This term, has been action packed with so much amazing learning! We began looking at the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and I was so impressed with the level of understanding that my students were beginning to demonstrate. We continued having lots of whole class mat time review at the beginning of our maths sessions and it was evident that confidence amongst the majority of the class was soaring!
As we moved into symmetry, rotations, tesselations and translations, it was great to see the students across all learning levels embrace using and understanding the new vocabulary. We had lots of fun looking at and then creating our own shape patterns. This was fun because it allowed students with lower "number knowledge" to be successful in a different way.
We kept meeting in small groups to continue to develop our understanding of place value, using place value blocks as needed. We did a lot of review of adding 2 and 3 digit numbers and near the end of the term, we began introducing subtraction and even some place value multiplication to those who were ready. I love having those "light blub" moments in my classroom when something finally clicks with an individual student, and we have had many of those moments during this term.
It is lovely to see students confidently working in mixed ability groups and helping each other by discussing the process to find the outcome. Students really enjoyed moving into algebra as the term came to an end, and since we started out with shape/colour patterns our lower level learners were once again able to be successful by achieving that initial launch into the topic.
I am looking forward to next term, and our end of the year assessments to see exactly how much information the students have retained and the growth in these areas.
