Mathematical Practices and Character Strengths

There are eight mathematical practices we work on throughout the year.  You will see them on the report card.  They are:

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
4. Model with mathematics
5. Use appropriate tools strategically
6. Attend to precision
7. Look for and make use of structure
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

They are K-12 ideas and are challenging for kindergartners.  Because of this, we try to embed at least one math practice within every math lesson.  The one we've talked a lot about lately is the third: "Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others."  In kindergarten, the language we use is, "I can use my thinking and consider the mathematical thinking of others."

Where does character come into all of this?  Well, the character strengths we've focused on so far include: Self Control, Courtesy, Optimism and Perseverance.  These, too, are challenging lessons to learn, so we embed them throughout our day.  

In pushing the thinking of your child during math conversations, I do my best to marry the two components - math practices and character strengths.  The math conversations we have definitely stretch your child's thinking.  We do a lot of learning from one another, which requires some students to explain their thinking and everyone else to be listening to the thinking of others.  The listening component is difficult for students this age.  It requires a great deal of self-control and courtesy.  It also takes perseverance to slog through a conversation about a tricky concept or pattern, which we do daily during our number corner (calendar) time.  (It also takes optimism on the teacher's part to believe that they can really do it!)  One character strength not covered, but equally as important, is courage.  It takes a courageous person to be able to share their thinking - right or wrong - with the group.  Luckily we have many courageous kindergartners!

We talk about nearly all of the character strengths throughout the school day.  Feel free to reinforce them at home so we have some common language between home and school.  Please also feel free to talk to your child about his/her participation during our math conversations.  Some conversation topics might include:

• Do you ever raise your hand during math conversations?  Are you able to share your thinking with the class?  How do you feel about sharing your thinking with the class?  

• What kind of listener are you when someone else is speaking?

• What is one thing you've learned from listening to someone else's thinking?

• Have you ever been able to explain something to others that helped them learn?

• Is it ok to share your thinking with class even if it might not be correct?

Thanks for your partnership in this difficult task of educating your child!