On Friday, September 27 most of our elementary schools in Richmond had professional development days. We hosted an afternoon session looking at Reggio-Inspired Mathematics. There isn’t very much written specifically about mathematics in the Reggio world so I have been thinking a lot about how the elements from a Reggio-inspired approach could mesh with the prescribed mathematics curriculum that our teachers work with. I shared some of the work we have been doing in K/1 classrooms this September and then teachers had a chance to engage with different tables full of materials and mathematical provocations.
K-3 teachers attended and there was much rich conversation about ways to address curriculum in different ways. I shared my thinking around “uncovering” curriculum (instead of the mindset of having to cover curriculum) through invitations with thoughtful design and beautiful materials. The mathematical provocations shared had mathematical intentions embedded in their design and materials but they are intended for students to explore and discover and for the mathematics to unfold.
The following photographs share the series of number sense and patterning provocations that were presented across two rooms to inspire teachers, encourage discussion and connection-making to mathematics curriculum at different grade levels.
Teachers also had the chance to make some wooden ten frames (love popsicle sticks for their versatility!) to take back to their classrooms. This was one of those a-ha moments for me early in September when I wanted to use ten-frames but wanted a more playful, kinaesthetic tool rather than a photocopied ten frame on paper or an egg carton.
A special thank you to Lenore Dennis for hosting us in her lovely classroom at Byng Elementary!
Our afternoon together was hopefully just the starting point of ongoing collaborative projects as we think about our young students and how they experience mathematics in their classrooms.
~Janice
