Math Programs:
The math program that Colonial School District uses for Kindergarten instruction is Terc Math Investigations. In this math program much of instruction is focused on hands-on learning. If you were to come into the classroom during math time children would be playing math games, exploring with math tools, and would be practicing skills taught during group instruction. The key to this math program is providing children with the skills needed to learn a specific skill and demonstrating how to use these skills several times. Then children are given the time to explore and really try to use these skills. As children are exploring teachers walk around and help individuals grasp and extend concepts. The Units are taught in the following order:
Unit 1: Who is in School Today?: Classroom Routines and Materials
The main focus of this unit is to develop a mathematical community. That is why this unit introduces the processes, structures, and materials that are going to be important features of math class this year. It also introduces routines that are common throughout the kindergarten classroom. By allowing children to explore the materials they will be using this year they are able to develop language to describe attributes, such as color, size, shape; quantity; and position.
Unit 2:Counting and Comparing: Measurement and the Number System 1
This unit helps to develop ideas about counting, comparision, linear measurement, the composition of numbers, and the operations of addition and subtraction. The main focus of this unit is to provide students with meaningful opportunities to develop their sense of numbers and quantities, to count and compare amounts, and to measure objects by comparing them directly.
Unit 3: Who Comes Next?: Patterns and Functions
This unit is the only unit that focuses on patterns. The lessons in this unit help develop ideas about paterns, sequences, and functions. A main focus in this unit is on describing, extending, constructing, and recording repeating patterns; determining what comes next in a given pattern.
Unit 4: Measuring and Counting: Measurement and the number System 2
This unit develops ideas about counting and quantity, comparison, measurement, operations of addition and subtraction, and the composition of numbers. The mathematical focus of this unit is on different units to measure length, counting sets of objects, and finding a total amount after something is added to it or taken away. Student start to make sense of operations of addition and subtraction as they act out stories and play games that involve combining or seperating small amounts.
Unit 5: Make a Shape, Build a Book: 2-D and 3-D Geometry
This unit delves into shapes. We go over what a shape is and we start instruction off with 2-Dimensional shapes. Children learn to identify these shapes by name, how many corners, and how many sides. We also explore shapes in a different way: by looking for them in our world! For instance what shapes is a house made of? A square for a base and a triangle for a roof. To aid this portion of instruction children practice making things they have seen out of ovals, squares, circles, rectangles, rhombuses’/diamonds, and triangles. Then we move instruction to 3-Dimensional shapes, not so much focusing on their names but on their characteristics.
Unit 6: How Many Do You Have?: Addition, Subtraction, and the Number System
This unit really focuses on addition and subtraction. It provides children with the basics previously touched on in Unit 4. Then it extends the concept of adding or subtracting 1. In this unit children will practice using addition notation (addition sentences) such as 4 + 3 = 7. They will also work on using subtraction notation (subtraction sentences) 5 – 4 = 1. This can be a hard concept for children to grasp and we spend a lot of time re-teaching, reviewing, and exploring.
Unit 7: Sorting and Surveys: Data Analysis
All information on this page on the math curriculum was taken directly from the Math investigations program.
For some additional practice visit my Portaportal for some internet links!
