Alexis Nagley 4/15/13 ELD 375 Dr. Bulgar Field Report 3 In Mrs.

Millers kindergarten classroom, I worked with a small group of students on a math activity. The activity took place at ten in the morning while students were at their stations. I worked with a group of 5 students. We all sat at a table. I was in the middle and they were around the outside. Their task was to complete addition facts up to twelve using manipulatives. Each student was given an egg. On the outside of the eggs were addition problems. It was the students job to read the addition problem to me and figure out the answer. On the inside of the egg were tokens. These tokens had a different color on each side. When the students opened the egg, they had to visually show me the equation by representing each number in the problem with a different colored token. The students had to identity each number and tell me the color of the tokens representing that number. They also had to tell me the sum of the two numbers. If students needed to, they could use the tokens to help them find the answer. When they figured out the problem, they raised their hand and we reviewed the problem together. The answer was on the bottom of the egg so that they could self-check to see if they were right. The student that I decided to observe and interview in the group was a girl I will call Ashley. Ashley is a vibrant child. She loves coming to school and does well academically. I have been observing Ashley in math and have looked at work that she has done throughout the year.

What I have noticed from her work is she has a good concept of math problems up to ten. She is able to show her answers and her thought process on paper. Ashleys difficulty is writing numbers correctly. She sometimes writes her threes, sixes and nines backwards. I did talk to Mrs. Miller about this and she said that it is a common thing for children her age to do but that they try to correct this mistake before they go into first grade. Allowing me to review her work and see her strengths and weaknesses before the activity allowed me to be prepared in what to look for and what to ask her after the activity when I interviewed her. When Ashleys group came over for the activity, I reviewed the directions with each student. When I gave each student their first egg, I made sure that Ashleys was on the easier side. I wanted to start off easy and then get harder to see if she understood addition problems up to this level. When I gave Ashley her first problem, she was able to answer it without needing the tokens. When we went over it together, she was able to read the equation correctly and set up the tokens by putting the first number in one color and the second number in another color. When I asked her what the answer was, she was able to answer with ease. This allowed me to see that she grasped the concept with easy numbers. As the activity progressed and the equations became harder, it took Ashley longer to figure out the problem and raise her hand for me to check her answer. On a couple of occasions, she needed to set up the coins and count them in order to figure out the answer. This allowed me to see that while Ashley does know some of the lower numbered addition facts; once they got harder she was not always sure of the answer and had to use the tokens to find the sum. With this activity, all of the students had a piece of paper to write down their equations so we could keep track of how many they had completed and so that they did not get the same equation twice. From writing down her equations, I observed that

all of her writing was correct except for the way she wrote her sixes. Each six she wrote was backwards just like I observed in her earlier work. When the activity was completed, I asked Ashley if I could ask her some questions. I explained to her during the interview that as a teacher I need to ask students questions to make sure that they understood what I was trying to teach them. While interviewing her, I started off by asking her to read the equation that was on the egg that I had in my hand. After reading it correctly, I asked her why she read the problem from left to right. She explained that when you read a math problem it is like reading a book. You have to read left to right or top to bottom depending on how the problem was set up. Ashley answering this allowed me to see that she understood the concept of the correct way to read an equation, which not all of the students understood. With this understanding, I wanted to see if Ashley really understood the concept of addition. With the egg in my hand, I asked her if the two numbers were reversed, would I still get the same answer. It took Ashley a couple of minutes to think about it but she did answer yes. When I asked her how she knew she responded by explaining that even though you reverse the numbers you are still adding the same numbers and will get the same answer. Ashley being able to explain that concept shows me that she understands the property of addition. I also wanted to see how she wrote her numbers. I wrote the numbers one through ten and wrote the number six backwards. I then asked her if I wrote all of my numbers correctly. She looked over all of the numbers and said yep they all looked like the same way she would write them. I did not ask her anything further because I knew she would catch on that something was wrong. After that question I decided to conclude the interview. Overall, Ashley demonstrated a knowledge and understanding of addition. She was able to answer the problems and to explain the process. The only thing that needs to be worked on is

Ashleys formation of the numbers. Her constant mistake of writing the six wrong and not being able to pick it out if she is shown the number shows she does not understand completely numbers in the written form. This shows Ashley doesnt understand numbers in the written number sense, which is a basic concept. While she has great knowledge of addition and math, she lacks the basics which may hurt her in the future. I also observed from Ashley and her peers that none of the students understand the literacy we use in math. Asking for them to read their equation to me I either received the answer or a confused look. After explaining what an equation was and using the term repeatedly the students did learn its meaning. This is an important concept that students should learn at a young age. The terms we use all the time are important for students to understand so that they are not lost when the teacher is teaching. Overall I believe that Ashley and her classmates did a great job and really enjoyed the activity. Most of the students not only enjoyed themselves but seemed to understand the concept and the learning objective behind the task I wanted them to complete