Active Math

[Margot]

Hi, Donna, (and everyone!)

I'm mostly taking a break from computer stuff this summer... so I'm just dipping in as a guest here on the forum (hello, all!)....

Prepping for First Grade... particularly "Active Math".... I need help getting this to gel in my head (as I'm from a mainstream background AND because I'm a sit-n-ponder person, but my son is going to need this ACTIVE stuff... which is one of the reasons I'm so glad have these marvelous ideas-- he NEEDS the movement... but it is a stretch for me.)

Here's what I piece together regarding math facts from the Joyful Movement book, the audio download and the First Grade curriculum...

Seems there's 3 ways/modes to express/recite facts while doing something physical:
-- "one, two, THREE, four, five, SIX..."
-- "3, 6, 9, 12..."
-- "3 is 1 x 3, 6 is 2 x 6"

My questions:
1) How do you choose working with one of those 3 ways of expressing a set of facts? Do you call the three different modes something, if so, what do you call it, in Waldorf circles, that is (particularly the first one I've listed above... I get that the second thing I listed was "counting by 3s" and the third one I listed is the 3 times table)

2) Do you start doing active math with computation facts prior to the second math block? or stick to active math with "counting" for the first part of the year and save the computation facts until later in the year?

3) Brain Explosion: I learned my math facts the non-Waldorf way (2x3=6 rather than 6=3x2). Is it critical for me to relearn them the other way? Or is this something I can "let go" of.... I'm willing to do it (and I "get" the reasoning: yes, yes, start with the whole) but really, is this necessary? (Never thought about it being a challenge to relearn it-- but it would mean relearning it so that I could rattle it off whilst doing bean bags or such) I am capable. But am waffling. Please give me a pep talk, or tell me not to sweat it. ;)

Thanks in advance for your illumination!
What joy I have going into first grade with your materials, Donna! You've shown my husband and I a path for our family which is so pleasant, so fun, so satisfying and so slow/calm!

Warmly,
Margot Worthy
in Washington State where it is raining today! So much more pleasant than that silly 80+ summer weather. ;) (We live in the Pacific Northwest for the cool temps and green-making rain... sometimes even Mother Nature forgets and turns up the temp for us in the summer, though LOL... we like this 60 degree rain, and so does our garden: the sugar snap peas were feeling maxed out. )

[Donna]

Dear Margot,

Hmmm...methinks you might be over-analyzing a bit here, Margot! The point is to let things flow from you to your child at this stage. One wouldn't name anything - you just do it. You simply launch into the various ways of working with the different tables. The point is for the young child of first grade to simply experience the joy of the rhythm and pattern of the numbers, to get to know something of their qualities and to become acquainted with the unity of the four processes. That is enough for first grade.

In second grade you will look at the numbers more deeply, especially in relation to how they weave together through the times tables and how patterns of odd and even appear and disappear.

These are the years for experience of the beauty of mathematics and for the child to get a sense of the mysteries and wonders to come. With this as a foundation, math becomes less of a chore and more of a journey - the further one goes, the more is revealed.

I do not suggest you do computation facts at all until late in second grade - it breaks up the tables too much and becomes more of a series of facts than an understanding of the interrelated whole. In my second grade math curriculum (available very soon - stay tuned for details!) I give lots of ways for working with the tables as wholes - and suggestions for how one might look at the tables as wholes with the child. As she comes toward the 9 year change and the first whispers of an objectifying way of thinking, then playing around with flash cards with math facts on them becomes a useful thing to do.

I'm not sure what you mean by "stick to math facts as counting". Could you explain?

Yup - you're gonna have to get to grips with "from whole to part". I actually think this works best with the snap-snap clap-clap-clap rhythm (three is one times three) rather than the bean bag toss thing... I suggest that in first grade you mainly stick to skip counting (one TWO, three FOUR etc) and then do the "2 is 1 times 2" with snap-clapping and "call" the tables with the bean bags (2,4,6 etc). But when they are written on the board, at least the first couple of times, and all the way through second grade when they are written into the child's main lesson book, they really ought to appear as 5 = 1 X 5.

Hey Margot - don't worry. In first grade you only are introducing the 2,5 and 10 times tables! You have til second grade to deal with them all!

Please come back with more if you need further information - but perhaps on the first through third grade forum?

[Margot]

Over-analyze... yes, [chuckling] I admit to being guilty of that at times.

However, coming from a different paradigm (former public school teacher, for those of you who don't know me), I'm just trying to understand the Waldorf take on something I learned to do very differently.

And, who knows, perhaps my questions can also be helpful for you in revealing what isn't clear to someone who's not "seen" Waldorf in action.

So, thanks for you explanations and illuminations. I'll start chanting mult. facts to myself the other way round. ;) Yup, didn't mean I'd be "calling" them something to my kid.

Your query back to me was misquoted (so I can see why you didn't know what was meant.) I wondered if the multiplication facts (snap/clap) reciting should wait until the 4 processes block and thus stick to just counting and skip counting for the active math earlier in the year?

Just checking a basic premise of mine: Isn't "active math" something to work into our circle time (or circle time equivalent) even when it isn't Math as a Main Lesson block?

And, here's another Waldorf lightbulb coming on for me which you may find interesting: do you mean to say that active math doesn't include addition facts, for example, in first grade? Good grief, it all got clear as mud. LOL :p

Warmly,
Margot

[Donna]

Oh dear - looks like I made a muddle of your questions... sigh - I thought when you said "do you call the three modes something" you meant "when referring to them to your child." And ahh - yes, misquote - but I still don't quite get what you mean by "stick to math facts IN counting" either.... As you say, your questions are very helpful for other people - so please do ask more questions and forgive me for getting mixed up!:)

I hope, Margot, you didn't feel I was being sharp or impatient with you - I know you come from a different paradigm - just about everyone here does! I do apologize if anything I wrote led you to think I was impatient or unsympathetic to your questions!

So... that's right - no addition facts - at least not in the public school way. But you will be exploring how numbers are made up of other numbers. And Margot, you must also do what you feel is best for your child and what s/he needs - my curriculum materials are meant to be worked with, which might mean rejecting some parts. And any Waldorf teacher in a classroom worth his salt will also do this, depending on what he feels the children need - though hopefully for reasons based on an understanding of the curriculum and child development!

Yes - active math (movement based math games and exercises) should come into your Circle Time - most of the time when there is not a math ML going on. But one should also let "math sleep" for a while as well - there's a really important Waldorf pedagogical rule that says that all material should be left to "sleep" in the child from time to time so that the rest of what she is doing can deepen and enhance things like math - the opposite of summer loss.I discuss this further in the article, Summer Learning, which I gave a link to in my newsletter

So it is best if the "snap-clap" multiplication exercises do not come until after the tables have been introduced.... Earlier in the year, the active math during Circle Time would be mainly number finger games, counting games and the like.

And in the second grade math book there will be things to do during the "not main lesson times" as well as during the main lessons themselves. There is a rhythm and relationship between these two distinct times.

[Margot]

Excellent-- thanks for the "snap/clap AFTER introducing 4 processes."

No need to apologize-- the over analyzing comment is a true reflection of me at times. ;) (And I didn't feel you were impatient-- I appreciate your time!)

But I think, too, when one is explaining something so familiar to someone to whom it is not familiar, then there can be great gaps in perception which the expert isn't even aware of ("didn't I explain that?"). In fact, I find that each time I READ about Form Drawing written by different writers I get yet another glimpse at what it could be. Fascinating phenomena: trying to explain something familiar via writing.

Also, yes, I agree that all of this is taken in and then the parent decides what is best for the child. So, don't think I"m trying to understand this so as to follow it black and white to the letter. But rather, I'm just trying to understand it, so that I can be informed of the idea. (Especially since the active math is a concept which will help my son, I believe)

So I feel you have answered my questions! Thank you!

Warmly,
Margot Worthy