Algebra Manipulatives

1.  What did I learn?

I learned how algebra manipulatives can be FUN!  Before Mondays class I couldn't picture how manipulatives could be used with abstract concepts like algebra.  I remember learning how to memorize the steps involved with algebra. Last year I tried helping my daughter learn how to use the FOIL method.  She was very confused and had trouble doing the problems without my help.  I have a feeling that the manipulatives would have made more sense to her - and would have saved both a few headaches.

I also learned how to use colored beans to help kids grasp the concept of adding and subtracting negative and positive numbers.  I also learned how using a life size number line helps kids see what is happening, making more sense to them than just doing the problems on paper.

2.  What do I have questions about?  

I would like to know more about how and when to introduce which types of problems to students (abstract first vs. concrete first).  If you know a particular student learns best in the "concrete,"  why wouldn't you always use that as a starting point for him/her?

3.  What are the implications for classroom practice?

I can see a lot more students "getting it" when being able to use manipulatives in addition to other forms of problem solving.  I loved the algebra tiles and would have loved to spend more time working with them - doing different types of problems because I think I (and students in general) would have a much easier time grasping what what is "happening" within the problem while manipulating the tiles/beans.  I think that students would benefit from using manipulatives in many ways.  Students would be able to have additional ways of looking at, and solving, problems (more entry points).  I also think physically moving the manipulatives around help us (our brains) move the information over from the concrete to the abstract - making a huge difference in what teachers are able to do within the classroom (students would learn more, more quickly, and would be able to move on to different types of problems beginning with the abstract as they would already have the foundation set for those types of problems, etc).

What, How, When, and Why...

Word Identification, Phonemic Awareness, and Early Word Identification -



So much of what I just read in Fox's book, Word Identification Strategies, was new to me. Even though I had volunteered in a kindergarten class for several years, taught preschool for 2 years, and taught my own kids how to read I never really (formally) learned how children become aware of the sounds of language, thought about word shape, or the stages of word learning. Some of what I did with emergent readers just came naturally to me, some things were taught to me, and some things I am sure I fell short on. I can't wait to learn more! I found the first three chapters very interesting. I loved the samples of the children's work, the explanations regarding what the children were doing and thinking during the process, and I really liked the explanations given for the stages each child was "at." Everything I am reading in Fox's book will help me as I am learning how to help emergent readers progress through the many stages of learning how to read, comprehend what they are reading, and progress to the next stage.



Last week I had my first visit with an adorable little kindergarten student named Grace* at a local elementary school. My cohort member and I briefly got to see Grace's classroom. The three of us were able to spend about 30 minutes getting to know each other. Most of the time we were together was spent filling out a "getting to know each other" form. We were instructed to let the child lead the time we spent together, and to make sure the child felt comfortable and self confident during and after our visit. We were instructed not to push the children into doing anything they were not comfortable with (i.e. spelling words rather than drawing pictures, etc.). The sheet we filled out consisted of a list of personal favorites things (foods, activities, etc.). Grace wanted to write down all of our favorite things and wanted to be the only one to write on the list. Grace asked for help spelling the words correctly. Even though she was getting tired of writing after the first few lines she denied offers to have us write for her. About half way through the sheet she decided to begin drawing pictures instead of writing the words. She was determined to fill the entire sheet out on her own, and she accomplished that task.



Grace was outgoing and seemed very confident. She drew a picture for us of her jumping rope next to her house (which she colored yellow, but is really blue). She is a very good artist and was proud of her drawing. The one thing I thought was very interesting about Grace is that she appeared to be uncomfortable listening to a read aloud. Her body language changed, she did not want to look at the book, and she grabbed my pencil and kept taking the eraser off over and over during the story. I could tell she was listening though, because she answered a question I asked her about the story. I decided to start paraphrasing the story because Grace seemed uncomfortable. I am interested to see how she reacts to the read alouds during our future visits. I am looking forward to administering the emergent literacy profile to Grace. It will be fun to see what she has to teach us!


* Named changed to protect privacy