The Rookery

Today we began new math workshops.  Cathy and Naomi, Cathy's student teacher, will be investigating pentominoes and tessellations (and I'll post their blog entry about their work soon).  Amy and I are launching into algebra.

"Algebra?" you may be asking, possibly with a shudder.  Traditionally, algebra was a subject tackled in late middle or early high school but, ideally, algebraic thinking is something that even pre-kindergarten students should be exposed to.  Algebra is simply using what you know to discover what you don't know.  

That can mean telling a child you have 10 dots, covering some with your hand, showing them 6 and asking how many are under your hand.  Eventually it means bi-nomial and even tri-nomial equations and the ever popular quadratic equation.  For us, it means something in between.

We'll start with function machines, also called "in and out" tables, in which students have to deduce what is being done to numbers by examining sample sets.  Students will practice articulating functions and equations and will eventually create their own puzzles.  Some will also use coordinate grids to find solutions.

We'll also use the bar model for problem solving (no, it isn't the start of a bad joke) and puzzle out some pan balance problems (one of my favorite types of logic problems for kids).  Stay tuned for more fun.