Open Ended, Hands-On, and Multi-Level Math Adventures

The Navigators and the Gemstones have math at the same time of the day so that the first and second grade classes can switch around and do math at the level that each student needs. Between the two classes we have students ranging from first to fifth grade level depending on the skill being taught! 

It's a win-win situation for everyone, teachers included! I tell the second graders when I accidentally call them Navigators, "Once a Navigator, always a Navigator. You'll always be near and dear to my heart." :)

On Fridays we often all get together for open-ended Math Adventures and, because of the freedom given to discover, these naturally become multi-leveled. It's always so fun to see how seriously the students take these "real world" situations. 

Here is one recent adventure:

Two Hundred Ways to Make a Dollar
(See the Gemstones blog for more description and more pictures.)

Instead of telling the students how to do it, we allow them to choose their own method. 

Often times, we will stop mid-class and share what we are discovering. It's okay to "copy" other people's ideas especially if their ideas will help us!

Always an adventure at Seabury School!