Student Work, Blog #1

NOTE: this was the only math related activity that took place while at my placement. Students' faces have been blurred so that they are unidentifiable.

The students were assembled around the edge of the carpet.  Volunteers were chosen to use a string tied into a large loop to create a specific shape on the ground.  Following, students were chosen to create the same shapes but using their bodies. By the end of these activities, every student was chosen at least once. In the photo above, four students were asked to create a square out of their body. The big idea for this activity would be that a square has four equal sides and four corners.  Creating this shape out of bodies can be challenging because the students are not all the same exact height, the educator chose this task to test the knowledge of square sides being perfectly equal.  This was a great task because many students have been having a difficult time establishing the difference between a rectangle and a square, and this task truly tested this knowledge because it followed the task of students create a rectangle out of their bodies.

There are several ways to approach and assess students’ knowledge of squares. First, students were asked to create a square out of a string. Following, students were asked to create this shape by utilizing their bodies. This was open-ended, leaving at least two possible ways of completing the task. 1- Students lay on the ground like in the picture above or 2- students stand and stretch hands to create a square. Depending on the kindergarten class, running this activity could have been done in a few ways. In this situation, the students were all in one large group and monitored as the volunteers created the shapes. However, the students could have been split into smaller groups, completed the task, and then came together after doing so to share how each group reached their answers.  I anticipate that smaller groups would be very difficult for Kindergartners due to lack of leaded instruction.  Student needed to be reminded to think about the ‘rules’ of squares. Without this scaffolding, students may have created rectangles rather than squares.

When the educator asked the four students to create a square with their bodies, one student immediately laid down on the floor.  This led another student to lie down, placing their feet next to their classmate’s, creating a corner.  At that time, the educator asked to the students to stand up and create a plan with their other two classmates.  She asked the class to review the ‘rules’ of squares.   The third student in the center group proclaimed that each of them were not the same height, so making 4 equal sides would be hard. The fourth student looked at the carpet, pointed to the squares and proposed they used them as an outline. Each of the student agreed that this was a great idea and laid down around four of the small squares to create a large one with their bodies.

From this assessment, I can make the claim that these four students have grasped the concept of a square.  Each of the students were aware that there are 4 corners to a square and built one using their bodies and the resources around them to properly measure the equal sides.

Working with the bodies of students was a great task. I propose that they do more activities like this, like creating shapes with the entire class, not just 4 students. To further their comprehension of the four sides of squares being equal, I suggest that students use certain measuring tools to create squares in the future, like blocks or even rulers.