For me, one of the interesting aspects of our math class was thinking about math in the real world which we encounter every day. It seemed like it had been quite some time since I had truly thought about how much math and numerical concepts we encounter in our daily lives. But for my kindergarten students, the opposite is true. They are natural "connectors"; they want to make sense out of something by connecting it to something that they know. I saw this played out recently during a geometry unit. We had been talking about solid figures-- cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders. Of course the curriculum had provided some real-life examples, such as building blocks (cubes), a beach ball (sphere), etc. But what I found interesting is that the kids took this one step further. During snack one day, one little boy commented that his friend was eating a "sphere". I looked at what his friend was holding, and it was a small, round clementine. I smiled and asked if anyone else had a solid shape in their snack, and answers came pouring forth: "I have a cylinder!" exclaimed the girl with a cheese stick. "I have a cylinder, too, but it isn't all the way solid," observed a boy with a drinking straw. "Look at mine-- it's a rectangular prism!" remarked a precocious young girl who held up a granola bar. As the day went on, solid figures were identified all around us. "My crayon is a cylinder!" "And so is my marker!" "Your head is kind of like a sphere," observed one little boy, which made me laugh. I returned with another observation, "Yes, it is, and I am certainly glad that my 'sphere' is connected to my 'cylinder'," indicating my neck.
I do not think that I could have written a lesson plan which included that much integration of math throughout our day. But I didn't need to... the students led the way!
No comments:
Post a Comment