Math Center/Tubs are done very much with the Mathematics Their Way approach. Students choose a tub filled with various manipulatives. During the first few weeks the students freely explore the materials.
Free exploration allows the child to ...
- do his/her own thing so later it will be possible to focus on the material as learning material
- sense his/her environment
- satisfy curiosity
- realize that learning takes place in more than one way & with more than one material
- learn from other children
- discover a variety of possibilities with various materials
- have an opportunity to spontaneously discover sorting, counting, pattern, geometry, measurement, balance, comparisons of color, shape, size, weight, sound, etc.
- feel successful
- experience the idea that there are no right or wrong answers
- verbalize ideas
- problem solve
- feel, explore & find out just what possibilities & limitations various materials have
- feel at ease in the classroom because the environment is familiar
- make a decision to get involved in something
- develop language
- share experience & ideas
- awaken his/her senses
- discover likenesses & differences in the world around them
- begin to focus attention on the natural environment
- know the variety within one material so they will be able to focus on those details in order to later build a pattern
- become familiar with the environment so that later, for example, if I want to use unifix cubes for a graph, they will be able to focus on the graph rather than the particular qualities of the unifix cubes-How do they snap together? What do they feel like? Can you look through the hole? How many would it take to stretch to the wall? etc.
- prepare the children for directed work with the materials
- observe the complexity of the task various children set for themselves & to observe now they react to difficulties in completing their task
- observe how children interact with one another & the different materials
- observe what the children do spontaneously with different materials
- observe children working with a material without the children trying to “please” the teacher
- observe how a child learns through play
- observe which children are self-directed
- observe language patterns as they discuss with their peers
- have time to assess children’s skills
