So About Those Math Bins....

Alright. I got tremendous response in regards to the math bins. I got many emails saying 'Rah, Rah we toot the math bin horn too!' and 1 email that said 'you blow. and so do the math bins'.

Ha. Well those were my words but you get my drift? Lots of positive. 1 negative. That's okay. I respect a different opinion, and I welcome your opinions.

I did have many people ask if I could post about some of the different bins we do. So I will.

This was one of the child directed bins. There were materials and numeral papers in the basket-they decorated their numbers. Very hands on. They loved it. The materials were ones that we didn't have in our art center at that point in time, so they were exciting and fresh!

 

This was a memory game. Number concentration if you will.

 

This was the other child directed bin that week. So we had the Grab A Handful bin, the memory bin, the decorate your number bin, and the other teacher directed bin was a trace the hands or paint the hands bin. Each child traced or painted their hands onto paper, and then had to stick one sticker on for each finger. Ta-Da! Math Bins made easy and engaging.

 

 

This week-our Math focus is Patterning. We are trying to assess whether or not the children can copy, create, extend and ID a pattern. It is going well! These math bins are a huge teaching tool for me. As in-I am learning so much from them and am so glad my new teaching partner brought this to the table.

 

 

About patterns--

 

 

This is the teacher directed bin that I am using to assess this week. The children are using dyed pasta to create pasta pattern necklaces. This is going over really well. I`m not sure who wouldn`t want to make a necklace. Not me.

 

 

There are obviously 3 more bins this week-but I haven't taken pictures of them yet. I`ll get around to it.

 

 

BTW. Do you all know how to dye pasta or riceÉ (and while you`re at it, do you know how to shut off the french on my laptopÉ, because I am really tired of seeing that É instead of a question mark).

 

 

FYI

 

 

I did not colour that pasta. My teacher did. I am not sure how she did hers, I think I heard her say vinegar but will check on that. I have always done mine like so:

 

 

bunch of pasta or rice in a ziploc bag.

2 tablespoons of food colouring.

1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol.

 

 

Shake that bag up. Lay it out on wax paper, on a cookie sheet to dry (the rubbing alcohol helps speed this process along), and VOILA! coloured pasta or rice, and the experience I have had with this recipe-the colour never bleeds onto skin or clothes! Yay!

 

 

Chat Soon :)



Math Bins.........

Okay, I said the dirty words.

Math bins.

I don't like the way it tastes in my mouth either-so if you gasped when you read the title of this entry, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

If you didn't gasp, and you said "ooooooh, gotta click this linky dink, to gather me some ideas to stuff into my math bins" Give yourself a fancy pat on the back.

I'll tell you why I think "math bins" are dirty words.

Misleading. Those words mislead my brain to think worksheets. lame. uber boring. non-engaging.

You know what they say about ASSuming ;)

I will be honest. My new teaching partner likes her math bins. When she suggested we do them in our class, I died a little inside. BUT. BIG OLD BUT.

Today was our first day using math bins, and let me tell you. I love them.

Here's how it works in our class.

4 different coloured math bins. 4 different coloured peer groups. 2 teacher directed activities, 2 child directed. Math bins last 7-10 minutes.

4 different activities that target our learning focus. Basically, our learning focus is whatever we need to get assessed. Each group does one math bin per day, the following day we rotate activities and after Thursday, everyone has had a turn at every center.

Are our math bins optional? Not really. Are they full of worksheets? NO!

This week we are focusing on Number Sense. 1 to 1 correspondence and I.D. numerals and counting.

So here's the activity I led today.

 

Each child reaches into the basket of squares, closes their eyes and pulls out a handful of tiles. They then count their tiles and record their catch on their paper.

 

 

Did everyone seem engaged? yes. I made it like a game. I got excited about hearing them count to 17 or 8 or whatever they pulled out of the basket. I also encouraged them to "beat their own record".

 

 

Now-I think I like this for the 2 biggest reasons of 1) the activities are engaging. We plan them with that in mind. The kids have to be interested in doing the centers, or they wont be serving a purpose anymore. AND 2) They only have to sit and do them for 7-10 minutes per day. Its a quick little window, that helps them build stamina for sitting at a table, and for allowing us a brief little assessment period per day.

 

The other teacher directed activity this week is hand prints. They stamp their hands on paper, and add one sticker per finger. They count to 10, and it's a great illustrator of whether or not they get the 1 to 1 correspondence.

 

I know this post was a little wordy. I'm sorry.

 

I will keep you posted on some of the different activities that we implement in our math bins. I was not excited about this idea at first, but with a little conversation between my partner and I, I quickly started to see the benefits.

 

Today as we implemented our first math bins session-I REALLY saw the benefits.  Which is why I will pat this ELK program on the back once again.

 

Two minds are better then one. Bouncing ideas off of one another, trying them out and then reflecting as a teacher/DECE team, is absolutely an integral part of this program, and today proved it! :)

 

The program is only as strong as the team implementing it.