Archeological Dig/Geometric Shapes

Strand A- Overview Jill Schmidt

Overview:

A. This unit is designed to reinforce the concepts that my kindergarten students have been learning from August 2011 to the present. After developing a prior knowledge of the numbers one through ten, establishing that they are have mastery or were at least familiar with colors, and had knowledge of shapes, the students were introduced to the concept of Archeology, through video, internet sites and literature. The final project was a trip outside to dig in our “Archeological Dig Sight”.

Demographics of the class:

 Kindergarten  14 students  1 student with a functioning Individualized Education Plan in place  1 student English as a second language learner

B. Data: The data that was gathered is teacher instructed, student driven -in all by one case completed work. C. Range: I used Dibbles scores, I Station scores and teacher observation and teacher assessment to determine the range of levels of the students in my classroom. From the above data I made my choices for my high level student, my medium level student and my low level student. The low level student, as stated above has an Individual Education Plan, he has a learning disability, however he is at such a young age we have been unable to ascertain what his disability is. In addition to his learning disability, he lives in a household that speaks English and Spanish.

D. Standards and Benchmarks

Kindergarten students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the math curriculum with the ability to count and recognize numbers, to know quantity, to know geometric shapes, to know colors and to know and recognize the letters of the alphabet. The content strand is Algebra. K-8 Benchmark: Understand patterns, relations, and functions. 1. Identify the attributes of objects. 2. Sort, classify, and order objects by size, number, and other properties. Instructional Record

Harcourt Math teachers’ edition and the student workbook are the main text that was used in the classroom. The Internet site that is listed below was used for its interactive venn diagram, which supported students in grouping shapes by shape, color and quantity.

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/ShapeSort er/

Analysis of Student Work:

This is a very willing class. The students are five and six years old, and demonstrate on a daily basis that they want to learn new concepts and are completely capable of retaining the information. I do however see that my identified student and one other male student are struggling with the concepts that are being presented. For my identified student, we have recently held an IEP meeting. At the meeting we discussed using manipulatives with him, as he seems to be picking up on certain concepts that are presented with a visual. The middle student a female student tries very hard to comprehend what is being taught. She is little in comparison to her peers, and has separation anxiety from her parents. Her separation anxiety has progressively improved as we move further into the school year. Although there are days that she still demonstrates her immaturity level. She has to be reminded to physically look at what is being presented. When given the test that is documented above, she did have a positive outcome, when given oral directions and being reminded to stay focused. The high level is a female student that “picks up” concepts with very little additional instruction. She has very good listening skills, is able to focus and retain what is presented to her and is able to peer tutor the students around her that need extra assistance.

B. When the students were presented with manipulatives, a couple of issues arose. Students of this age see math manilupatives as something to play with. We had to have class discussions about what the objects were, and how they were to be used appropriately, with oral reminders on a regular basis in the beginning of this assignment. As time went on the students developed a much better understanding of how to use the manipulatives as tools for learning not toys. This was especially evident with the students that are functioning at a higher level. In my opinion the maturity level of the male student that has an Individual Education Plan, the male student that struggles to keep focus and the male student that is an English as a Second Language Learner is a maturity issue as well as having obstacles’ to their learning.

 C. The lowest achieving student completed his task only with one on one assistance. As I mentioned above this student does have an Individualized Education Plan, he is identified as a “D” level student. In addition to the one on one teaching time that he receives in my classroom, he receives one on one teaching time with a Special Education Educator for 1.5 hours a day. He also receives one hour a week physical therapy and one hour a week occupational therapy.  The middle student completed her project, she met the requirements of recognizing her shapes, recognizing the colors, knowing the quantities and being able to tell “how many.” She was also able to sort her shapes by color and shape into a venn diagram. She was even able to help her partner when her partner needed extra assistance.  The highest level student demonstrated the knowledge of knowing her colors and shapes, being able to sort them into a venn diagram and navigating a grid system that utilized the alphabet on the short side of the Archeological dig box, and numbers one through seven on the long side of the box. She had no trouble negotiating her assigned square, finding and documenting her shapes with her partner. Application:

This is my first year teaching kindergarten. Having said that I am amazed at what these five and six year old children are learning at this grade level! In this course, MSET 542, I have realized that we need to continue to look at the curriculum that we teach. We need to make sure that our curriculum is cyclical, and progressive. We need to make sure that we are continually adjusting our idea of curriculum to adjust to the needs of our students. In my opinion we need to continually observe our students, analyzing their needs both at school and out of school. As educators we need to view our students to determine how they learn, not how we teach to them. In my opinion, if a student is not progressing in the curriculum, it is how the teacher teaches, not how the student learns or does not learn. These are the reasons that I designed the “Archeology Dig” with so many different aspects to it, if a student was struggling with a concept that was delivered in one way, the student was able to work with technology or “hands on.” Educators need to find the “hook” for their students.