Zingo! A Duncan-Approved Learning Game

I'm a hardcore gamer. Board games... card games... video games, you name it and I'll play it! Heck, I can't even walk across a playground without asking the double-dutchers if I can get in on a round!

Games help to develop all kinds of skills - especially the ones I care about the most: creativity, flexibility, and good 'ole strategic thinking. Naturally, I've wanted to get my own kids established in one of my favorite pastimes. We started things off with Cariboo, a fabulously fun game in which kids learn while matching letters, numbers, shapes and colors AND practice sharing and turn-taking.

Cariboo! from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Cariboo! was great fun for our 2 year old, but not so much for the little guy. When Finley turned 4 we gave her Zingo! and Wow - it was a hit from day one for both Finley and her 2 year old brother. 

Zingo is a fast-paced, energetic variation of Bingo. Kids get a kick out of pulling the Zinger forward to reveal two mystery tiles and attempting to be the first to call out the tiles that match the images on their cards. The first player to fill his or her card wins! 

Beyond just plain fun, kids have the opportunity to learn to read short words, to think quickly, and to keep images and associations stored in their memory. Oh, and an opportunity to beat dad is always a huge draw!

If I were teaching Pre-K or Kindergarten, I would definitely want a copy of Zingo! (I bet even first graders would love the game, although there might not be as much to learn) Kids quickly learn to manage the game for themselves, and play over and over again. There is even a new version, Zingo! 1-2-3, that requires children to match numerals with quantities. Heck yeah! Duncan's birthday is coming up!

Zingo! from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Valentine's Day Quilt

Put a little heart into your lessons this Valentine's Day! There is a fun quilting activity over at the Mathwire.

The Locket

Miss Haswell noticed a lovely locket 'round the neck of a 2nd grader, Leiloni.

"Oh! I just love that heart necklace!" said Miss Haswell.

"It's a heart and key," corrected Leiloni. "The key is for my locked notebook - where I keep all my equations."

How precious!

A Math Notebook is a Terrible Thing to Waste!  ;-)

Algebra Tiles Redux

Had some teachers asking about the algebra tiles video... so here it is!

Introduction to Algebra Tiles from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Is It Really Either/Or?

Of course, not all valuable learning is constructivist. Other types of learning, such as rote memorization, have an important role, too - as, for example, in learning foreign language vocabulary words. The instructional challenge for a teacher is in knowing when to use which approach.  - Charlotte Danielson

In her excellent Enhancing Professional Practice, Charlotte Danielson identified one of the most problematic decision points for today's teacher. Essentially, it boils down to this: When do I tell and when do I ask? Recent Core Reading sessions have reminded me that, because of curricular expectations, Todd County teachers struggle with this question more so than teachers from other districts.

Hopefully, we will come to realize that you can do both! Distinguished teachers avoid throwing constructivist strategies up against the left wall, explicit instruction up against the right, and then stubbornly adhering to one or the other. Distinguished teachers make judicious use of both practices.

Now, having identified a need for both approaches, I don't want to imply that there is some sort of perfect PC balance between the two - at least not in mathematics.

Questioning is a far more difficult form of pedagogy for teachers than are coaching and telling, because it is the least predictable.  - Ted Sizer, Horace's Compromise

The new Common Core Standards identify 8 "Standards for Mathematical Practice" describing the variety of expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students. The strands of mathematical proficiency specified in the National Research Council’s report Adding It Up: 

• adaptive reasoning, 
• strategic competence, 
• conceptual understanding (comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations and relations), 
• procedural fluency (skill in carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently and appropriately), and
• productive disposition (habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one’s own efficacy)

Given this list of proficiencies, a math teacher would be most likely to use more explicit forms of teaching in helping students reach procedural fluency. Again, this isn't to say that the other proficiencies lend themselves exclusively to constructivism. But constructivist learning theories will certainly inform the majority of an accomplished math teacher's repertoire. Assuming, of course, that reasoning and sense-making are high on their list of objectives.

Infinity Elephants