Elisa Razzano

 Independent all boys school

 Eastern suburbs of Norwood, just outside the Central Business District.
 The preparatory school ranged from reception to year 6
 Specialised in employing the International Baccalaureate program throughout the
school implementing the Primary Years Programme (PYP).
 The overarching aim of the school is encouraging the students to take their
education beyond the classroom to view themselves as citizens of the world,
guided by kindness and Christian principles..
 In regards to curriculum their focus was on the total growth of the developing child
where at each year level the development of the of boys’ inquiry, creativity,
curiosity and imagination is a focus.
 Student 1
Reception who began school in term 1 2018
Can count to 100 and beyond
Fluent in simple addition
Can count by groups of 10
On task worker, completes tasks on time/early

 Student 2
Mid year reception who began school in term 3 2018
Can count to 20
Needs assistance in writing numbers
Short attention span, easily distracted
 Mathematics
 5 E planning process (Bybee, 1995).
-Inquiry-orientated teaching and learning model.
-Students use their prior knowledge
-Hands-on experiences.
-Students have opportunities to represent and re-represent their developing
understanding.
-Actively engaged in the learning process
 Sullivan (2011) 6 Principles of Teaching Mathematics
Principle 1: Articulating Goals
Principle 2: Making Connections
Principle 3: Fostering Engagement
Principle 4: Differentiating Challenges
Principle 5:Structuring Lessons
Principle 6: Promoting Fluency & Transfer
 Hands on Learning
Using hands on materials and concrete models to explore mathematical concepts which can
be touched and moved around by students, play an fundamental role in the teaching and
learning of mathematics, where they enhance learning opportunities.
(Howard & Perry 1997, p. 25)

 Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is the method employed to assess student knowledge and

understanding in order to accommodate best for and enhance future learning opportunities.
It has the capability to benefit learning where it assists teachers in understanding student
learning, being aware of learner gaps, to correct student misconceptions and make
modifications to future instruction or activities
(Antoniou & James 2014)
 The unit I taught focused on measurement – specifically length and weight - over three weeks and
consisted of 8 lessons.

Principle 2: Making Connections (Sullivan 201)

Make learning relevant connecting learning to the real world and making connections between
topics
The students overarching unit of inquiry was on ‘Materials’ where the focus was on the properties of
materials and how they influence their use.
Boys were asked to bring in a garbage bag of ‘junk’ items (materials) for their unit of inquiry to
explore during their learning.
After exploring the use and properties of materials the boys used their ‘junk’ to create art work for
their whole school art exhibition artsPACes

 In Maths we utilised and explored these materials whilst looking at our topic measurement
Principle 2: Making Connections (Sullivan 2011)
 Principle 5: Structuring Lessons(Sullivan 2011)
Principle 6: Fluency & Transfer

 ENGAGE
Lesson 1: The aim of this lesson was to tap into the students prior knowledge, to
gauge what students already knew regarding measurement, using a whole class
mind map activity. Students were asked what they knew about measurement and
results were recorded
 EXPLORE/EXPLAIN
Lesson 2: Introduce measurement terms long and short, tall, short, longer than and
shorter than where students as a whole class using class ‘junk’ and individually
ordered items from shortest to tallest
Lesson 3: Focus on comparing items, using terms longer than and shorter than
using a lolly snake and the class ‘junk’
Lesson 4: Lesson aim was to introduce the notion we can use tools to measure how
long items are. We used the tools counters to measure items around the classroom.
 EXPLORE/EXPLAIN
Lesson 5&6: Introduced measurement terms heavy and light, heavier than and
lighter than. The students compared weight of ‘junk’ items to a bean bag
 ELABORATE
Lesson 7: Summative Assessment – Students used iPad application ‘Clips’ to record
their learning of Measurement. Students ordered ‘junk’ items from shortest to
longest & lightest to heaviest and used ‘Clips’ to record their learning.
 EVALUATE
Lesson 8: Two measurement videos were played to consolidate boys learning.
 Used the concept of the student’s prior knowledge as a reference to start their
planning, by gauging what approximate level their students are at, connecting to
the student’s current knowledge, individually and as a class, so knowledgeable,
calculated choices can made on their teaching of the content
(Anthony & Walshaw 2009).
 Mind Map in Lesson 1 to assess students prior knowledge and current views on
measurement
 Lesson Aim/ Learning Goal: Focus on measurement terms LONG and SHORT,
LONGER THAN and SHORTER THAN, LONGEST and SHORTEST & order items
based on length.

 First we watched an introductory engaging Sesame Street video comparing the

‘length’ of monsters

Principle 3: Fostering Engagement(Sullivan 2011)

 Principle 2: Making Connections (Sullivan 2011)

WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY

-Students in a circle, students
retrieved one material from
their garbage bags and
brought it back to the circle
-Ordered the items from
shortest to tallest
- We then looked at items and
used measurement language
“this is longer than this, or this
is shorter than this
ACTIVITY
Each student given a individual paper bag filled with differently cut lengths of colour
paper
The task was to stick and order the lengths from shortest to longest

DIFFERENTIATION
 Each boy was given a paper bag with their name on it, with individualised amounts
based on professional prior mathematical observations on ability. Mid years (student 2)
were given less than receptions who had been attending for the whole year (student 1)

Principle 4: Differentiating Challenges (Sullivan 2011)

Hands on learning
 Student could
successfully sort
items from shortest
to longest
 Understood the
concept of shortest
to longest
 Student could
successfully sort items
from shortest to longest
 Understood the concept
of shortest to longest
 Differentiated – less
items to sort
 Made the task more
achievable in time
period for student
 At the end of the lesson the students completed exit slips as a method of formative
assessment

Student 1 Student 2
 To gather student feedback on their learning and the lesson the boys filled in
‘Emoji’ faces, where sad indicated they did not enjoy the lesson or understand and
the happy indicated they enjoyed the lesson and understood

Student 1 Student 2
-Hands on learning
-Organised
-Differentiated learning
-Clear explanations
-Whole class & individual activities
-Effective time management
 Lesson Aim/ Learning Goal: To compare items based on length using terms
LONGER THAN & SHORTER THAN

 First we watched an introductory video to engage students, which talked about

longer than and shorter than
WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY
Using the garbage bags again the students were again asked to retrieve one
item/material. In a circle the boys described their item based on its length and
compared it to another student’s item using terms ‘longer than’ & ‘shorter than’

ACTVITY
Students were given a lolly snake
Students had to find two ‘junk items’ their snake was longer than and two ‘junk items’
their snake was shorter than

Principle 3: Fostering Engagement(Sullivan 2011)

Hands on learning
-Student used terms longer
than and shorter than correctly
-Did not need assistance,
worked independently
 -
-Student understood concept of
longer than or shorter than with
teacher working alongside him
 At the end of the lesson the students completed exit slips as a method of formative
assessment

Student 1 Student 2
 To gather student feedback on their learning and the lesson the boys filled in
‘Emoji’ faces, where sad indicated they did not enjoy the lesson or understand and
the happy indicated they enjoyed the lesson and understood

Student 1 Student 2
-Engaging
-Hands on learning
-Making connections to learning
(materials)
-Emphasised mathematical terms
Lesson Aim: Concept we can use tools to measure
length

WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY

First we revised over terms shorter than/longer than
using classroom items

Introduced the idea we can use tools to measure how

long things are
We used counters to measure how long items were
Modelled the 3 rules of measuring alongside visual
poster I created whilst measuring an item
ACTIVITY
Students were given a scavenger hunt worksheet, where they had to locate
classroom items and measure them using counters. They recorded on the worksheet
how many counters long their item was

DIFFERENTIATION/EXTENSION: For an extra task the students then had to find two
‘junk items’ to measure
Principle 4: Differentiating Challenges (Sullivan 2011)
Hands on learning
-Used abilities to challenge himself
-‘Used a class big book and could
measure 49 counters long’
-
-Student could easily measure
-Needed assistance with modelled
writing of numbers
 To gather student feedback on their learning and the lesson the boys filled in
‘Emoji’ faces, where sad indicated they did not enjoy the lesson or understand and
the happy indicated they enjoyed the lesson and understood

Student 1 Student 2
-Concrete, hands on manipulatives
-Differentiation: Setting challenges
-Revised over previous learning
and terms
-Modelling
-Visual aids with instruction
 Principle 6: Fluency & Transfer(Sullivan 2011)

 Based on the measuring activity in lesson 4 it became clear to me the students

were still confused with number recognition/which way numbers go.
 As a result I organised 2 learning experiences to address this and increase the
students practice

1st Activity: The boys had to roll a dice and practice writing and tracing the number
they rolled.
DIFFERENTIATION
The first sheet used only 1 dice
As an extension the second sheet used 2 dice where the boys had to add the
numbers together7
 2nd Activity: Boys coloured in a picture, colouring the corresponding number to the
colour. The aim was to continue increase their number awareness.
 Achievement Standard: Compare objects using MASS & LENGTH

 ACTIVITY:

-Boys found 5 items around the class and within their ‘junk items’ to sort longest to
shortest and then lightest to heaviest. Students used their iPads to take photos of
their learning and then used the iPad application ‘CLIPS to record themselves
explaining and comparing the items using the terms longer than, shorter than,
heavier than and lighter than.
 Explored length
 Explored and used mathematical terms
 Ordered items by length
 Compared items by length
 Utilised language longer than and shorter than
 Measured how long items are
 Anthony, G & Walshaw M 2009, Effectivt Pedagogy in Mathematic, International Bureau of
Education, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Belley, France.
 Antoniou, P & James, M 2014, 'Exploring Formative Assessment in Primary School Classrooms:
Developing a Framework of Actions and Strategies', Educational Assessment, Evaluation and
Accountability, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 153-176.

 Bybee, RW 1995, 'Achieving Scientific Literacy: Using the National Science Education Standards to
Provide Equal Opportunities for All Students to Learn Science', Science Teacher, vol. 62, no. 7, pp.
28-33.

 Howard, P & Perry, B 1997, 'Manipulatives in Primary Mathematics: Implications for Learning and
Teaching', Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 25-30.

 Sullivan, P 2011, Teaching mathematics : using research-informed strategies, ACER Press,

Camberwell, Vic.