Student Analysis Blog
This week the kindergarteners had a math assignment in which
they were given a blank sheet of paper. They were asked to fold the paper into
4 squares-something that has been modeled before. Once they had their papers
folded, they were asked to unfold it and write numbers 1-4 in each box. Then
for each box, they were to draw the number of circles that each box said.
Student 1- As you can see in this first picture, the student
ended up with several boxes, not 4. She still went on with the rest of the
assignment and wrote numbers 1-4 correctly. She also drew the correct number of
circles in each square. This shows me that she knows numbers 1-4 and knows how
to write them. It also tells me that the student can correctly count using 1-1
correspondence at least up to 4.
Student 2- Student 2 folded her paper into 4 boxes as asked. She then numbered
the squares 1-4 and drew the correct number of circles next to each number.
Overall, I noticed that this assignment was relatively simple for this student
and she could have benefited from something a little more challenging
Student 3- This student correctly folded her paper into 4
squares. She then correctly numbered the squares in the right order however, if
you look at number 4, you will see that she wrote it backwards. This tells me
that she may need a little reinforcement about how to write her numbers. Also,
if you look at box 1, you will see that this student had 2 circles drawn next
to the 1 but caught her mistake and self-corrected it.
I would anticipate some students not knowing to use 1-1
correspondence when counting and therefore ending up with more circles next to
the numbers than intended. In the same way, I could anticipate students drawing
too few of circles next to a number because sometimes when children count, they
are counting faster than they are drawing the objects which can confuse some.
This did not happen in any of the students’ work that I saw today.
Overall, I learned that the majority of the class was able
to fold their papers into 4 squares and correctly represented each number with
circles. As an extension, I would have students try folding their papers into 8
or 6 squares and do the same thing but with bigger numbers. If students were
not able to do the 4 squares, I would have them practice more with that first.
I agree with your analysis. This tasks seems beneficial, but based on what you now know, a bit too easy. You might try to advance it by having them fold it more. In fact, now that students know how to do this, a great task might be to ask them to experiment with these patterns of folding and to write the numbers (this is truly an example of exploring mathematics). Of course, there are infinite ways to do this, and students will most likely come up with a lot of different versions. Also, where and how they write the numbers in each region of the paper will also most likely be variable. But by having students experiment and then compare their work with one another through a whole-class discussion, I think students will strengthen their understanding of one to one correspondence (they are practicing the idea that each number is unique and that each number represents a unique number of "dots").
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