In this section of the portfolio I have attached multiple artifacts or lesson plans that met the three goals of this section. I have had the opportunity to work with young students and develop different actvities and lesson that showed my understand for each of the goals. The lesson plan, book share and math activity that I created are all attached with a brief reflection which explains what the artifact is, what grade level it is appropriate for and why it meets its corresponding goal. 

I have developed a strong understanding of what mathematical topics and ideas need to be covered in the elementary school curriculum.

Throughout this entire semester we learned about the different mathematical topics and ideas that are covered in the elementary school curriculum. We discussed the different methods and activities that we could create to help students understand the concept better. We also learned how to create lessons for different age levels in order to meet the standards and be at the appropriate difficulty level for students at the age. We developed and understanding what concepts needed to be taught and how to effectively teach the students these mathematical topics and ideas.

I created a lesson plan that teaches first graders about place value and the base ten concept. To start the lesson, the teacher will read the story Sir Cumference and all the kings tens written by Cindy Neuschwander. After reading the story to the students and following up with discussions, the students will understand the basic concept of using the base ten blocks and why they are helpful. Students will then play the game " I have. Who has?", which is an interactive and educational game. Students will then create their own game with their classmates. Students will have to draw their own pictures on every card to show their understanding of grouping and place value in every day life. 

Neuschwander, C. (2009). Sir cumference and all the king's tens : a math adventure. Charlesbridge, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing.

I have developed the skills to construct interesting, hands-on, investigative mathematics activities which support the NYS and NCTM Standards, address important topics in the elementary school mathematics curriculum, and help children develop conceptual understandings of mathematics.

During the semester I created a book share using the book The Sundae scoop, which was presented to the class. I started my book share with an interactive activity for the students to participate before we read the story. The students were given different pictures of ice cream and different toppings. The students were instructed to create as many different Sundays as they possibly could using the different toppings and ice cream. After the students had time to complete the activity they were given time to share how many different Sundays their group made. Once the students understood the concept the book was read aloud to them.

While creating this book share I developed an understanding of the different ways to involve students in hands-on activities to help them understand different math concepts. By using different manipulative I was able to involve the students and offer them a conceptual understanding. 

Murphy, S. J., & Jabar, C. (2003). The sundae scoop. New York: HarperCollins.

I have developed a deep appreciation of the various ways children think mathematically as well as the skills to analyze and build upon children's developing mathematical understandings.

I was given many opportunities to work with elementary teachers and students throughout this semester and have learned many different ways to help children think mathematically. Our class was invited to participate in a math night at an elementary school in the area. My partner and I created an interactive game for data collecting. We created this game for third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Third and fourth graders learn different material that fifth and sixth graders. We developed two different games focusing on data collecting.

Our game that we created was called “Jumping Jack Math” which first had the students partnering up with a classmate. One partner would then need to jump for a significant amount of time and then the students would record the data. The students would then switch roles. Once all of the partners participated in the activity multiple times, the students would then record their classmates’ time and create a bar graph. The third and fourth graders would have small increments of time and would make a simple bar graph. The fifth and sixth graders would participate in the same game but would record time for longer increments of time. With the longer amount of time the graphs were more difficult to make which was appropriate for the fifth and sixth graders. While creating this game I gained a greater understanding of students mathematical abilities.