JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Public School math teachers, like Ring Elementary School teacher Jen Goshgarian, are using stations and guided math to harness the typical Kindergarten frenzy while making math engaging and meaningful.
Goshgarian recently helped a small group of students work at a table identifying 2D and 3D shapes. The students, through independent work, build problem-solving skills as they interact with each other, the materials in their bin and engage with the learning activities related to shapes and counting.
Students visited stations that include strategically selected activities designed to help them in areas they are struggling with or stations that reinforce the concepts learned on the carpet with their teacher moments earlier. Students worked with bingo dabbers identifying numbers zero to five while close by students used a spinner and blocks to reinforce numbers six to nine all while working independently and remaining on task.
Some of the kindergarteners used an iPad app to help with counting and basic addition facts, while others explored shapes in the real world by working with a bilingual paraprofessional who helped, not only the English as a New Language students by offering language support, but others in a small group as they played a hands-on game identifying which 2D and 3D shapes were present in real-world objects. This level of support allowed all students to make real-life connections and have language support in both English and Spanish as they reinforced these new terms.
