Reporting with Kathy Richardson

Using the AMC software to chronicle your children's thinking is only the first step toward understanding their thinking so that you can provide activities to push them toward a deeper connection with number and quantity.

The next sensible step is to examine the data. Log into amcanywhere.com and look for the "Reports" icon.

From here, you'll be treated to a bevy of options!

The student detail report is extremely handy in getting to the nitty gritty details of an individual student's thinking. This is also a dynamite report for conferring with parents and colleagues about a particular student performance.

Any notes and comments you provide during their assessment will also appear on this report.

How Many?

For every young child, learning to count while simultaneously developing a sense of quantity is challenging work! Our data hints at the complexity hidden within the seemingly simple task of counting cubes.

1st Grade Students Who Can Accurately and Consistently Count a Group of 21 Objects

67% of incoming first graders can accurately and consistently count a group of 21 cubes.

1st Grade Students Who Can Accurately and Consistently Make a Pile of 18 Objects

However, when asked to create a pile of 18 cubes, only 46% of students can successfully complete the task.

Why the discrepancy?

Counting is more than saying a rote sequence and recognizing a numeral. According to Kathy Richardson, "Counting is finding out how many."

I Have... Who Has? Coin Cards!

The Mathwire has an excellent adaptation of the "I Have Who Has" activity using coin cards. Not only will this activity provide plenty of practice in using coin equivalence and coin recognition, but it will also give students some authentic practice in adding small quantities.

Download your own set of coin cards, and read all about the activity here at the Mathwire.

Non Linguistically Speaking

When students struggle to interpret story problems into a mathematical statement they can tackle and solve, a nonlinguistic representation may lead to success. Explicitly engaging students in the creation of lonlinquistic representations increases activity in the brain (Gerlic & Jausovec, 1999)

Language challenged 3rd graders might find this problem difficult to navigate:

Riverside School had 517 students last year. This year, 60 students moved away before school started. How many students does the school have now?

A nonlinguistic representation to help students create a mental picture of, and organize, the essential information.

TOTAL
Part	Part

Substituting the information from the problem, our representation becomes:

517 students (Total)
60 students (Part)	Part

Using this representation, it is perhaps clearer to students that they are looking for the difference between 60 and 517. They could then solve the problem in one of two ways: by counting on from 60, or by subtracting 60 from 517.

Calculation Nation!

Calculation Nation^® uses the power of the Web to let students challenge opponents from anywhere in the world. At the same time, students are able to challenge themselves by investigating significant mathematical content and practicing fundamental skills. The element of competition adds an extra layer of excitement.

“The games on Calculation Nation^® provide an entertaining environment where students can explore rich mathematics,” said Jim Rubillo, Executive Director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). “Through these games, students are exposed to the same mathematical topics that they see in class as well as those that are recommended in Curriculum Focal Points.”