When you walk into a classroom, most times you can tell right away that THAT is a classroom that knows how to promote literacy! Word walls and reading corners! Bulletin boards and anchor charts! All of these things spill into the learning of students.
Do they do the same for numeracy? When you walk into a classroom, can you tell whether or not math is taught in that room just by looking at it? It's imperative that we promote numeracy as much as we promote literacy.
In chapter 2, Laney Sammons points out important pieces of the classroom environment that can be used to advocate for numeracy. Take a look at your:
classroom arrangement
home area
math workshop area
Organization/storage or materials
Do these areas encourage or hinder? Can the students easily turn and participate in accountable math talk (classroom arrangement)? Can the students easily access manipulatives and other materials to aid their understanding?
Teachers function most often inside our own four walls. It's easy to get bogged down with "what's always worked". Here is a way to stir things up and get some new ideas.
Your mission:
Before next Friday October 30th, visit another teacher's classroom and note how the room shows an environment of numeracy. Take notes or snap photos. If it's okay with that teacher, post the pictures to the blog! How can you incorporate some of these ideas into your own classroom?
Have fun!
Read for next week: Chapter 3 Using Math Warm-Ups in Guided Math
Read for next week: Chapter 3 Using Math Warm-Ups in Guided Math
