LaToya Scott, Kindergarten, Ashley Park Pre-K-8
Final Unit (PDF) Implementing Common Core Standards (PDF)
200 Word Synopsis
Addition and subtraction are relatively challenging skills to grasp. Because addition and subtraction are math skills that are now a part of the kindergarten common core standards, it is imperative that the kindergarteners master these skills presented. This unit will be including sports into the math activities, and the goal is to stretch the attention spans of the kindergarteners, focusing on engagement. I will do this by intertwining sports into the guided activities in the curriculum unit. Strategies such as counting on fingers, tally marks or circles on paper, and using manipulative objects are very useful; however I find that some students are more invested and engaged when the subject is dealing with a topic of interest. I have also found that physical activity time and physical education class is very important to young students, which has led me to believe that by including different sports into the addition/subtraction area of the math curriculum, it will increase student engagement, understanding, and ultimately student mastery. Kindergarteners are very interested in learning new material, however, their attention spans are short and it becomes difficult to keep that interest during the 2 hour lesson. While I plan to still use the tradition pencil and paper, and manipulative objects at different points throughout the unit, there will be a common theme through each usage: sports. Basketball, football and cheerleading tend to be very popular among my students each year, so I plan to focus the lessons and activities around those particular sports, also including active movements the students tend to enjoy as well.
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