Unfinished business ...a Term 3 Update

My Inquiry started with a greater need for formative assessment and collating all the data and assessments that had been previously completed as this group of learners were new to me.  This identified several areas of need or trends with this group of learners.



Firstly a need to focus on a solid understanding of place value to allow them to cope with Stage 7 problems, also fractions, and a need to further develop their maths language, particularly words or prefixes associated with place value needed developing.

The kids all generally had a great attitude to Maths  and were  keen on solving problems.

During group teaching sessions rather than just focussing on one particular strategy or concept, there was on focus on teaching/reinforcing both knowledge and strategy in the same lesson making explicit the link between the essential knowledge and understandings relative to the strategy or problem that the children were learning.

We also took time to engage with the learning progressions to ensure that the kids were able to see where they were at and what they needed to understand to progress to the next stage in their maths.

Whilst focussing on a particular strategy we also  looked at multiple ways of  solving a problem and sharing of all of those strategies.

Anecdotally I felt my kids were making progress in their ability to handle place value and tackle more demanding problems, and articulating their strategies.  We had lots of aha moments along the way ...and I loved getting back in to the classroom.

Face to face time was a big challenge throughout the term with various groups having responsibilities or sporting commitments which encroached on valuable teaching time.