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I'd be doing the physical math activity with them all as the whole group teaching in the first place. I think that there aren't too many kids who can't benefit from that sort of thing, whether they can pay attention to other approaches or not. I'm teaching K, where pretty much everything involves physical participation in some way. That's my status quo, not an alternative. There is no ramming down of throats being done, period.
And then, if those 20% need a little extra (and there will be some, no matter how exciting the presentation of the topic was), sure... then I pull them in a small group and work with them and try to target exactly what they're missing.
And then, next week, you can be sure we're going to touch on what we do today again in some way! Oh, that spiraling!
They should be teaching technical skills like calculator, excel, and plugging in formulas at that age. Forget doing hands-on traditional math. Nobody even does math problems like that any more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2redheads
I am not sure how different it is but I know it is different because my son that is in Kindergarten is getting math papers this year that my son in 1st grade wasn't getting last year....seems like much, I am thankful my son loves math and is good at it but the teacher says a lot of kids are having problems. Poor kids are going to get burnt out before they reach 2nd grade!
They should be teaching technical skills like calculator, excel, and plugging in formulas at that age. Forget doing hands-on traditional math. Nobody even does math problems like that any more.
The problem with this thinking is the fact that by doing so, it exercises a part of the brain that will be used for other important reasoning tasks and mulitasking later in life.
While knowing how to do the techincal skills is important, there is nothing like standing in a fabric store and having a woman stuggle with figuring out what 40% off of $8.00 is. I think in my head (hmmm...40 cents for every dollar..4 times 8 is 32, $8 minus $3.20 is....$4.80) and I had to wait 5 minutes while she tracked down a calculator. Another associate had come along and told her but she didn't believe them. I also worked once with a woman would couldn't figure off 20% of a $200 item. One of my first real jobs way back when I was a kid, I recall the registers going down and doing addition by pen and paper. Three others were working with me and they were trying to share a calculator. Finally, one kept the calculator while the others called out their totals so I could calculate their sales tax for them, all while not lifting my head as I assisted my line. That was not the first time or place that has happened.
Now that I run a business and homeschool, the in the head stuff sure comes handy. Its much faster for me than using a calculator. In fact, it was much harder when I got my first bank account because I had to write it all down. I did a much better job figuring and estimating in my head. Today, that is all I do with a bank card.
Or you could whip out a calculator or guesstimate that 40% is less than half off and the outcome could be around $5.00.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flik_becky
The problem with this thinking is the fact that by doing so, it exercises a part of the brain that will be used for other important reasoning tasks and mulitasking later in life.
While knowing how to do the techincal skills is important, there is nothing like standing in a fabric store and having a woman stuggle with figuring out what 40% off of $8.00 is. I think in my head (hmmm...40 cents for every dollar..4 times 8 is 32, $8 minus $3.20 is....$4.80) and I had to wait 5 minutes while she tracked down a calculator. Another associate had come along and told her but she didn't believe them. I also worked once with a woman would couldn't figure off 20% of a $200 item. One of my first real jobs way back when I was a kid, I recall the registers going down and doing addition by pen and paper. Three others were working with me and they were trying to share a calculator. Finally, one kept the calculator while the others called out their totals so I could calculate their sales tax for them, all while not lifting my head as I assisted my line. That was not the first time or place that has happened.
Now that I run a business and homeschool, the in the head stuff sure comes handy. Its much faster for me than using a calculator. In fact, it was much harder when I got my first bank account because I had to write it all down. I did a much better job figuring and estimating in my head. Today, that is all I do with a bank card.
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