English Language Arts Standards > Language > Grade 2
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4A
Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4B
Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known prefix is added to a known word (e.g., happy/unhappy, tell/retell).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4C
Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., addition, additional).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4D
Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words (e.g., birdhouse, lighthouse, housefly; bookshelf, notebook, bookmark).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4E
Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5
Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5A
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5B
Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender skinny, scrawny).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.6
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
At the risk of lumping all of these standards together, I will attempt to address them as a group. Much or most of this is a parts to whole approach, dissecting rather than discerning. Discerning is possible only when a reasonable grasp of the whole is present. Until the ability to reason abstractly has begun at age 11 or 12, the young child yearns for the world to be whole. Dissecting language is just one example of tearing apart that which needs to remain intact. With this in mind, I will attempt to address the above standards, in order.
Relying on watered down, “grade level” reading material is a mistaken attempt to make reading accessible at a younger age than it would otherwise naturally and healthily occur. No array of strategies can match an exposure to and immersion in quality literature. In this glorious context, the meanings of many unknown and multiple-meaning words are easily accessed. Easily, because the acquisition is painless, in the sense that it’s delivered whole and all-of-a-piece, with the child left in peace and allowed to take it in at his/her own pace.
Sentence-level context is experienced as complex sentences are repeatedly heard in the stories that are told and retold every day. Some of these are written/copied as captions and text that accompany drawings and illustrations of the story, so reading is learned through listening and writing.
Prefixes, suffixes, and roots are best learned when an understanding of their origins (Latin, Greek, French, etc.) can be approached and understood: later on. Although a solid sense for this relationship is built through many examples taken from stories/literature heard and told.
Learning the meaning of individual and compound words can be approached playfully and concretely. The main word could be colorfully illustrated in the center of a page, with its derivatives scattered in a circle around it. For instance, a house in the center, surrounded by playful renderings of a light, a bird, and a fly. Or the words could be mimed like this: holding a book up, have the child say “book,” then walk over and place it on a shelf as the child says “bookshelf,” and so on. This could be followed by illustrations with the words written beneath each item.
Reference books are best kept for later. Until the age of reason, the teacher is the buffer between the child and everything there is to know in the world. The Waldorf method is that everything comes to the child through the filter of a teacher/parent who is known, loved, and trusted. It’s a long childhood, and rightly so. If left to ripen the fruit will be sweet, but if plucked prematurely it has little to no value and is bitter.
Relationship and nuance are best attained through quality literature. The meanings may not be readily produced yet, but they are there waiting for the right time to emerge. Real-life connections are best made through experience. If the child is exposed, through adult example and behavior, to the subtle meanings and qualities of words, it will bear fruit in time.
Shades of meaning among closely related words too, is acquired through absorption and osmosis, the same way every child learns language. What a feat this is at ages 1, 2, and 3! Why do we have faith that this will happen naturally and then lose that faith when we teach with a drill and dull worksheet approach?
Words, phrases, adjectives and adverbs. All will be acquired through conversations, learning and reciting poetry, singing songs, saying limericks and tongue twisters, hearing and retelling wonderful stories! It really will happen, and most definitely, “when the kids are happy, that makes teachers and parents happy.”
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Back to Grade 2 Common Core math standards tomorrow!
Tags:
July 14th, 2014 · Uncategorized
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 168
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Today’s post will review some previously posted Common Core ELA standards along with the last of the standards in this set, listed in blue and are followed by their ambient counterparts.
English Language Arts Standards > Language > Grade 2
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4A
Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4B
Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known prefix is added to a known word (e.g., happy/unhappy, tell/retell).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4C
Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., addition, additional).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4D
Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words (e.g., birdhouse, lighthouse, housefly; bookshelf, notebook, bookmark).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.4E
Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5
Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5A
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5B
Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw, hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender skinny, scrawny).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.6
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
At the risk of lumping all of these standards together, I will attempt to address them as a group. Much or most of this is a parts to whole approach, dissecting rather than discerning. Discerning is possible only when a reasonable grasp of the whole is present. Until the ability to reason abstractly has begun at age 11 or 12, the young child yearns for the world to be whole. Dissecting language is just one example of tearing apart that which needs to remain intact. With this in mind, I will attempt to address the above standards, in order.
Relying on watered down, “grade level” reading material is a mistaken attempt to make reading accessible at a younger age than it would otherwise naturally and healthily occur. No array of strategies can match an exposure to and immersion in quality literature. In this glorious context, the meanings of many unknown and multiple-meaning words are easily accessed. Easily, because the acquisition is painless, in the sense that it’s delivered whole and all-of-a-piece, with the child left in peace and allowed to take it in at his/her own pace.
Sentence-level context is experienced as complex sentences are repeatedly heard in the stories that are told and retold every day. Some of these are written/copied as captions and text that accompany drawings and illustrations of the story, so reading is learned through listening and writing.
Prefixes, suffixes, and roots are best learned when an understanding of their origins (Latin, Greek, French, etc.) can be approached and understood: later on. Although a solid sense for this relationship is built through many examples taken from stories/literature heard and told.
Learning the meaning of individual and compound words can be approached playfully and concretely. The main word could be colorfully illustrated in the center of a page, with its derivatives scattered in a circle around it. For instance, a house in the center, surrounded by playful renderings of a light, a bird, and a fly. Or the words could be mimed like this: holding a book up, have the child say “book,” then walk over and place it on a shelf as the child says “bookshelf,” and so on. This could be followed by illustrations with the words written beneath each item.
Reference books are best kept for later. Until the age of reason, the teacher is the buffer between the child and everything there is to know in the world. The Waldorf method is that everything comes to the child through the filter of a teacher/parent who is known, loved, and trusted. It’s a long childhood, and rightly so. If left to ripen the fruit will be sweet, but if plucked prematurely it has little to no value and is bitter.
Relationship and nuance are best attained through quality literature. The meanings may not be readily produced yet, but they are there waiting for the right time to emerge. Real-life connections are best made through experience. If the child is exposed, through adult example and behavior, to the subtle meanings and qualities of words, it will bear fruit in time.
Shades of meaning among closely related words too, is acquired through absorption and osmosis, the same way every child learns language. What a feat this is at ages 1, 2, and 3! Why do we have faith that this will happen naturally and then lose that faith when we teach with a drill and dull worksheet approach?
Words, phrases, adjectives and adverbs. All will be acquired through conversations, learning and reciting poetry, singing songs, saying limericks and tongue twisters, hearing and retelling wonderful stories! It really will happen, and most definitely, “when the kids are happy, that makes teachers and parents happy.”
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Back to Grade 2 Common Core math standards tomorrow!
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post L.2 4-6: Vocabulary As Adjunct to Listening, Writing, & Reading (#168) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 167
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.” And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.
Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful. Back to blogging again. Thanks to all who responded to the request for feedback. Reminder: MBH has a new website! Please take a tour, it’s new and improved! We will cover the last CCSS ELA post tomorrow, then on to the Grade 2 Mathematical Practice Standards. Lastly, a grand finale to say farewell to Grade 2, not sure what, but it will be grand.
Today’s post features a blog post from “The Art of Learning” re the Common Core and its troubled start, due largely to standardized tests that were faultily (or not at all) matched to the standards. Another major CC flaw as stated in this post is the “fool’s gold” of the data mining that’s become so endemic with implementation and testing.
“Schools have rushed to “unpack” the standards and hastily rolled out poorly designed scripted curriculum materials primarily to prepare students for the high stakes tests (that supposedly measure their teachers performance) rather than prepare students for learning.
The Common Core testing regime is more about satisfying data-driven enthusiasts’ ‘thirst” for more data, than it is about cultivating students’ thirst for knowledge.
We are witnessing an unprecedented data collection “gold rush”, while the validity and reliability of this “fool’s gold” is of little concern to those who are mining it.”
The most outstanding point in the Art of Learning blog post is the one-letter substitution calling for “vigor” rather than “rigor.” From the moment I first heard the CC mandate for rigor in the classroom, all the way down to Kindergarten (and pre-K) it was clear that this was not a child-friendly or for that matter, at all sensible approach. Rigor and children don’t mix, because children are too wonderfully spontaneous and inherently creative for rigor’s attempted implementation to work in any way.
Vigor however: yes, by all means! We as adults tend to “see through a glass, darkly,” so it behooves us to stretch our parameters and take a page from the little ones in our care. Infuse everything we set before them with enthusiasm (whose root comes from the Greek enthousiasmos or the adjective, entheos, meaning “the God within”) for the sheer wonder of every thing in the world around us.
Then the vigor we need to access for effective, authentic teaching will flow from the light of each subject at hand as we lovingly impart it. “Schooling should be about inspiring all of our students and helping them to discover their unique talents, while supporting them as they pursue their passions.
This will require more vigor in the classroom which is inherently student-centered, and much less concern about rigor in the classroom which is primarily standards and test-centered.” Read the blog post here.
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for the last Common Core ELA standards and their ambient counterparts.
The post Uncommon Core: Classroom Vigor vs. Rigor (#167) appeared first on Math By Hand.
The post Uncommon Core: Classroom Vigor vs. Rigor (#167) appeared first on Math By Hand.
Tags:
