Yawn, streeeeetch, and roll right on out of bed! Why? Because it’s morning at MICDS—but not just any morning; it’s Math Morning!
Throughout the fall semester, each grade level in our Beasley Lower School, from Junior Kindergarten through fourth grade, dedicated the first part of their day to math with parents. Appropriately, these sessions are called “Math Mornings.” The Math Morning program is a Beasley-wide effort led by Diane Broberg, JK-12 Math & Computer Science Department Chair, to share typical math experiences in the classroom as well as bridge learning from school to home by offering a variety of ideas and activities that families can continue enjoying with their children. These special math mornings allowed parents, guardians, and special friends to join their children for a morning filled with math discovery. They were invited to engage in activities that they can use as a family at home to reinforce math skills. Check out some of the fun they had in the various grade-level Math Mornings below!
Junior Kindergarten
In Junior Kindergarten (JK), the big idea of Math Morning is that math is everywhere, all the time. JK worked in small group rotations and used a lot of fun items from nature, such as pine cones, acorns, leaves, tree bark, magnolia seed pods, and sticks. With these items, they sorted, counted, made patterns, and measured. They also played hopscotch and had an outdoor shape hunt! “All the students and families seemed happy and engaged, and it was a very fun morning!” said Ginny Otto, Junior Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher. “Our hope is that everyone enjoyed the experience and feels empowered to see how opportunities for math experiences are all around us!”
Senior Kindergarten
The Senior Kindergarten Math Morning focused on games that provided practice with addition, subtraction, place value, and number sense. Families rotated to different tables to complete the many activities together in the Beasley Dinin Hall. “It is our hope that the morning will provide families with some inspiration for games to play at home,” shares Kelly Hummel, Senior Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher. It was a big success as there were smiles, laughter, and, of course, some friendly competition throughout the morning.
First Grade
During the first-grade Math Morning session, families participated in hands-on games highlighting key themes in first-grade math, such as number bonds, addition and subtraction strategies, and mathematical reasoning. Students guided their guests through various interactive stations, demonstrating how they approach problem-solving and sharing their newfound knowledge.
“The atmosphere was vibrant and filled with laughter as parents and children worked together to solve math talk questions and play math games,” said Robin Campbell, First Grade Homeroom Teacher. “It was wonderful to see the excitement on everyone’s faces as they collaborated and learned from one another. Many parents expressed how impressed they were with their children’s skills and how much they enjoyed participating in the activities.”
One parent shared, “It was so much fun to see how my child thinks about math! I loved learning these strategies together.”
Second Grade
Second graders spent Math Morning playing addition and subtraction fact fluency games with their families. The students practiced the games ahead of time and then taught them to their families. Families also took home the materials to continue enjoying the games together. “Fact fluency is important because it helps students solve more complex math problems,” explains Miriam Rotskoff, Second Grade Homeroom Teacher. “Additionally, mastering addition and subtraction facts makes it easier for students to learn multiplication and division. Practicing fact fluency through games is a fun and effective way to solidify these important skills.”
The morning was a big success! The students loved being experts and teaching the games to their families. Everyone enjoyed having multiple games to choose from, and the time flew by!
Third Grade
For Math Morning in the third grade, students and their guests participated in a warm-up problem at the start of the session to start flexing their logical-flexible mathematical thinking brains. Then, they did an Esti Mystery activity, created by Steve Wyborney, to practice developing number sense. A visual of a container filled with objects was provided along with a hundreds chart. Students were given clues one at a time to narrow viable answers for how many objects were in the container. Third grade typically completes one of these Esti mysteries a week, so this was a typical math experience that they got to share with their parents, guardians, and special friends.
Next, Third-Grade Math Morning participants got to play a variety of math games that are typically weaved in as a part of their math lessons during the year: 24 Game, On the Dot, Swish, Salute, and Perplexor Logic Puzzles. Lastly, families were given a packet of multiplication math games to take home and play with their children.
Fourth Grade
In the fourth grade, parents got to experience the Math in Focus program used at this grade level; it’s the Singapore approach to mathematics. “We approach problem-solving in ways most parents are not familiar with,” said Fourth Grade Homeroom Teacher Donna Waters. Fellow Fourth Grade Homeroom Teacher Jen Van Dyken added, “Sometimes, today’s math feels overwhelmingly different from the math parents were taught in school, so we try to make Math Morning fun and educational.” In other words, Math Morning is an opportunity for parents to see what math class looks like at school today.
At the Fourth-Grade Math Morning in October, parents had to solve a word problem with their child using a bar model. They also participated in a Building Thinking Classrooms activity. “This approach helps students cultivate critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and active engagement,” Waters said. Then, parents and students played games reinforcing basic multiplication facts like Around the World, Spoons, Heads Up, and Humongous Number. “These easy games just require a deck of cards or math flashcards,” said Van Dyken, “so the hope is they will play at home once they’ve learned the activities.”
The Lower School Math Mornings program is a huge success. “They highlighted the importance of family involvement in education and celebrated the achievements of our students,” said Campbell. Thank you to everyone who participated and made the math events so memorable! We hope you will add in more math to your daily lives at home so that your child’s mathematical wisdom multiplies both at school and at home!