The Consortium of Opportunities for Learners Second Year Mentor Project Department of Education Transition to Teaching Grant, 2004

Barbara Rodríguez and Concepción Guerrero Second Year Mentor Project Del Valle Independent School District, Popham Elementary Bilingual Kindergarten Math Department of Education Transition to Teaching Grant, 2004

Plan This project will entail teaching Chapter 11 of the Harcourt Brace Kindergarten Math Advantages textbook, “Exploring Addition”. Lesson 11.1: Problem solving: Act It Out Lesson 11.2: Modeling Addition Lesson 11.3: Picturing Addition These lessons will provide acting out problem solving everyday joining situations using manipulatives and pictures to solve joining problems.

Steps to be Taken Lessons to be taught: Lesson 1: Problem solving: Act It Out Lesson 2: Modeling Addition Lesson 3: Picturing Addition At the end of each lesson a formal assessment will be given. Once these lessons have been mastered a review will be conducted.

Objectives The process of joining two groups by the use of act it out problem-solving strategy to solve everyday joining situations. The use of manipulatives and pictures to solve joining problems. Math TEKS 4,13A 13B 13D Preparation for TAAS 6.1,11

Process As a class we will solve the problems by acting it out and then we will make a joining story using classroom props. For example: Choose a group of four children and give two of them a ball. Then present an everyday situation such as “Two children want to play ball. Two more children ask to play ball. How many children in all want to play?” 4 As a class we will solve the problems by using pictures to solve a story problem. For example: Three fish swam in the ocean. They met four more fish in the coral? How many fish were there all together? 7

Resources Needed A classroom object for each group (a ball, a book, etc.) Chart or plain paper Student journals Markers Crayons Pencils Connecting counting cubes of same color

Assessments Informal assessment: teacher observation of students using the act out and model joining situations and determining how many altogether. Drawing numbers sentences and their responses in math journals to represent the joining situation. Use a checklist to check off whether or not objective was or was not observed. Formal assessment: Chapter test which will allow to assess students individually for understanding.

Data Collected In explaining to students the act out process, the higher level students were able to understand easily what was being taught, they even enjoyed it. However, struggling students needed more practice acting out and practiced in a small group setting. The same with the process of drawing pictures to solve story problems, higher level students were able to draw and solve problems easily, while struggling students had more difficulty.

Expected Results As a class, students will be able to solve problems by acting out addition sentences and then make a joining story using classroom props or manipulatives. As a class, students will solve the problems by drawing simple pictures to solve a story problem given by teacher.

Results of Project Students enjoyed the act out process; once students were able to understand how to act out, it made it easier to be able to act out any addition sentence the teacher gave. The same with the process of drawing pictures to solve story problems, students were able to understand it easily just as long as they drew simple pictures like circles, hearts, sticks, etc.

Conclusion In conclusion to this lesson, students understood and enjoyed themselves with the process to act out addition sentences. They learned that they could use props, manipulatives or themselves to solve simple addition sentences. Also drawing pictures made it simpler for them to figure out how to solve any addition sentence they may come across.

Teacher Reflection/Picture Teaching addition to my class was very entertaining and challenging because of the levels of ability of my students. With my higher students,which are 10 of 23 students, addition was a review because they already understood addition upon entering kindergarten. However, with the lower students the act out and modeling lessons allowed them to be able to visualize and understand the concept of joining objects together more easily. Drawing pictures in their journals allowed them to be able to go back and review anytime and have a clearer understanding of how joining objects together worked. A consideration for next time may be to use higher level students as models or teachers to help out with group situations and allow these students to be involved in teaching the lesson.