Learning Centers: Numbers

I have some very strong feelings about developmental milestones in terms of assessment and education. Developmental milestones serve us by providing a broad picture of the tasks we would expect a child of a certain age to be able to perform. They range from gross and fine motor skills, to social, language and cognitive functioning. The age at which a child successfully passes through each developmental milestone varies with the uniqueness of the child.

Developmental milestones are helpful because they serve as a barometer of sorts. If we know which skills are likely to develop in a sequence, then we can plan instruction accordingly. You wouldn't expect a baby to ride a bike before they learn to walk or ask a child to read a book before they can identify letters. In this way, developmental milestones are extremely useful.

However, I take issue when they are used to label children. When the child who is making progress every single day along this continuum is thought 'less of' than a child who moves through each stage with ease.

Parents can worry and fret that their child is 'behind' and therefore ignore their brilliance.

We have a student this year who is making amazing strides every day. It is a struggle. Identifying letters and numbers is a challenge.

He is fidgety and does not always focus. He prefers 'hands-on' manipulation of objects that involve kinestic and tactile elements.

He stretches our thinking. And today on this snowy, cold day we found an activity that worked for him. It involves paper plates, the number line and a marker.

We gave him 20 paper plates. On each plate was written a number 1-20. We told him to throw the plates high into the air so that they landed all over the rug. He liked this. He was then asked to order the plates from 1-20 using the number line to help him if he got stuck. This required him to go back to number 1 on the number line each time he was looking for the next number because he knows the numbers when he says them in order but not when asked to identify them on their own.

So today we celebrated this milestone. Numbers 1-6 are solid! It gets murky around number 13 but that will come. He'll get there.

The paper plate idea can also be used with students who are learning to use the 100s chart. In this case they are given 100 paper plates to throw up in the air and arrange in order from 1-100. As they place the plates in 10 rows they begin to notice the patterns, which is an important developmental milestone in itself.

By reading down the tens column they count by 10s. They will see that all the 4s in the ones place are in the same column (all the 2s, 3s, 5s, etc.). They learn to navigate rows and columns. What number comes after 20? Before 51? It is surprising how this simple 'game' can bring about so much learning.

I love when that happens!

Thanks Laurie for the idea.

Cohort 8

This past Thursday night I attended the Ennis William Cosby graduate certificate ceremony at Fordham University for cohort 8 in the "Young Readers at Risk" program. The 24 scholarship recipients were recognized for "demonstrating proficiency in providing beginning reading instruction and a sense of social justice and the belief that all children can learn to read".

The Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation was established by Bill and Camille Cosby to continue their son Ennis' dream "to help children find the self-esteem, support and learning techniques that would open the doors of accomplishment and joy to them" (taken from Ennis' Gift: A film about learning differences).

Ennis, who was dyslexic, was dedicated to helping children who struggle to read and write and the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation has ensured that his dream continues.

So far, there have been 234 New York City public school teachers who have graduated from this 18 credit program. They have touched the lives of 25,000 children.

I was fortunate enough to have been accepted to Cohort 3 and I can honestly state that this program has not only changed my way of teaching but also my life. It directly influenced my decision to pursue my doctoral studies and opened the door for me to become an adjunct instructor at Fordham University.

It was a night of celebration and reflection. It was also a night mixed with bittersweet emotions because, as of this writing, the foundation has decided not to continue the program when the current cohort (Cohort 9) graduates next January. This means that there will not be a Cohort 10 - at least not this summer. I remain hopeful that when funding is available in the future (or my pleas to Oprah are heard) that the program will pick up again where it left off.

Difficult economic times are hitting us in unforeseen ways.

However, for the moment we celebrate the teachers who make a difference.

We give thanks to the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation and to the Cosby family.

I give my personal thanks to Dr. Joanna Uhry, director of the program at Fordham University (pictured with me during the tutoring practicum) who has done so much for me. Her belief in my abilities and her kindness, both professionally and personally, has been inspirational, motivating and heart warming. But, more on that in future posts...

Congratulations to Cohort 8!

Top picture: Julie Shoemaker at podium. Seated: (left to right) Dr. Joanna Uhry, Cayne Letizia, Gary Wellbrock, Erika Cosby, Erinn Cosby.

The Unity Of The 50!

In honor of the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama my friend Laurie and I created a short video of American Sign Language signs associated with this historical event.

Enjoy!

Puppy Dog Tails

What are little boys made of?

Snakes and snails, and puppy dog tails.

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice, and everything nice.

That's what little girls are made of.

The above rhyme puts forth the simple notion that boys and girls are different. It also seems to be making a judgement call while doing so, but the point is clear.  So why in our elementary schools do we continually view boys and girls through the same educational lens? 

Many curriculums require children to write 'small moment' stories. The 'small moment' can be any event or happening in the life of the child that is then focused and expanded upon.  Instead of writing list stories (I went to the store.  I went to the park.  I went home.) they are asked to give a detailed account of one thing that happened at the store.  When they write something like "I went to the Acme with my mom and sister to buy pretzels.  My mom had a coupon for Snyder's pretzels so we got that kind.  I smiled." teachers applaud.  

Girls are generally good at writing these kinds of stories.

Boys on the other hand are more motivated to write when they can write stories involving superheroes or violence.  Teachers try to sway them away from these topics.  

Here is a sampling I took from my class today.

That was written by a little girl about her hair and her mischievous brother.

And the drawing below was done by a little boy. It is a picture of Stewie from The Family Guy holding a knife while reenacting the shower scene from Psycho. He saw this on TV.  It stuck with him.

Books by researchers like Ralph Fletcher who wrote Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices and Thomas Newirk who wrote Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy, and Popular Culture challenge us to rethink our expectations.  Why isn't it okay for boys to write like boys? Why do we, as a culture, value only one type of writing and dismiss the other?  Reading these books makes me realize how ingrained this way of thinking is and I continue to struggle to alter my perception.  

It's an ongoing thing.

By the way, care to venture a guess as to whether a boy or a girl drew the top picture with the butterflies and the flowers?

SpiderWeb Game

Games are a huge motivator for young children.  I have found over the years that the activity does not even have to be a real 'game' to engender excitement among the little ones, simply calling something a 'game' is enough most of the time.  At least initially.

By the end of first grade, students are required to know about 110 sight words. These are words that they should be able to immediately identify on sight as well as know how to spell.  They include common words from the Dolch sight word list and are words that children encounter in print on a regular basis.  

Over the years I have found many ways to encourage students to have fun learning how to spell these words.  One crowd pleaser is called The Spider Web Game (cue menacing music).

Everyone sits in a circle and the teacher holds a large ball of yarn in his/her hand.  One hand is holding onto the end of the string while the other holds the ball, ready to toss at the person sitting across from them.  Once the teacher tosses the ball of yarn to the child opposite them they ask that child to spell a word from the word wall.

Teacher: Spell 'over'.
Student: O-V-E-R.

Super.  Then the student takes hold of the yarn so that there is now one thread of the spider web between the teacher and the student. Then the student tosses the ball of yarn to a child sitting across from them.  Again the teacher asks this child to spell a word and when they do, that child tosses the yarn to the next child.

This goes on until everyone has had a turn.  At this point there should be a big spider web connecting everyone to everyone else. 

Then the fun begins.  

One child is selected to be the spider and another is chosen to be the fly.  The 'spider' and the 'fly' hand their thread to the child beside them to hold (if this is not done the web will be destroyed).  Then everyone in the circle lifts their hands so the web is above their heads.  The 'fly' crawls underneath. When the fly is in the center of the web everyone lowers their hands, catching the fly in the spider web.  Then the spider takes action and crawls into the center (on top of the web) to eat the fly.
 
It sounds yucky but remember your audience!  

Everyone get a turn as either the spider or the fly.  The tricky part to manage is keeping the yarn from getting tangled up when the game is finished.  I have everyone sit holding their yarn as I roll it back into a ball. When they feel a tug they can let go.

Give it a try in your classrooms. It is a lot of fun.