By Leah Silver, JK-4 Math Coordinator

The vibrancy of our Early Childhood and Lower School math program can be felt both in the classroom and on Zoom screens this year. JK through Grade 4 students are questioning, constructing, noticing, playing and practicing in different ways. In a year of so much change, I’ve found it helpful to articulate guiding principles for our program this year: prioritizing the use of real materials, centering the use of games, and trusting in the resilience of our students. 

Guiding Principle 1: Prioritizing real materials 
This year presents new challenges for using materials, but we know that students learn new math while getting the opportunity to construct new understandings for themselves. While digital manipulatives exist and are very useful, when students first learn a new concept they need to hold the materials in their hands. Every student in Early Childhood and Lower School–whether learning remotely or in person–received an individual math manipulatives kit with the key materials they will use over the course of the year. Depending on the age, these kits include unifix cubes, pattern blocks, beaded number racks, base ten manipulatives, game spinners and dice. This way, we can make sure everyone has access to the same materials in a safe and sanitary way, and every kid can easily take these home, should we have to all learn remotely. 

Guiding Principle 2: Games are at the Center
Games have always been at the center of our math program, and this year is no different (in that regard!). With our ongoing adoption of the Bridges in Mathematics program, we have access to incredible digital versions of the games our students love to play. These games are a crucial piece of our math program, encouraging strategy development, logical thinking, and further building of math concepts. 

Guiding Principle 3: Trust in the resilience and mathematical capabilities of our students, and keep moving forward.
While we had to make curricular adaptations to accommodate our remote learning schedule last spring, our work at the beginning of the year with students confirmed what we knew to be true: our students learned a ton of math last year and were ready to hit the ground running with their current grade level’s curriculum. We took guidance from the Bridges program not to rewind to the previous year’s content, even though some lessons may have been missed or altered. Instead, we assess as we go and identify any areas we need to re-engage with our students in real time.