The first video I watched was of Ms.

Allmond’s Kindergarten class fully engaged in a

number sense lesson: “Fill in the Line, 0-9.” Ms. Allmond began by having her students sit

around her on the floor while she flashed subitizing notecards for the students to quickly

proclaim how many squares or circles are on each card without counting. Each notecard

displayed either squares or circles in different colors as well as in differing directions of

grouping. The students quickly proclaimed how many squares or circle dots were on the

notecard, and Ms. Allmond called on students to share among the class “how they see the

groupings” which make up the overall number. She would then ask, “How does (Student A) see

3 and 3?” (which made up the total of 6 on the card). The subitizing notecards serve as a

wonderful pictorial representation as students practice counting up, grouping, and fine tune

developments in number sense.

I noticed Ms. Allmond stressing the importance among all her students to voice the

way(s) that he or she individually groups the shapes quickly to ultimately know the total on each

card by asking, “How do you (Student B) see it?” and “What about you (Student C), how do you

see it?” This allowed for students to explain among their peers how they saw the total number

based on how they made groupings. Ms. Allmond then asked if the class saw how “Student A”

made groupings of those numbers to get the total number on the card. By doing this, students

were also able to recognize how their peers may have differently grouped the shapes to

determine the total, ultimately making sense and finding logic in others’ problem-solving

methods.

Ms. Allmond discussed that there will be three different choices in spinners that students

can use during the working session: subitizing dots, ten frame, and number words. The spinners,

along with the needed pencil and paper clip, serve as great, concrete representations with pictures
of subitizing dots, ten frames, and/or number words displayed on each. Students effectively used

the spinners to land on different pictures of subitizing dots, ten frames, or number words. After

landing on each pictorial representation, students quickly determined groupings, concluded the

total, and traced that number on their worksheet. Some students would say aloud the catchy

phrases while tracing the imaginary number in the air, to remember how to write the number

they landed upon. For example, (Student C) landed on subitizing dots that equaled a total of 3.

Student C grouped 2 and 1 to determine the total as 3. Student C voiced aloud while he traced a

“3” in the air, “Go around the tree and around the tree, that’s how you make a 3.” The student

then traced a “3” on his paper.

Ms. Allmond added counting cups to the working session after a while, telling students to

get a scoop of plastic dots and build a model for each number spun. This was another great

concrete representation that allowed students to manipulate plastic dots into groupings on their

desk for each number spun. Ms. Allmond then asked her students to turn their worksheets over

for a challenge, where students would spin, determine the total number, and fill in that number

on a blank line. She reminded students, “Like a number line, it will begin with zero. Try to

determine where each number you spin goes on that line.” Students faced a challenged as they

began to fill the empty line with numbers. They had to access prior knowledge about number

sense, cardinality, and determine what the logical place was for each number on their line. A

student asked Ms. Allmond, “Where does the 10 go?” She quickly turned the question back on

the student asking, “Where would that 10 go?” She allowed for the student to problem-solve in

that moment by not giving her the answer or aiding her in retrieving an answer. Instead, the

student pointed to a place on her number line and looked at Ms. Allmond for approval. Ms.

Allmond remarked, “Does 10 come right before 1 when you count?” The student shook her head
no and began counting from 1 and so on until she got to 10, determining the placement on her

number line. Ms. Allmond then stated, “Solve the problem in a logical place.” Ms. Allmond

pushed the student to use prior knowledge and asked her a question in regard to what was

sensible and logical in order for the student to successfully problem solve by herself and find the

answer. I really like how Ms. Allmond pushed her students to think logically and reason with

what they already know when they asked her for help. Also, I really loved how she would ask the

student a question in return. By doing this, she enabled the student to think even deeper, make

connections, access prior knowledge, brainstorm logical approaches, and efficiently problem

solve by him or herself.

The second video I watched was Ms. Greenway’s 1st grade class participating in their

“Bunch of Bananas” Unit 1 lesson. Before Ms. Greenway started the lesson, she and her students

reviewed the 8 SMPs, saying them aloud. She then displayed the objectives for the lesson and

asked students to be thinking about them as they worked through their problem today. The

review of SMPs and display of objectives provided a firm foundation for students’ mathematical

thinking and reasoning before they even began the day’s lesson. As Ms. Greenway began the

lesson, her students sat before her on the ground. She displayed a mathematical word problem

via overhead projector about a zookeeper that needs to know how many bananas each monkey

will receive.

“Monkeys like to eat an even number of bananas for lunch and each monkey must

receive the same number of bananas. They cannot eat more than 5. How can the zookeeper figure

out how to share a basket of bananas? Show different ways that the zookeeper can share bananas

with the 8 monkeys.”

 Students were asked to do “turn and talks” with their math partner, while still sitting on

the carpet. They had to come up with a plan for how to approach this problem and were asked by

Ms. Greenway how they were going to use representations to solve the problem. Students were

able to talk through problem-solving strategies with their math partner and hear their partner’s

strategies before grabbing an individual worksheet to take back to their desks. Students then

engaged in individual work time, with Ms. Greenway asking that they use mathematical

drawings, numbers, number sentences, and representations to record what they discussed with

their partner.

Ms. Greenway repeatedly voiced that students make picture drawings and number

sentences to represent their mathematical thinking throughout the problem. This allowed for lots

of brainstorming, trial and error, perseverance, use of prior knowledge (even and odd numbers),

and in-depth problem-solving strategies in order to efficiently represent their thinking, as well as

find the solution. Ms. Greenway monitored students’ individual work time by walking around

the classroom asking students, “How can you label your circle drawings so that someone knows

what they represent?” and “How can you make your odd number, even?” as well as saying,

“Explain to me what this drawing is” and “Now, add a number sentence after finishing your

drawing.” Students were able to talk through their mathematical thinking and problem-solving

strategies as Ms. Greenway stopped at desks around the room. Throughout the lesson, Ms.

Greenway did an excellent job at building her students’ confidence in their mathematical

thinking and skills by voicing, “Keep working through your problem, I really like how you

started!” and “Great job using the counting on strategy to persevere through this problem!” and

“You persevered and worked through that problem, I am so proud of you for not giving up.”
 For the closing of the lesson, Ms. Greenway had a few students share their work and

explain their mathematical thinking, and problem-solving strategies used. Ms. Greenway has a

mini stage with a spotlight and microphone set up in the corner of her classroom, where students

are able to share their work among peers. Two students shared their work and thinking on stage

among all classmates. After both students shared, Ms. Greenway further commented on what she

witnessed the student representing, labeling, and their thought processes during the individual

work time. She explained to the class that, “(Student A) used circles to represent the number of

total monkeys and labeled it as such right here,” and stated other ways that the student used

specific pictorial representations and number sentences to help problem-solve and ultimately find

his or her solution.