Math Bridging Activities

 Math Bridging Activities

  Summer Break 


                                                                  
   Our students work hard over the school year to learn the information we present. It is estimated that over summer break students can lose up to 2 months of previously acquired math knowledge.  As teachers we can prevent this from happening by sending home suggested summer math activities.

   The following are some suggestions. They are categorized by age for your convenience.

Young Learners

• ·         Review numbers while running errands
• ·         Count apples or boxes of cereal at the grocery store
• ·         Estimate how many red, green, or yellow cars are in a parking lot
• ·         Start a collection of rocks or sea shells and keep a running tally of how many you’ve collected
• ·         Identify numbers on sports jerseys and count goals scored or runs batted in

Elementary School Students

• ·         Play card games like Solitaire, Uno, Crazy Eights, and Four Kings
• ·         Pick 1 day a week to review multiplication flash cards
• ·         Take them to the DQ, give them $3.25 and have them figure out what treat they can afford
• ·         Measure the height of their shadow at different times such as, 10 am, 12pm, 1 pm

Middle School Students

• ·         Measure the amount of water the plants need
• ·         Measure the plants growth each week
• ·         Bake
• ·         Predict how much gas it will take to get to the cabin
• ·         Play cribbage or rummy

High School Students

• ·         Math camp
• ·         Tutor younger students
• ·         Review past tests
• ·         Help plan and budget the family vacation

Math Manipulatives

This blog is going to focus on the use of manipulatives to aid students with their math skills. I hope you have had an opportunity to view some of my other blogs related to Universal Design, RTI, and the Common Core Curriculum because they are all directly related to this blog.

When one walks into the standard math classroom they will likely witness students sitting at their desks working independently on math worksheets or from their math books. The problem with this is that likely only the students who have a very solid grasp on math are benefiting from this "hands off" type of instruction. The ones who struggle with math such as RTI tier 1 and tier 2 students need the support of UDL which would offer them the concept development skills needed to understand math. The following are a list of manipulatives that might benefit your students.

1. Unifex Cubes make math a hands on activity.

1.                
2. base 10 blocks help students understand place values.                                                                                                                               
3. Money lines help students learn to identify coins and their values.  
4. Real Money is also a valuable tool because struggling students often don't have the concept of paper money or plastic coins.  

     5. Counter Chips are especially helpful when teaching positive and negative numbers.


         




                                                                                                         
Please refer to the following video to see an example of students benefiting from math manipulatives.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

As an educator, it is my belief that one of the most positive changes to education that has taken place lately is Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is a school-wide, multi-level instructional and behavioral system meant to prevent school failure. It is most frequently used in a 3 tier model that looks like this:

                                                                              

• Tier 1, or the bottom tier, is whole class instruction. In this tier 80-90% of students will make benchmark
• Tier 2, or the center tier, offers more intense instruction which might include small group instruction or increased time in the needed subject area. In this area another 10-15% of students are able to meet benchmark. 
• Tier 3, or the top tier, offers even more intense instruction for the approximately 5% of students that have yet to meet benchmark. Instruction in this area will likely include one on one instruction from an RTI trained staff member. 

In order for RTI to be successful schools must require high quality instruction, progress monitoring, screening, and data based decision making. They should also have a designated RTI team in each school.

Universal Design For Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an architectural philosophy that has been adopted by education. In architecture the philosophy of Universal Design is basically making all buildings    accessible to the widest population of people as possible. By doing this from the start it prevents         stereotypes or biases from being created but it also has its economic benefits because the building will not have to be modified in the future. Educators have started adopting this philosophy by considering the needs of all learners when developing their curricula, methods, and materials. This approach eliminates the need to redesign the materials developed for the “typical” to fit the needs of the “atypical” student. 

Teachers who approach education using UDL must carefully consider their goals of instruction. For example, if teachers want to quiz a student on what they have learned on a history unit, rather than assigning the students to write a paragraph about an event in history, they should ask them to demonstrate a knowledge of the event by writing about it, creating a play, setting up a time to discuss it orally, or creating a power point. By offering this flexible, varied, and diverse approach the students who struggle with writing have other ways of displaying their understanding of the subject.

I believe that UDL is an important philosophy for schools to adopt. By incorporating UDL schools can service a more diverse group of students and decrease barriers that might limit their access to materials and learning. All student have the right to feel safe, comfortable, and included in their schools. UDL can help us accomplish this.