This third grade teacher leads a gallery walk with her students with the purpose of having children explain their thinking with peers. She discusses the importance of such a strategy and the opportunities that a gallery walk can have with children who are wrestling with math concepts.
The lesson explores geometry, measurement, and children’s abilities to grapple with different geometrical shapes filling an area.
To view the set-up for this kind of classroom activity, this video features a Gallery Walk from another classroom.
A student uses Playdough to make two sides of a scale even.
Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.
A child interprets his classroom’s attendance board.
Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.
A kindergarten student finds a way to sort cups by capacity.
Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.
Lyn English explains an exploratory method of teaching math.
The children’s learning was extended beyond the curriculum because they discovered a lot of the mathematical ideas themselves.
Lyn English is a professor of mathematics education in the School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. She is also the founding editor of the international journal Mathematical Thinking and Learning (Taylor & Francis).
The Early Math Collaborative, supported by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, held international symposia in 2009 and 2010. The two events brought experts from around the world to share approaches to early mathematics education with teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and other education professionals. The goal was to generate globally-informed ideas and recommendations for improving math instruction in the early childhood classroom. In breakout discussions and plenary sessions, participants brainstormed ideas, identified issues, and recommended actions.
Mathematical learning opportunities can be created out of many everyday activities. Angela Giglio Andrews shares an anecdote in which an order of french fries shared between a mother and her child led to questions involving measurement and other rich mathematical concepts.
I heard ‘narrow,’ ‘tall,’ ‘how many bites?’ ‘how many left?’ ‘can you put these in order?’ …I heard this kind of talk the whole time.
During her 25-year career in preschool and kindergarten education, Angela Giglio Andrews has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching and was chosen as a member of the writing team for the PreK-2 section of NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.
The Early Math Collaborative, supported by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, held international symposia in 2009 and 2010. The two events brought experts from around the world to share approaches to early mathematics education with teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and other education professionals. The goal was to generate globally-informed ideas and recommendations for improving math instruction in the early childhood classroom. In breakout discussions and plenary sessions, participants brainstormed ideas, identified issues, and recommended actions.