LEARNING PAPER 3.

How to boost math skills in the early grades

BAGUIO, CHRISTABEL CENA I.

II-14 BECE

I. Summary

“How to boost math skills in the early grades” is a Henchinger Report written
by Sarah Gonser. The Henchinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that
reports on one topic: education. The report is about the necessity of giving
attention to children's math skills in their early years and how it will help them be
successful in the occupations they will choose in the future, as well as how it
leads to the analytic, higher-level thinking of a child.

The report focused specifically in Berwyn North School District 98. In 2015,
because there is less importance given to math skills than in literacy, only 14
percent of the third graders were able to do grade-level math, putting them to
the last spot. Fortunately, Carmen Ayala, the district’s first woman and first Latina
to be superintendent, started making steps in changing this attitude towards
math. She aimed the district to be the best among other districts both in math
and literacy skills, but she believed that to achieve this, they must start giving
more importance to math. Aside from the part of the teachers in this math
learning, the role of parents is vital too. Since they are first teachers of the
children, they should teach them not just how to read but also count. They
should encourage their children to learn math.

All these things gradually changed and improved. And by 2017, it is stated
that in Berwyn North District 98, math scores are steadily creeping upward. 33
percent of Hispanic third-graders met or exceeded math grade-level
expectations on the PARCC test — nearly double the percentage from 2015.
And of the four districts that feed into the local high school, Berwyn went from
dead-last to leading the pack in both math and reading achievement.

II. Reflection

The report discussed various ways on how to boost the math skills of K-3
pupils that I can apply to my future students. Examples are: number talk, which is
a math practice wherein students discuss and critique math solutions together,
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LEARNING PAPER 3. How to boost math skills in the early grades

which helps them develop creative mathematical thinking; math pictographs

are one way of showing children information using images; making a poster or
anything like that about their solutions in a problem; make use of the classroom
space during activities; and finally, allowing students on their own and discover
the answer creatively.

From the report, I also learned how important it is for children to discuss their
answers or their solution to problems and not just by mere producing the correct
answer. It would make them better mathematicians and also communicators.
Thus, I would give them activities that would require them to interact with others
and where they could be creative and show their artistic side.

III. References

Gosner, S. (2018). How to boost math skills in early grade. Retrieved from
https://hechingerreport.org/how-to-boost-math-skills-in-the-early-grades/

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