Elementary Pathways/Outdoor Ed

One of the goals of a Flexible Pathways program is to provide students with opportunities to approach academic goals in diverse ways. In third and fourth grade we’ve been practicing multiplication and geometry skills by completing perimeter and area challenges with small sticks out at forest school. We also welcomed April with an excerpt from a Robert Frost poem. I hope reading his words while actually sitting outdoors in the April weather has helped our students feel connected with complex language and forms of writing. 

In first grade we’ve been meeting and playing math games with some oddly named trolls and fairies. Practicing reading skills with nonsense words reinforces the rules of our written language and can be especially fun when we get to imagine the voice a troll whose name is Grot or Crazz might have! First Grade Forest School always includes time for play and exploration. The natural setting provides an ever changing availability of play things (Snow! Sticks! Rocks! Pine cones!) and the students practice the important social skills of creating and sustaining games and work of their own design. 

Elementary Pathways/Outdoor Ed

In second grade we are wrapping up a unit studying states of matter and the difference between physical and chemical change. Second graders should be able to give examples of how heating and cooling can cause changes that are reversible, and changes that are not reversible. We put some surprising things over the campfire to gather our evidence!

A small fourth grade enrichment group concluded a few community interviews and is writing up short articles about our subjects, Lori Berger, Cecily Andersen and Leonard Meek. Many adults can trace a line from their hobbies or profession back to experiences with people they met when they were in upper elementary school. As the elementary Flexible Pathways program develops, one of my goals is to make more connections between our students and the awesome wealth of talent and experience in our communities.

Math Intervention

Tunbridge math intervention students have been working so hard and focusing a lot on models we can use to solve problems. We use ten/twenty frames, bead racks, base ten blocks, and cubes. Students use these tools to build numbers, add, or subtract which helps them be hands on and see the number conceptually. (See photo).

Kindergarteners have been using these tools to explore teen numbers, first and second grade have been adding and subtracting, and third and fourth graders have been creating groups to show multiplication. The possibilities are endless! Our current cycle of intervention ends on April 20th and I will be sending updated letters home for exiting/remaining in the groups.

Below are some simple and fun math ideas to do at home with your child:

*Number Hunt - use sticky notes or scrap paper and hide numbers outside or inside. Have your child collect these numbers and put them in order. 1-10 too easy? Try 10-20 or 49-96, or 50-29.

The possibilities are endless!

*Backwards counting - this is a skill many students need support in. Great to do in the car, while making dinner, etc.

*I’m a huge proponent of nature-based math - get outside with your student this summer and collect natural elements. “Can you collect more than 14 objects?” “Can you collect 6 blades of grass and 4 pieces of bark? How much does that make?”

*Number writing - use water to paint on the pavement and watch it dry, build the number with materials, use chalk, markers, sand, etc. This is an important skill!

Here is a picture of the models we use in intervention: If you have any questions about how to work with your child on math, please reach out to me at mcavanaugh@wrvsu.org.