Ms. Teresa, pictured above on the right, will enter her final year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this fall. Her Sky's the Limit students will enter the third grade. This week Teresa is teaching multiplication during her math hour. She started yesterday by creating a "number wheel" that the kids could walk around, advancing by 2's, 3's, 5's or whatever increment Teresa asked. They quickly mastered the "number walk" and now she is helping them transfer this very physical experience with numbers to problems written on a page.California's math standards for second grade include "counting by multiples to do multiplication." So walking around the number wheel should have been review. But in third grade these standards will require them to "memorize to automaticity the multiplication table for numbers between 1 and 10" and "solve simple problems involving multiplication of multidigit numbers." Third grade is considered a flagship year for math, and lays a critical foundation for algebra later on. We want our students to be ready! Teresa's lessons are meant to give them a crucial leg up. For a couple students who never really mastered second grade multiplication this week's lessons are a second chance. For those who "got it" the first time around we're reinforcing the skills they gained and nudging them steadily forward. Please pray that God will empower Teresa to teach well, and that her students will find themselves mulptiplying with confidence!
No comments:
Post a Comment