Progress is being made in maths as well, although not enough to move ahead to the next stage. The biggest change I've noticed is his confidence, which has grown immensely. He loves the games I make up, and looks so proud when he goes off to teach them to Cooper in Room 3. I've drawn an analogue clock on the board with 10:50 on it so he knows when to go for his 10 minute "game" and he gets so excited when it gets close to the right time.
He is contributing more during group problem solving tasks, is using materials and drawings to help with understanding and consolidation of maths strategies, and is better able to explain some of his ideas using mathematical language.
Writing can still be a challenge. When Taige is sitting with him, Mack is focused and works hard on completing writing to set criteria (usually we only focus on one thing at a time) but if Taige is away, Mack does a whole lot less. Taige's support for Mack is just wonderful. Mack does not copy, their written work is similar but not the same, and he is always so pleased with himself when he completes tasks. I am really hoping that Mack begins to take more responsibility for his learning in writing when Taige can't be there, it's great that he has support, but he needs to be able to write independently too!
We used "A week of inspirational maths" tasks from youcubed recently. There are really neat little video clips about growth mindset and brains and learning which I showed the class prior to each maths session. We did not complete every activity, but they are all pretty awesome.
The one with surprising results (for me) was an activity where children had to figure out the least amount of squares to fit inside a 13 x 11 rectangle. I honestly thought it would be a quick 10 minute activity. I was wrong. 45 minutes in and they were still going. I had some interesting ideas about squares presented to me (even though we have done lots of work with geometry!) and children who struggled with the whole 13 x 11 rectangle... just not counting accurately! Jack managed to get it down to 8 squares. The class, knowing Jack usually figures things out first, all carried on, trying to get theirs down to 8 as well. Jack figured he had solved it and went off to play Prodigy Maths on the computer. Then Mabel found she could do it in 6! This caused much excitement, and though I could not figure out any way to make it less myself, Mabel decided to go and see if it was possible to make it in even less! Talk about perseverance! I took a photo of Mabel and Brooke, they were just so "into it" and I was like WOW, brains growing here!
One other thing, I've decided that regardless of whether or not fidget spinners are good for adhd, autism, anxiety or any other problem, I really like them! So much so that I have a wee collection of them now, and I am happy for the children in my class to have them too.
We did a whole bunch of activities with them, timing them, making charts and graphs, making predictions about spin time based on size, bearings, shape... it was heaps of fun.
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| Tigger guards her spinner! |
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| It's a serious business! |
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| Summer in charge of the stop watch |
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| Checking to see if weight makes a difference to the length of the spin |
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| My precious grandsons love their spinners too! |
