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Week 4 reflection
1.One major idea I learned is that geometry in early childhood is much more than recognizing and naming shapes like circles, squares, and triangles. It is about developing spatial sense — understanding how objects move, fit together, rotate, and relate to one another in space.Children learn geometry when they: Build with blocks, complete puzzles,notice shapes in their environment ,talk about positions like above, below, beside, inside This shows that geometry is connected to everyday experiences and movement, not just worksheets.
Another important idea is that children need to understand that measurement means comparing attributes such as length, weight, capacity, and time. Before using rulers or scales, children must explore concepts like longer/shorter, heavier/lighter, holds more/less. Measurement begins with hands-on experiences and language development. Young children learn best when they physically explore materials. When they use everyday objects to measure (like blocks, hand spans, cups), they build foundational understanding. Standard measurement tools only make sense after children understand what it means to measure and why consistency matters.
2. Yes, I would definitely use non-standard measurement instruments with pre-schoolers. Non-standard tools such as paper clips, blocks, hand spans, footsteps, string, or cups make learning concrete and meaningful, encourage active exploration, help children understand the idea of unit repetition, build problem-solving and reasoning skills and develop mathematical vocabulary. At this stage, children are developing foundational thinking. Using familiar objects makes measurement less abstract and more playful.
However, it would not be a good idea to stop at non-standard measurement. While non-standard tools are essential in early learning, children eventually need to understand why standard units (centimeters, meters, kilograms) are important, the need for consistency and fairness, that different people should get the same measurement result. For example, if one child measures a table using hand spans and another uses footsteps, they may get different answers. This creates a valuable learning opportunity to discuss why we need standard tools. So, the progression should be explore attributes, compare directly use non-standard units, gradually introduce standard measurement tools.This sequence supports deep conceptual understanding rather than rote learning.Week 3 reflection
In the video, Deen explored objects by focusing on their attributes such as color, size, shape, and type. Instead of randomly arranging materials, he began to sort objects based on similarities and differences, notice repeated features, arrange materials in a particular order,predict what might come next
What stood out was that Deen was not just playing — he was observing regularity and structure. He experimented, checked his thinking, and modified his pattern when needed. This shows early mathematical reasoning developing naturally through exploration.
Patterning is the foundation of algebraic thinking. When children work with patterns, they learn to notice regularity, identify relationships, predict what comes next, understand repetition and growth and begin to generalize rules.
In algebra, we look for rules and relationships (for example, understanding that something increases by 2 each time). When children extend patterns like:
Red, blue, red, blue
They are beginning to understand structure and repetition — which is the basis of variables and functions in later algebra.
Patterning helps children move from concrete observation to abstract reasoning, which is essential for algebraic thinking.
Below are examples across different stages of pattern development:
A. Noticing Regularity
Example: A child notices that floor tiles alternate black and white.
Teacher questions , “What do you notice?”, “Do you see something repeating?”, “How do you know?”
B. Recognizing Patterns
Example: Beads arranged as red, yellow, red, yellow.
Teacher questions , “What is happening here?”, “Which colors are repeating?”, “How many colors are in the pattern?”
C. Copying Patterns
Example: Teacher claps-stomps-claps-stomps and child repeats it.
Teacher questions ,“Can you make it just like mine?”, “What comes after clap?”, “How did you remember the pattern?”
D. Extending Patterns
Example: Apple , banana, apple, banana ___
Teacher questions: , “What comes next?”, “How do you know?”,
“What part is repeating?”
E. Creating and Generalizing Patterns
Example: Child builds a block pattern: blue, blue, green, blue, blue, green.
Teacher questions, “Can you tell me the rule of your pattern?”, “If we continue, what will the 10th block be?”, “Can you make a different pattern with the same rule?”
General Questions to Encourage Pattern Thinking
“What do you notice?”
“What is the same? What is different?”
“What comes next? Why?”
“Can you explain your thinking?”
“Can you make your own pattern?”
“Is there another way to make this pattern?”Week 2 Reflection
Subitizing refers to a child’s ability to instantly recognize the number of objects in a small group without counting them one by one. For example, when a child sees ⚀⚀⚀ and immediately says “three” without counting, that is subitizing. In early childhood mathematics, subitizing is an important part of number sense development. It helps children understand quantity quickly and accurately. Children usually subitize small numbers (1–4) naturally.
Types of Subitizing:
1.Perceptual Subitizing: Instantly recognizing small groups (1–4 objects).
Example: Seeing 4 flowers and knowing it is 4.
2. Conceptual Subitizing: Recognizing a number by breaking it into smaller groups.
Example: Seeing 8 as 4 + 4 or 6 + 2.
Importance of Subitizing :Develops strong number sense
Helps in learning addition and subtraction
Improves mental math skills
Builds foundation for place
Activities to develop subitizing include Dice games, dot cards, quick flash cards etc.
KEY LEARNINGS FROM THE FRACTIONS HANDOUT :
CONCEPT OF FRACTIONS: In the early years , fractions are introduced in a simple and concrete way. Children do not begin with symbols like ½ or ¾. Instead, they first understand fractions through real-life experiences and sharing situations. A fraction means equal parts of a whole Children first learn: Whole (one complete object),Half (two equal parts), Quarter (four equal parts) For example: Cutting an apple into two equal parts → each part is a half. Sharing one roti between two children → each gets half.
Key Ideas Children Should Understand:
Equal Sharing: Fractions begin with sharing equally , Sharing 1 chocolate between 2 children, dividing a cake into equal slices.
Part–Whole : A whole can be divided into equal parts, the parts together make the whole.
Equal Parts are Important: If parts are not equal, it is not a proper fraction in early learning.
Teachers use concrete and visual materials, such as:Fruits (apple, orange),Paper folding (folding paper into half/quarter),Clay or play dough, Fraction circles, Drawing and coloring shapes Example activities: Fold a paper into two equal parts, Color half of a shape, share 4 biscuits equally among 2 children. Teaching Fractions early builds foundation for later math (division, ratios, decimals),develops reasoning skills, encourages fairness and sharing concepts.
The 2 activities are shared in the link.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sRjsOHb3EGUASpsoXfv5Hu5q0ByFydE1/editWeek 1 Reflection
Hello everyone, My name is Saba Ambreen and I have recently joined the Lucent Global School, Anantnag. As this is the start of my teaching and learning journey with chrysaellect, I feel very happy and excited to be a part of it.
To begin with, my earlier experience of Maths was just memorization of numbers, tables, formulas and procedures by heart. It was teacher-centred approach i.e teacher explains and students listen. The emphasis was on right or wrong answers. The students were passive learners and followed fixed steps to solve problems.
Now through this course I have learnt the key insights :-
Children first build informal number sense through counting everyday objects like toys, fruits, steps etc., comparing quantities(more, less, same) , recognizing small quantities instantly(subitizing e.g. knowing 4 dots without actual counting)
Young children may chant numbers correctly but still struggle with meaning. True counting involves:
• One to one correspondence i.e. one number word per object.
• Stable order principle i.e numbers always follow the same Sequence.
• Cardinality principle i.e last number counted tells how many and
• Order Irrelevance i.e objects can be counted in any order.
Children learn number operations best through manipulatives, fingers and real life problem situations. Subitizing builds Mental maths skills, number flexibility and understanding of part-whole relationships which means before formal addition and subtraction, children need to grasp that numbers can be broken apart i.e 8= 5+3, numbers can be combined and numbers stay same even if rearranged which supports addition, subtraction and later multiplication. There may be some common early errors where conceptual support is needed like double counting objects, skipping numbers, believing bigger looking sets are ‘more’ even if they are equal. Another thing which I understood Is children who hear more number talks develop stronger math skills like more / less, equal, altogether, difference, before /after. Play based learning is highly effective like board games with dice, building towers and comparing heights, sorting and classifying objects. Strong early foundations prevent math anxiety and support long term mathematical success.
