Reggio-Inspired Mathematics

cross-district dinner meeting: October 10 2018

Educators from across eight districts came together on October 10 for our cross-district network dinner meeting. We met at Grauer Elementary in Richmond and began in The Studio, thinking about how different art materials inspire mathematical thinking, connection-making and questions.

After time with materials, we discussed some big interdisciplinary concepts and thought about where they lived in mathematics. Pairs of educators were asked to choose a concept and a material and see where that connection took them. One partner was to work with material and think math aloud while the other partner was asked to document what they were noticing and hearing. The practice of being present, observing and listening is foundational to the educational philosophy from the centres in Reggio Emilia. Taking the time to reflect on the experience and interpret the documentation was an extension to the experience and also  critical within the framework of responsive teaching. 

After some project updates and dinner together, we broke into cross-district teams and chose selected quotes about working with materials such as the following

“In the language of art, young children speak to and about the world in both imaginative and relational ways. Children use the language of art to construct meaning and understanding. They participate in human conversation about ideas, experiences, and emotions.”

                                        from The Language of Art by Ann Pelo

to discuss the following question:

How can we continue to learn about children’s capacities for the thinking with materials?

 

We then came together in our district teams to choose a material to focus some of our encounters with mathematics for the year - the range of materials selected include clay, wire and land-based materials. We will be sharing our findings from this inquiry at our May cross-district event and will be sharing our investigations on twitter using the hashtag #BCAMTreggio

~Janice

visiting the Okanagan

Hosted by BC School Districts 53 and 57, educators from across the Okanagan region came together on August 28 for a summer institute focusing on Reggio-Inspired Learning Experiences in Mathematics. We looked at the principles and practices inspired but the centres in Reggio Emilia, Italy and made connections to our context here in BC. We looked at the idea of provocations, the role of materials and mathematical routines and looked at projects that are connected to place, community and culture.

The day before the session, I wandered around Penticton taking some photographs that inspired my own mathematical thinking and questions and used these as provocations for the educators to think about different ways to connect mathematics to place, community and culture.

Where do you see mathematics? What connections are you making? What questions do you have?

 

 
 

In November, we set up a lesson observation in a grades 4&5 classroom at Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School in Oliver where educators were able to observe an inquiry-based mathematics lesson focusing on the big idea of number (numbers represent quantity) with a focus on fractions and decimal numbers. The curricular competencies I focused on in my planning were using reasoning to explore and make connections as well as connecting mathematical concepts to each other. The guiding questions were:

What is the relationship between these numbers?

What connections are you making?

How do different materials inspire your thinking about numbers?

We began with the Alike and Different routine to engage students with thinking about different types of numbers and to bring out the math language they had. I wrote six numbers on the whiteboard and asked students how they were alike and how they were different. 

We then focused on working with materials and students were invited to record and share their findings. We talked about how some materials were more likely to inspire connections to fractional thinking while others helped them think about decimal numbers. As students, shared their findings, we went back to our guiding questions for this time together and focused on the connections they were making about fractions and decimal numbers.

 

 

A third session will be held in spring 2019.

For more information, contact Melia Dirk at [email protected]

~Janice