Maths - Creating a supportive environment to increase confidence in Maths

We have been working at increasing the confidence of the children in Maths so that the students in our class feel that it is a safe environment to make mistakes and take risks.

We have been starting each class with a quick math game. The games we have been playing are selected to encourage the students to work on their basic facts skills in a fun and interactive way. We have played 21, Pyramid and buzz. Students have all been fully engaged in these games, and often request to carry on playing.

Once we have played once of these games, we move onto the lesson for the day. Our WALT this week has been: W.A.L.T. estimate and measure accurately. We have had the students working in small groups.

First they worked on estimation. The groups took some chalk and went outside to draw lines on the concrete. They drew a line according to the given length without any measuring devices. They then measured their lines to see how accurate they were.

Then they had to find things around the room that were  5mm, 20mm, 50mm and 100mm. Students have been excited to be not only working in pairs, but actually being given the freedom to explore and physically manipulate the classroom environment.

Finally we measured larger objects around the school like the tennis courts, and the length and width of the building.

Whilst the students are exploring and measuring objects about the room My teaching partner and I are able to float around and ensure that all have the right technique and fully understand what they are doing. This is important because in enables us to identify students that need extra help, either at the time, or time spend longer on a concept before we move on. The students have enjoyed being able to move around.

We do have several students that have struggled with using a measuring tape and some that struggled when the objects got bigger than the tape involved.

Students are also expected to write their refections at the end of each session about what they have learned, and how well they think they have got on. 

Overall I feel the learning in the class has been fantastic this week, and students are really supporting each other. I have seen students ensuring that others are not left out.

Ngami an I have been able to scaffold our lessons in a way that we have a clear direction that we are able to guide and teach our students. We have been able to identify gaps in our students learning and have discussed ways we can address these gaps. The gaps are specifically in their basic facts, and we have spent some time discussing what we can do to increase their basic facts knowledge. We have decided to try our class on Maths Bricks, as they directly align to the Numeracy stages. We will try this, and evaluate how our students are getting on.