Math at Miquon Might Look like Fun and Games….

But a closer look shows how kids can uncover their individual way of learning.  In recent newsletters to families, co-teachers Eléonore and Reem talk about incorporating group activities to nurture learning in our 1st and 2nd grade students.

This week in 1st grade, we imagined and solved a number of story problems involving adding two quantities together. Some of us enjoyed acting out the stories to visualize what was happening. Others used math manipulatives to represent the numerical operations. We practiced different ways we can represent our thinking on paper and are beginning to move into our work with subtraction.

In 2nd grade math, the focus has been on developing strategies for addition and subtraction strings (adding and subtracting three or more numbers). Some strategies our 2nd graders have come up with so far are finger counting beginning with the highest number, starting with a fact you know, and finding a friendly number. 

We also had a joint math games session. We loved watching our 1st and 2nd graders teach each other their favorite math games and explain the strategies they use to play. Rachel Elin-Saintine, our Director of Teaching and Learning, joined us to introduce Marcy Cook math tiles. The tiles (pictured below) are an activity that 1st and 2nd graders can engage in largely independently. Each tile is a puzzle; the digits 0-9 are arranged on the tile to solve the puzzle. Because the digits can easily be removed and rearranged, the Marcy Cook tiles are a fabulous way for mathematicians to grow their comfort and confidence with “messing up” and trying something new.

Games are incorporated into our Investigations curriculum weekly, but having a math time dedicated just for them allows our mathematicians to explore, build confidence, work out problems independently, and develop new skills in a fun, low-pressure environment.