Mathematics in the Lower School
The Lower School is buzzing with excitement this spring as girls engage in hands-on math learning activities. At Ellis, our interdisciplinary approach to learning begins with our youngest students and Lower School girls are experiencing the beauty of math as they create their first symmetrical painting or admire a pattern they create with colorful teddy bear counters.
The Lower School mathematics curriculum features Math in Focus by Marshall Cavendish. Math in Focus is an authentic Singapore Math curriculum—with problem solving as the center of math learning and concepts taught with a concrete–pictorial–abstract learning progression through real-world, hands-on experiences. Concrete learning happens through hands-on activities with manipulatives such as counters, coins, number lines, or Base Ten Blocks. Pictorial learning uses pictures in student books, drawings, or other forms that illustrate the concept with something more than abstract numbers. The abstract stage is the more familiar way most math problems are taught with numbers and symbols and explanations of answers.
The program focuses on the core ideas of understanding, extending, and applying math skills. The mathematics curriculum within each grade level focuses on fewer topics but teaches them thoroughly so they need not be retaught continually. The scope and sequence of Math in Focus is advanced and a major facet of the program is preparing students for algebra. Consequently, algebraic thinking and expressions are introduced early and used frequently throughout the series.
Every day, Lower School faculty introduce new concepts utilizing guided practice followed by independent discovery. Girls are forced to think deeply as they are asked to develop solutions to complex math problems. In grade 1, faculty use math centers to enhance classroom instruction. After topics are introduced, girls work independently––or collaboratively with partners––to solve math problems through games, digital stations, and task cards. Because of the focused makeup in each classroom—a group of students made up of only girls—our expert educators are able to differentiate instruction and ensure that it is developmentally tailored to each student’s needs.
We know girls learn best when their learning experiences are experiential, interdisciplinary, and community based, and when their course work allows them to pursue interests that are meaningful to them. In kindergarten, students recently finished learning about three dimensional shapes. Students first engaged in hands-on learning experiences working with 3D shapes. They discussed the shape attributes and made comparisons between shapes. As a culmination to the unit, students read the book Not a Box by Antoinette Portis. Students were then given a cylinder and tasked with creating animals, bracelets, purses, and trees out of the cylinder. One of the strengths of Math in Focus is the way in which the program deploys problem solving at the core of math learning. Innovative and intentional teaching methods and curriculum prepare girls to think in complex ways and ensure that they develop multifaceted expertise and grasp the important role interrelationships can play in real-world problem solving.
In grade 3, abstract and logical thinking progresses and our expert faculty supplement the Math in Focus program with amazing activities that provide application of concepts in a wide variety of ways. Visualization skills are taught and reinforced through bar models which are used to solve multi-step word problems. Puzzles, games, and other activities are used to promote abstract thinking and mental math. There is still a strong focus on basic arithmetic and fact fluency as this is imperative as students move on to higher level math, however, girls are engaged in a plethora of projects that combine these different skillsets throughout the year.
After learning how to sort and classify data in order to create graphs, students in grade 4 engage in an alphabet statistics project. Students choose a book and record the frequency of the letters in several sentences on one page. They gather information and begin identifying commonalities with their classmates in the letters that appear most frequently––with some outliers, of course. Students then discuss why this data matters and begin to discover the people that would find this data valuable such as scientists and statisticians and how it would impact the products they design. Girls then design a keyboard that would take into account the most frequently used letters in print, or create a new set of letter tiles for Scrabble or Bananagrams that would reflect their findings.
Through these experiences, and so many others, Ellis girls develop a love for math and begin to understand how the concepts they learn in class can be applied in a variety of real-world contexts. Students learn without fear of failure or judgement. There are no stereotypes about what girls should do, but there are unlimited expectations about what girls can do.Through real-world problem solving students practice the wonders of math throughout their Lower School experience, and our goal as faculty, is to prepare students to enter the Middle School resilient, confident, and excited about math.
Envision Her at Ellis
If you're interested in exploring Ellis for your daughter, let's connect! Request information about enrollment, attend one of our upcoming events, or hear about Ellis from those who know it best: our students.
