where to start?? – Build Math Minds

Hello,

I recent;y am currently volunteering at a homeless shelter. I am working with a 10 year old Haitian girl, who has been in the USA for exactly one year. another volunteer has been working on ELA skills with her and now it is time to tackle math

Up to now she has been given 4 th grade math which of course she has no idea what she is doing. I played a dice game with and she is still counting dots.

Of course I need to work on subitizing. Her teacher has given me permission to start form the basics. However, she wants some sort of work so she knows math is being taught.

What kinds of activities , dare I say worksheet, would you suggest?

Thanks,

Joanne

Number Sense

Joanne Lufrano asked 7 months ago

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Answers (1)

Joanne, this might be too late (sorry I didn’t see it) but I would continue playing games and if the teacher wants to see the work she’s doing maybe snap a picture or video of her talking about her thinking. I’m also not opposed to doing worksheets because they are also a good way to practice. However, I would recommend making your own so that:

a) there are less than 10 problems

b) the problems are related in some way

c) there is plenty of space to write out thinking

If you use a pre-made worksheet, I would white-out problems so that you have 10 or less and to allow more room for solving the problems. Another option is to give a worksheet and then let her choose 5 or 6 to solve and then talk about why she chose those particular problems. In a Monthly Mission we had awhile ago, it gave ways to give the students more choice. That might spark some ideas for you to do while working with her and having a way to show the teacher what she’s doing: https://pd.buildmathminds.com/2022/10/12/nov-22-monthly-mission/

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