PL reflection on EOY results

The 5 students who were chosen to be the Priority Learners for my Inquiry focus group on Maths have made significant improvement in their basic facts knowledge since Term 2. The results are as follows: Child A: Term 2 JAM to Term 4 JAM went from Early Year 2 to Late Yr 2, Child B: Term 2 JAM to Term 4 JAM went from Late Yr 1 to Late Yr 2, Child C: Term 2 JAM to Term 4 went from Late Yr 1 to Late Yr 2, Child D: Term 2 JAM to Term 4 JAM went from Late Yr 1 to Late Yr 2 and finally Child E: Term 2 JAM to Term 4 JAM went from Late Yr 1 to Late Yr 2. This means that 4/5 students progressed a year level in their maths learning since the beginning of this year. I am really proud of these children's achievments and their overall progress. They have gained confidence in maths and learnt new strategies to work out maths problems such as addition, subtraction, place value, equal sharing, fractions, skip counting and number knowledge. This was due to a combination of basic facts practice (having a solid foundation) and weekly practical activities using resources and working in pairs to learn about different maths topics in each term of the year.

Term 3 Inquiry - follow up

This term has been busy filled with filming for Film Festival, however I am teaching and learning Yr 2 level maths topics to try and fill in the gaps (based on JAM test results from Term 2). Topics covered over this 10 week term have been; identifying geometrical shapes, systematical counting, skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. The children have covered Place Value, Multiplication and Division, Equal Groups and Arrays, and Measurement. We have used resources and equipment along the way to seal concrete foundations and to cater for our kinaesthetic learners and those chosen Priority Learners as well. This has been a successful way to teach and learn maths skills using a hands on practical approach. The children really enjoyed measuring different objects using plastic rulers, looking closely at the numbers from 0-30 in centimetres. They also enjoyed comparing heights of who is the tallest and who is the shortest in our class!

Term 2 Inquiry - Interpret Data

Testing is underway in preparation for Term 2 reports. I have completed the Junior Assessment in Maths tests on each of my Priority Learners and gained some insight and new information on these children as a whole and as individuals. Out of the 5 children tested, 2 of them scored 4's for Add/Sub and Mult/Div sections of the JAM and they are both girls. This means that they are confidently finding answers to addition and subtraction equations by imaging and have learnt some strategies to use when solving problems. They are on track according to expected levels of learning in this curriculum area. The other three children scored 2-3's for Add/Sub and Mult/Div questions on the JAM. This means that they are still learning basic facts and how to add and subtract using materials. There are some other gaps which I recognise such as not being confident in skip counting in 2s or counting backwards in the correct sequence which will hinder their abililty with learning new skills for multiplication and division maths problems. I aim to focus on teaching these skills to them in a small group situation before the end of this term. For the two girls who are already confident with addition and subtraction, they will be extendend by learning 2's, 5s and 10 times tables before the end of the term and learn how to add on using place value of numbers. These two girls are at the expected level of learning in Maths for this stage of the year in comparison to their peers. However, they have a few gaps which I will focus on teaching them in a small group and give them some homework to practice (such as skip counting backwards in the correct sequence and knowing how to read 3 digit numbers).

Inquiry update for T3

Following my Inquiry plan schedule, I carried out individual JAM tests on 20 students in my class and was able to rate them according to my OTJ for their placement against National Standards.My results were as follows; there are 4 students in my class who are still at the Early Year 1 level, 3 at Late Yr 1, 7 at Early Year 2 and 4 at Early Year 3 level. So the majority of my students are just under the expected level and stage in Maths compared to their peers.

There are currently 8 children who are needing to shift from Stage 2-3 up to Stage 4 by the end of this year. I plan to implement more structured teaching lessons on Maths concepts for this term based on students learning Multiplication and Division, Equal Sharing and Arrays. I have now created 3 Maths groups based on different abilities. I am using a combination of DMiC, Number Knowledge, Group teaching and working in pairs to promote a shift in achievement. There will be a strong emphasis on language acquisition through use of materials and resources with hands on practical activities such as counters and pencil/paper. I aim to carry out GLOSS tests on those students who achieved Early Level 5 on their JAM tests.

SPS T2 Cluster- Create Workshop

Yesterday we were hosted by the wonderfully resourced Stonefields Primary School for our Manaiakalani PD workshops focusing on the Create part of the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy. I registered for Marie Hiddleston's workshop on using materials and iPads to create learning for Junior's. She started with a literacy topic on Autumn as her students had been read a poem. Then they talked about the leaves changing colour on the trees and went to collect some leaves to make doubles to ten. She then showed the children a stencil outline of a balck silohette tree and expalained in their picture they needed to include the grass, the sky and the branches of the tree. They began by using water colours and then used finger painting for the red and yellow leaves. The end result looked so creative! The next idea was to use a small hessian sheet as a background and paint onto it using kiwiana templates such as a koru, tiki, pohutakawa flower, native birds etc. I am considering using this for Matariki... The last ideas were to focus on mathematical language to create a city landscape using coloured A4 card, felt marker pens and stickers. I did not complete my one, but started it to use as an example. The teacher then leads a discussion around positional language such as which building is the tallest, shortest, highest? How many windows are there, can you count in 2's? How many buildings are there altogether? There was also weaving coloured paper for over and under concepts and creating a pattern such as found in harakeke or flax weaving. Thank you so much to Marie for sharing her knowldege and expertise. I will definitely be implementing these in the second part of term 2 as we have been focusing on Geometry in Maths.

Inquiry focus for 2021

I plan to lift the achievement in Maths as a Curriculum area with a focus on language acquisition. I will plan for the needs of 3 varied groups of mixed abilities including boys and girls. I aim to identify what strategies they need to learn and gaps that are identified after carrying out a JAM test on each indiviudal student. A significant number of children in my class (30%) have recently been tested on their cognitive skills from the LEAP research and came out with low knowledge in mathematical concepts such as positional language. For e.g. they can not order in sequence, identify first, second, third or even seriate from smallest to biggest. They need to practice using language to describe maths such as "the goat is at the top of the hill and the snake is at the bottom". These are areas which I will plan for in my weekly plans and long term plans to coincide with the National Curriculum content that is covered each term. Term 1's focus was on Number Knowledge/ Basic Facts, Term 2 is on Measurement and Geometry. I have also identified six children as Priority Learners who are going to be monitored closely and assessed according to their ability in time for the end of term reports. I aim to use a combination of DMiC (problem solving using a cultural lense and Number knowledge) to teach the children these strategies in addition, subtraction, mutliplication and skip counting. I aim to provide maths resources on a daily basis for children to find answers and learn strategies for specific learning intentions.

Maths PD

My reflection on Amplifying basic facts: I attended an online toolkit with Donna Yates to learn more about teaching basic facts to my Year 2 learners. I learnt that research has proved that a "rote learning approach" of basic facts and times tables on its own does not work effectively without the use of materials. Follow the teaching method of: Strategies - Practice - Memory. Practising strategies also helps a child to reinforce the learning and understand the concept through memorising what has been taught. Remember that "fast recall" - eg.4 seconds, should only come after the child has an understanding of the operation and uses some strategies for performing it.

Rainbow Maths lesson Wk 11