THE MATH INVESTIGATIONS CLUB

By Lisa Mitrano

(Kindergarten teacher at the Argenziano School)

In the Somerville Public Schools, the TERC math curriculum, Investigations, is used. Kindergarten students are introduced to many important ideas and concepts such as counting, measurement, patterning, sorting, etc. In my Math Investigations Club, these skills are explored and reinforced through the reading of books, playing games and using manipulatives.

Every Thursday afternoon from 2:30 to 4:00, parents join their children in our classroom for this club. At our first session on October 22^nd, there were 10 children, 7 mothers, 2 fathers, and one grandmother in attendance. After a quick snack, everyone gathered together on the rug as I read Dr. Jean’s math book There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A One about the day’s math focus skill: counting. Following this, parents and children team up and do math activities together.

As I rotated among the groups, I heard many interesting comments from the children who were thrilled to do a learning activity with a family member. I was happy when I heard, “Count with me, Mommy” and “Let’s play this game again” and I was thrilled to hear a child exclaim, “I know what number comes next!” I overheard one lady who did not speak English very well repeat the numbers from one to twenty in English after her granddaughter and then the granddaughter cried out, “Grandma, you did it!”

Young children learn how to count by having many opportunities to count and to see and hear others count. They develop strategies for counting accurately by:

• Learning the names of the numbers in order;
• Assigning one number to each object;
• Counting each object once and only once;
• Keeping track of what has been counted;
• Seeing that the last number said represents the total number counted.

Here are the goals of my Math Investigations Club:

• To expose students to a wide variety of math materials;
• To integrate literature, games and math;
• To build and strengthen the child-parent connection;
• To allow families to play math games that are motivational, educational and fun;
• To provide parents with a meaningful way to work with their children to strengthen, supplement and master the math curriculum.

What a wonderful experience it is to see this club in action and all the adults who dedicated quality time to spend one-on-one with their child and “play math”.

For more pictures from an afternoon at the math club, click here.