Each week I am impressed by the visible amount of growth in the students. This week Markaye and I continued to strengthen and assess number recognition with the majority of our students. We have chosen to implement the Randomize-er Game every time we work with the students so that we have a constant factor in our activities. This way we can use the Randomize-er Game to assess their progress. By using this game, we hope that students will not only be able to recognize their numbers, but also be able to apply this pattern to counting in the teens.
Using the Randomize-er Game, we saw substantial growth in the three students we have been working with on number recognition. One of the students, after playing the Randomize-er Game and participating in the other activities we had planned for that day was able to count up to 50 with some help from us. Only the week before had she been able to count up to 30 and prior to that she had struggled with 27 and 28. This was a huge success for this student. However, we have discovered that this student in particular has a certain inconsistency to her skill set. Some days we do not know what to expect. This being said, she was able to count to 30 without help once again, but struggled with what came after 30 (she kept on saying 40 or 41). I find this very interesting since this does not follow any particular pattern (except for counting by 10s-10,20,30,40). Our hope is that with some more work and practice with counting orally, the student will be able to count to 50 all by herself. In addition to this achievement, this student has been consistently playing the number game with my partner and me. When the Randomize-er Game is played we usually include a number line at the top of the paper to help the students along (to figure out what number they are circling by counting the numbers in the number line). This student was able to do the game without the presence of the number line on Friday of this week! Not too long ago, she would constantly have problems with 7, 8, and 9 and relied heavily on the number line to help verify the number she was circling. My partner and I were both very proud of this achievement! 
In addition to this student, we also had another student making progress in his number recognition. Because this student is one of our easily distracted students, we have broken up each session with different activities that revolve around number sense, but give the student a break from the regular routine. Thus far, adding more (small) activities has proved beneficial for this student and kept him more on task than he usually is throughout the session (there were even other kids around and he was focused!). One of the games we played with the students was a matching game. This matching game had number symbols that the students had to match with the correct number of objects (block pile) in front of them. Without any help or prompting this student correctly matched all the block piles to the correct number symbol and put the numbers in order (like the number line)-this last task was not asked of the student, but was done on his own accord! I could not help but smile during this session. The particular student I am speaking of has struggled in both number recognition and counting the teens, so it was exciting to see this progress unfold right before my eyes.
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Posted on February 3rd, 2013 by amandakriegl10
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This week was full of exciting growth for the students. Every student I work with is now able to count to 100 by ten and most can count to 100 by five! I am blown away to see how fast they absorb and learn. This week we focused on the same skill set as last: 11-20 ten frames and number recognition, shape recognition, problem solving, comparing, and subtraction. The students liked working through subtraction problems with iPad games like “Math Bingo” and “Math Puppy”. I personally prefer using Math Bingo because there are fewer extra distractions to the game and it keeps the students focused on their subtraction skills. I was excited to work on the 11-20 ten frames because my partner and I see a connection between making ten frames and our dice patterns. Only a couple of my students are able to recognize that a full ten frame represents ten (and they told me so without being prompted!), while most are still counting all of the dots. I am hopeful that after going over this skill a few more times they become more comfortable with making that connection. We are also continuing to collect data on our research question. My partner and I are trying to focus on how students see numbers. We have the students roll one or two dice (depending on their math skills and comfort level) and count the number of dots. They have the option of drawing the dots or counting out the number with a manipulative. I then prompt the students to arrange the tiles or draw the dots in the way that they view them. The students then at that point will begin talking themselves through it or including me in the thought process. One of my students was able to recognize that you could “flip” the numbers it would be the same. When I asked what she meant she said: “See, right now it’s like 4+2 but if I do this, its 2+4 but it still equals 6!” It is pretty exciting to see the students make these connections and I look forward to what comes up next week!
Posted on February 2nd, 2013 by abbeywilson10
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My partner and I have begun our research on when technology should be used as a supplement for Kindergarteners. We have begun pulling students aside to assess their success with the skill of balancing numbers on an iPad application and with a balancing scale that has a bucket on each side. Each student was able to successfully complete the physical lesson with manipulatives while the iPad proved to be difficult for a few students, which was our assumption in the beginning. As we have been working with our students, some have become frustrated or distracted using the iPad. We believe iPads may be too abstract for some of the students to work with. If a student has yet to master a skill, iPads and other technological supplements may impair them from gaining a proper understanding. It seems that once the students have mastered a skill, they can effectively practice their math with an iPad.
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Posted on February 1st, 2013 by stephanielorr10
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This week, the students made substantial progress. All of the students I work with can count to 100 by tens! Many of them can count to 100 with limited assistance, if any. It’s amazing to see the growth in such a short time period. This week, we worked on similiar skills seen in the sessions last week. The students worked on identifying shapes by drawing and defining the proper name of various solid and two-dimensional shapes. We also worked on solving subtraction problems. The students love the application entitled “Math Puppy”. They love solving the problems correctly to get a puppy on the board! We also worked on ten frames. Most of the students I work with can recognize that a full ten frame represents ten objects. However, some still need to count to be reassured. I’m hoping after a few more lessons with the ten frames, the remainder of the students can recognize that a full ten frame represents ten objects. We also worked on my research question. My partner and I are interested to see how kindergarten students view numbers. The students roll two dice and either draw the number of circles or select the appropriate number of colored tiles that matches the number on the dice. The students then inform me of how they see the number. One student today included subtraction within his ways of seeing a given number! The students also really enjoy this activity. I am interested to see if students who are struggling with seeing various ways a number can be created also struggle recognizing patterns. I have not collected enough data with this category yet to have a conclusive answer. We will just have to wait and see what next week has in store!
Posted on February 1st, 2013 by AmyKnourek10
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Because of the success we had with the Randomize-er game last week with one of our students, Markaye and I decided that we would use this method to assess all of our students on their number recognition. Working with each child on a one-to-one basis, we had the children counting orally as high as they could. We have developed a pattern with the children that every time we work with them we will start off by counting as high as they can from rote memorization. This helps to reinforce their counting and reminds them that this is a consistent activity, which means that they will have to either practice at home or continue practicing with us in order to move past their trouble spots. After this, we implemented the Randomize-er Game with the students.
Through using the randomize-er game (the same game I used and explained last week), we discovered that a handful of our students could easily recognize their numbers and by taking it a step further, they were also able to write most of the numbers (1-20) out. We also realized that a majority of the children we work with have grasped the concept of number recognition with the exception of only 3 students.
These particular students struggle with recognizing numbers 1-10 and consistently confuse 6, 8, and 9. What was interesting about this discovery was realizing that these three students were also the students that have a difficult time counting very high based on rote memorization. Number recognition and rote memorization (counting orally) seem like they have a link in the way the students perform based on their particular skill set.
Once the game was implemented, these three students showed significant progress! Despite our efforts to work through these difficulties previously through counting objects, using the Count Sort App on Counting, using the Okta’s Rescue App, and repetition through counting orally, we were never able to make such a significant breakthrough with these students until now!
One student was able to count up to 30, even though she had had problems with 27,28, and 29 by reverting back to 21 instead. Another student has begun to recognize the difference between 6, 8, and 9. Finally, our third student in the bunch was able to work on 1-5, which he was able to do nearly all five on his own with reservations on recognizing 4.
The randomize-er game has proved to be a very useful tool when helping students to grasp and recognize their number symbols. I am currently talking to Randy in hopes to make this game into an App game that students will be able to use and practice on their own. Hopefully other students will be able to benefit from the Randomize-er Game too, just like our kids have!
Posted on January 29th, 2013 by amandakriegl10
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This week, the students have made such improvements! One of my students who had difficulties counting above thirty was able to count to sixty-four! I also had one student able to count by tens! I have been working on rote counting and counting by tens every week, so it is exciting to see some students who were really struggling with these number sense skills make improvements! This week, we worked on subtraction where the difference is unknown. I used an application entitled “Math Puppy” for this skill. The students really enjoyed it because when they answered a question correctly, a puppy appeared on the screen. Various problems appeared on the screen and the students were instructed to choose the correct answer from an arrangement of numbers on a board. The goal is for the students to make a bingo with the correct solutions. In order to solve the subtraction problems, I worked with the white boards. The students drew circles to represent the minuend. After this, the students matched the number of circles that represent the subtrahead to the minuend. The number of circles that did not have a match provided the students with the answer to the subtraction problem. By Thursday, the students had gotten much quicker and accurate. We also worked with teen numbers this week. We worked on writing and recognizing the numerals eleven through twenty as well as recognizing the numbers in a ten frame. By Thursday, two of my students could write the numerals on their own! With the knowledge from last week associated with the ten frame, the students were able to solve many of the teen numbers without counting the circles within the ten frames. A few students are still struggling with recognizing one ten as a single unit, but we will keep practicing!
Posted on January 28th, 2013 by AmyKnourek10
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I apologize for my entry from last week. I thought my entry submitted, but I see it has not! I will complete two separate entries tonight. Last week, I worked with the students on the concept of “one more than” and “one less than”. I discovered that many of the students I was working with were able to add one more to a given number without the use of visual aids or manipulatives. When it come to “one less than”, many students had a difficult time comprehending what “one less than” actually meant without the use of manipulatives. The improved progress with the skill “one less than” can be seen within the two day span. All of the students I worked with were able to recognize what “one less than” was without an explanation. Some still needed a visual to guide their individual thought processes, but were able to complete the task. The students also worked on ten frames. I recognized that many students needed to count the number of circles within a ten frame, even if it was full. I began asking the students how many circles are in a full ten frame as well as one row of a ten frame. All of the students were able to answer this question. Simply verbally addressing a major component of the ten frame allowed the students to solve the problems much faster. I even have two students who have moved on to working with ten frames within the twenties! The progress associated with number sense development is clearly visible!
Posted on January 28th, 2013 by AmyKnourek10
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This week we focused on number recognition with our students. We knew that four of our students had no problems recognizing the numbers 1-10, and were successful at much larger numbers as well. We also knew that these students were capable of writing the numbers 0-10 on their own with very little difficulty, and could successfully write the numbers 11-20 with only a few reversals. So, we decided to see what the rest of our students knew with regards to number recognition.
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Posted on January 28th, 2013 by markayesemmens10
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After two weeks of research, Courtney and I have continued to stick with our question about students’ knowledge about “more, less, and the same.” I continued with the activity I did before where I had the flash card sets for the students to make pairs of the number symbol and the equivalent amount of dots. However, when prompting the students this time, I asked the question “Do these mean more, less, or the same?” This is different because before I only prompted “More or less?” When giving the students the option to pick “the same” as an answer, the same students that chose the number symbol as more before, said they mean the same. Therefore this proves that children so understand the concept of equality in terms of number symbol and the dots. From here, I know that it is still an interesting concept that the students could not say that the two quantities mean “the same” unless they were given the option that they could say the same as an answer. This is something I want to keep exploring in different contexts.
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Posted on January 27th, 2013 by morganolsen11
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Tuesday during number sense Morgan and I worked one on one with students improving their skills in number sense. We wanted the students to improve on number recognition and putting numbers in order without having to count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… every time to find what the next is in the sequence. I used the app, Line ‘Em Up, and changed the setting so that rather than one tile showing up after the numbers were given a bunch of tiles were given at the bottom of the screen. Students had to decide which number would be next in the sequence and identify that number amongst other numbers.
When I was working with a student I started the number line at a number they were familiar with and use only ten tiles at first. After we did the number line once I challenged the students with larger number and increased the number line from 10 tiles to 15 tiles. Two of the students I worked with are still working on recognizing numbers 1-20. One of these students was able to put the numbers 1-10 in line (he did mix up the 6 and 9) but when I changed the number line 11-20 he did not recognize any of the numbers. I asked the student, “What number comes after 11?” I knew that this student was able to count to 16 so I expected him to know the answer. The student began counting from 1 until he could say …10, 11, 12; the answer is 12. The student did the same thing when we got to other numbers in the number line. This shows that the student still needs to work on counting on. This is a trend that I see in a lot of students. They will start counting at 1 if they do not know what comes next. The students will do the same thing when working with the domino patterns. If they know the pattern with 4 dots and then I show them a pattern with 5 dots the students do not count 4 dots, 5. They count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to get the answer needed.
Another thing that came up on Tuesday was the concept, “what number comes before and what number comes after?” At one time a student was given the number 8 with 7 and 9 missing (he needed to fill these numbers in). I asked the student, “what number comes before 8?” The student responded, “9”. I asked the student what number comes after 9 and they said 10. This was interesting to me, because they did not understand the distinction between before and after, but always knew the answer for after. I continued asking the same question to the rest of the students I worked with that day. All the students responded with the number that came after and never correctly told me the number that came before. I worked with each student to explain the concept of before and after then introduced the concept of a middle number. I would like to incorporate a number activity or begin using the app this coming week to review the before, after, middle concept to see if students can identify what numbers come before a specific number and what numbers come after.
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Posted on January 27th, 2013 by courtneybielis09
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