Mrs Sandi Bennett and her Grade 1 class took time from their lessons at Northport Elementary School to show us the new math manipulatives the school acquired thanks to Mrs Bennett's efforts and a Power Workers' Union grant. Hub photo
Kiera Merriam
Teachers and students at Northport Elementary School are now enjoying new resources and supplies to help support their Math curriculum, thanks to the efforts of Grade 1 teacher Sandi Bennett and a $5000 grant from the Power Workers' Union.
The Northport Elementary student body has grown to over 500 and with that growth came a need to restock Math manipulatives and resources in support of the lessons.
The manipulatives are divided into three age groups, Kindergarten, Grades 1-3, and older grades. The grant also covered storage bins to help keep the supplies organized.
We met with Mrs Bennett and her class last month and she and her students showed us just some of the new supplies.
Bins of blocks, for example, will be used to help illustrate place value; from individual blocks, to rods of 10, to flats of 100 to cubes of 1000. Bennett illustrated with her students by counting out 10 individual blocks that she would then trade for a rod, then trading 10 rods for a flat and so on.
Three dimensional shapes that disassemble to become two dimensional were also among the new supplies. These shape models help illustrate the individual shapes that come together to form the three dimensional model.
Analogue clocks with hands and gears were another a point of interest. "Digital is just a number," said Bennett. "This analogue clock shows the passage of time," she said.
Bennett explained that when the kids have hands on tools to use to illustrate math concepts it helps them to connect. "You have to go from concrete to concept," she said. "So play with it, play with it, play with it, then I can do it in my head," Bennett explained.
Northport Elementary School is currently over capacity and is expected to continue to grow.
Grade 1 students Nova and Lena showed us some of the new supplies at Northport Elementary School. Hub photo
Northport Elementary School teacher Mrs Sandi Bennett illustrated the geared analogue clocks while student Oliver looks on. Hub photo
Mrs Bennet showed us how the three dimensions shapes disassemble to illustrate the individual shapes that come together to make form the model. Hub photo
Grade 1 students Emily and Mackenna place shapes on paper illustrations. This activity helps students learn spatial awareness, colour recognition, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving. Hub photo
Mrs Bennett worked with students Yaman and Aiden to illustrate place value. Hub photo
