Posts

Data Management, Probability, & Makerspace!

-
Image
Well, our first math class in the teacher education program is coming to a close. Only one week left until we begin our placement block. In Week 10 we looked at Data Management and Probability. First, we received a great activity about probability involving spinners. This activity was very well organized and introduced us to using proper probability vocabulary, how to create spinners, and how to visually pick up on theoretical probability. This activity really provided a good example of the 3 parts of a lesson plan: minds-on, action, and consolidation. The minds on is clearly labeled, the action was creating the spinners and the consolidation could be performing some experiment to determine a specific probability. I maybe would have liked to actually create a spinner because it is more hands-on and provides more of a practical use. I also would have appreciated some real-life applications from this activity. In our lesson, I appreciated all the real-life examples of calculating mean, m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Geometry & Spatial Sense + Measurement = Real Life Applications!

-
Image
In the past two weeks, we discussed geometry and spatial sense and measurement concepts. I enjoy these topics more so than ratios and algebra because I find them to be more relatable and I see these concepts more so in my day to day life. In the last two sessions, we had very exciting and engaging learning activities. For geometry and spatial sense, we had an awesome bingo game involving shapes! This activity was awesome because it allowed us to briefly review the concepts of basic 2D & 3D shapes before diving into the game. We then moved onto the BINGO game which was a super engaging group activity. I actually hope to implement this game or something similar in my Grade 4/5 placement during my time teaching them math. This article provides some more ways to implement bingo into math as well as other engaging activities for math lessons. For measurement, we had another great activity involving standard and non-standard units of measurements. This helped introduce us to how we use ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Least Favourite: Ratios and Algebra

-
Image
The past two sessions have been on topics that I have always struggled with in math; ratios/proportions and algebra. Although these topic areas frighten me, after our two classes, they seem way more exciting. Last week we had an activity that I really enjoyed involving ratios and proportions. It provided a good real-life example and allowed us to work in partners which made me feel more confident in completing the activity. This activity made good use of manipulatives, making predictions, and understanding how ratios work. We also completed an activity in class that encouraged us to use snap cubes to solve a real-life ratio word problem. I appreciated using the manipulatives for this because I had a visual, hands-on component to help me understand and complete the question. After my group figured it out, we decided to make a turkey--how creative and fun! After both the learning activity and the group work in class, I felt so much more confident about teaching ratios and proportio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fractions, Integers, What’s Next???

-
Image
Well, another couple weeks into 8P29 and more math information has been flowing. The last couple of sections focused on fractions, decimals, and integers—more number sense and numeration. I was interested in the different tools and manipulatives we can use to teach and represent fractions. Candy and chocolate is a good tool but can be messy for younger grades so it would definitely need to be considered carefully and thoroughly. I also ran my learning activity during one of the sessions. Completing this task was fun but a bit challenging. I wanted to create an activity that was engaging and fun but also very connected to the curriculum. It was very helpful using our textbook—Making Math Meaningful—to help spark ideas for an actual activity. There were so many sample activities discussed throughout the chapter for fractions and decimals, and even ones that you could implement both concepts into one activity. This I thought was very important because in math a lot of concepts are interco...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 3- Number Sense and Numeration

-
Image
Number Sense and Numeration! Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, the roots of math. Both last week and this week we have started really diving into math and how it can always be solved more than one way. As we were discussing strategies for completing the addition and subtraction problems, I saw a lot of relation to the textbook readings for this week. Already having background information about the principles of each operation allowed me to fully understand them in class and apply them during our activities. I felt the most confident in my skills during the addition and subtraction activities. The multiplication and division on the other hand were a bit more challenging. I remember learning both operations in a traditional manner and didn't really  have the opportunity to  use visuals or manipulatives. It was reassuring that other classmates were also confused but through explanation and practice it became clearer. Also working in groups helped me see vary...
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome to Math!

-
Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. My name is Megan Winger and the Brock Math Blog is all about the math class I am taking at Brock University in the Consecutive Teacher Education program. This blog will entail everything from this class from reflections, ideas, discussions and much more. Math has been both a success and failure for me so I am interested to see where this course will take me in terms of my attitude toward math and how I will successfully teach Math. Stay tuned for all the ups, downs, good and bad! Talk soon.
Post a Comment
Read more