There's an epidemic spreading throughout our classrooms and it's deadly; a silent killer.
Do you care what that widespread outbreak is? It's the lack of manipulative use in the classroom.
The understanding of fraction concepts...I'm talking the conceptual awareness that is mandatory for students to be successful in computing fractions...is predicated on the concrete foundation of fraction manipulation. When students skip this constructive play time, when we (as teachers) fail to intentionally embed this hands-on time into their lesson plan, we set our students up for a weak, rule-based abstract understanding (or lack thereof) concerning fractions.
Here are a few videos to support a 4th and 5th grade TEKS, respectively:
As we continually grasp an understanding of the New Math TEKS, we notice that 5th grade embodies a lot of the standards previously taught in middle school/intermediate level.Within that sphere of knowledge, we (as Instructional professionals) have tried to own the concept of 'how do we teach an intermediate concept at an elementary level'?
I'd like to share many of my study tools with you and encourage you to dig a little deeper into uncovering the mysteries behind this question. One of my favorites (introduced to me by a mentor and friend) is Teaching Student Centered Math by John Van de Walle (3-5th). He is the guru (in my opinion) of breaking down math to its most concrete understandings and he offers various hands-on activities and formative type assessment ideas!
Another favorite study tool of mine is the Lead4ward Field Guide and the Region 13 Click on TEKS. Make sure your district and school have these documents...they are critical to our understanding of how the TEKS will be tested and more importantly they're the basis for ensuring the facilitation of solid Tier 1 instruction in the classroom.
Any-"who"...as we shift focus toward intervening and preparing to conduct STAAR review, a lot of reteaching is on the horizon and we've brought in some additional teachers from various grade levels to assist with this in our testing grades. So i've had to do some quick-teaches and minds have been blown. Teachers from lower grades are seeing how complex math has become at the upper elementary levels. But when mixed with concrete and representational strategies, these concepts aren't so abstract after all!
