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OBERVATION OF A MATH CLASS

Now that I have observed an elementary math class, I have a better understanding of how math class goes in the United States. As a foreign student, I have always wondered about the teaching method and the different strategies of learning math in the United States. I have observed a third grade class in P.S 150 in Queens, NY. I not only had a great time but also was amazed to see the classroom setting and the different kinds of manipulative that students are allowed to use. The teacher of the class was Ms. Debby. The class I have attended was a summer class, so there were only eleven students. The students were taught two hours of math everyday. That makes it ten hours of math a week and forty hours of math a month. The book that the teacher was following was Updated edition of Summer Success Math by Patsy F Kanter, Kathi Hudson, and Shara S Hammet.

When I entered the classroom, the first thing that came into my mind is it was a well-organized classroom. The class was decorated with signs and symbols pertaining to education. One particular decoration I noticed was the number line placed above the blackboard. The teacher explained to me that the number line helps students to solve various math problems. On the corner of the room there was an ATTENDANCE CHART dictating the amount of students present at the current time. The teacher explained that this helps the students in their adding and subtracting areas. Shapes were also on the wall so they can become familiar with the different shape representations. I noticed that in the back of the classroom, there was a huge shelf containing many books organized in different levels like magazines, realistic fiction, non-fiction, kids discover, national geographic world and so on. Throughout the class, there were some hanging instructions of how to take good notes, how to be good listener, and what rules to follow during the exam. I also noticed that in a specific area of the classroom, there was a shelf containing different kinds of manipulative. Each student possessed their own kit to help them better understand and improve on their math skills. The different types of manipulative are Pattern blocks, dollars and coins, time chart, measuring cups and spoons, measure scale, everyday math decks, 3-D shapes, flats, longs, cubes, and dolls. There were some interesting charts hanging in the wall. Some of those are following:

Math word wall

Digit / Any one of these ten symbols.
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.
Order / To place number in a specific sequence. Ex: least – greatest or Greatest – least.
Compare / To notice how number are similar or different to each other
> Greater than, < less than, = equal.
Thousand / Hundred / Tens / Ones / Total
3 / 4 / 5 / 0 / 3,450
3 / 4 / 0 / 340
3 / 0 / 30
0 / 0

Charts of contraction:

Do not / don’t
Does not / doesn’t
Will not / won’t
Cannot / can’t
Could not / Couldn’t
Would not / wouldn’t
Should not / Shouldn’t

Word Work:

Ile / ight / Ite
Crocodile / Night / Kite
Smile / Bright / Bite
Bile / Fight / Write
Pile / Tight / Quite

On one side of the wall, there were all the math lessons with answers that students were taught during the summer class. The class was also decorated with live plants. I think no one will ever get bored in such a well-organized classroom.

The seats of the students were well organized and the different shapes of the seats (hexagon, square, and round) gave the class a variety. At the left corner of the blackboard, the flow of the day was written in colorful papers. In the middle of the blackboard, what lesson they were going to learn that day was written in the following way:

Flow of the day:

8:00 – 8:30 Breakfast

8:30 – 9:00 Morning Routine (Read allowed shared reading)

9:00 – 10:30 Kaplan

10:30 – 11:30 Math summer success

11:30 – 12:30 Math Intervention

12:30 – 1:00 Student lunch/ Dismissal

The day I attended was the day of exploration, which is a day of review in what they learned in the past weeks. They covered specific topics, which were; Odd and Even numbers, problem solving, pattern and algebra, operation, geometry, measurement, and data.

The day I attended in P.S 150, the math class were covering lesson 14. Even before the teacher asked the question (is the number 14 add or even), one of the students said eagerly that 14 is an even number. The students seemed enthusiastic when it comes to answer the questions. The next question that the teacher asked was number 14 is closer to 10 or 20. The strategy that the students used to answer the question was they looked at the number line above the board. Some students used their hand and counted the numbers. Some students used colored cubes as manipulative to get their answer. The next question was what is the half of the number 14? Students who were good with times table divided 14 by 2 and get the answer 7. Student who had trouble-memorizing time’s table used the manipulative to get the answer.

For the operation segment (adding and subtracting), the question was students have 14 candies, how many more they need to have 50 candies. Students used three strategies to come up with the answer. They counted from 14 to reach 50, saw the number line and got the answer 36. To check their answer they take away 36 from 50 and got 14.

For the geometry segment, the teacher asks how many sides the rectangle has. She asked volunteers to come up and show their answer. Three students went up and wrote rectangle has four sides, four angles, and four vertices (the outside corner).

For the problem-solving segment, the teacher asked how the square and rectangle are the same, how are they different? The students answered both of these have four sides, four angles, and four vertices. That is how they are same. Rectangle doesn’t have four equal sides, square has four equal sides. Rectangle has larger sides than square. That is how they are different.

For the pattern and algebra segment, the teacher asked what a perimeter is. One student answered that it is not an area. Another student said if we add up all the sides of a rectangle we will get the perimeter. Another student said perimeter is the distance around the figure. The answer to the question of why do we need a perimeter, the students came up with brilliant ideas which blew my mind. One of the answers was if I need to make up a tablecloth and I want to put lace around the cloth, I have to measure the perimeter.

For the counting money segment, the teacher gave the group plastic coins in a container and they were directed to dig out coins using a spoon and count with a partner to see who came out with a higher amount.

For the measurement segment, every student was given a small clock. They had to fix it according to the room’s clock’s present time that was 11:30. Then the teacher asked what time it was 14 minutes ago? The students subtracted 14 from 11:30 and they got the answer 11:16.

For the data-reading segment, the teacher showed a data, which shows the number of brothers and sisters the class has together. The student had to understand the graph and answer the questions (what is the total number of brothers, what is the total number of sisters in the class, and what is the total number of brothers and sisters in all?)

For the symmetry segment, students had to fold their papers and chose pattern blocks. The third step was they had to draw the shapes of the pattern blocks in both sides (it is like a mirror image, what they had in one side had to be the same in the other side). Before starting this activity the teacher explained when something is divided in half equal is called symmetry.

In general, the students’ reaction to Ms. Debby’s method of teaching was cooperative. The students were able to come up with many ways of problem solving. After the students completed each segment, they discussed and shared what they learned. Homework was not assigned that day. The review was enough for the students to understand completely any questions that the teacher asked relating to the topics they reviewed.

As an observer, I felt that the teacher had full control over the students and I was astonished to see the students were as eager as the teacher was in their work. I believed that her method of teaching was completely accurate. I now have a batter understanding of communicating with the students. I feel I don’t need to put any suggestions on improvements because I learned more from it than I need to criticize. Only thing I need to comment on, as an adult it is hard for me to concentrate in two or three hours of classes without a break. I noticed at one point students were tired and wanted to go home. I felt if they were given a break between two hours of math class, they would have been as enthusiastic as they were at the first hour of the math class.