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OBERVATION OF A MATH CLASS
Now that I have observed an elementary math class, I have a better understanding of how
math class goes in the United States. As a foreign student, I have always wondered about the
teaching method and the different strategies of learning math in the United States. I have
observed a third grade class in P.S 150 in Queens, NY. I not only had a great time but also was
amazed to see the classroom setting and the different kinds of manipulative that students are
allowed to use. The teacher of the class was Ms. Debby. The class I have attended was a summer
class, so there were only eleven students. The students were taught two hours of math everyday.
That makes it ten hours of math a week and forty hours of math a month. The book that the
teacher was following was Updated edition of Summer Success Math by Patsy F Kanter, Kathi
Hudson, and Shara S Hammet.
When I entered the classroom, the first thing that came into my mind is it was a wellorganized classroom. The class was decorated with signs and symbols pertaining to education.
One particular decoration I noticed was the number line placed above the blackboard. The
teacher explained to me that the number line helps students to solve various math problems. On
the corner of the room there was an ATTENDANCE CHART dictating the amount of students
present at the current time. The teacher explained that this helps the students in their adding and
subtracting areas. Shapes were also on the wall so they can become familiar with the different
shape representations. I noticed that in the back of the classroom, there was a huge shelf
containing many books organized in different levels like magazines, realistic fiction, non-fiction,
kids discover, national geographic world and so on. Throughout the class, there were some
hanging instructions of how to take good notes, how to be good listener, and what rules to follow
during the exam. I also noticed that in a specific area of the classroom, there was a shelf
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containing different kinds of manipulative. Each student possessed their own kit to help them
better understand and improve on their math skills. The different types of manipulative are
Pattern blocks, dollars and coins, time chart, measuring cups and spoons, measure scale,
everyday math decks, 3-D shapes, flats, longs, cubes, and dolls. There were some interesting
charts hanging in the wall. Some of those are following:
Math word wall
Digit
Any one of these ten symbols.
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.
Order
To place number in a specific sequence. Ex:
least – greatest or Greatest – least.
Compare
To notice how number are similar or different
to each other
> Greater than, < less than, = equal.
Thousand
3
Hundred
4
3
Tens
5
4
3
Ones
0
0
0
0
Charts of contraction:
Do not
Does not
Will not
Cannot
Could not
Would not
Should not
don’t
doesn’t
won’t
can’t
Couldn’t
wouldn’t
Shouldn’t
Total
3,450
340
30
0
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Word Work:
Ile
Crocodile
Smile
Bile
Pile
ight
Night
Bright
Fight
Tight
Ite
Kite
Bite
Write
Quite
On one side of the wall, there were all the math lessons with answers that students were taught
during the summer class. The class was also decorated with live plants. I think no one will ever
get bored in such a well-organized classroom.
The seats of the students were well organized and the different shapes of the seats
(hexagon, square, and round) gave the class a variety. At the left corner of the blackboard, the
flow of the day was written in colorful papers. In the middle of the blackboard, what lesson they
were going to learn that day was written in the following way:
Flow of the day:
8:00 – 8:30 Breakfast
8:30 – 9:00 Morning Routine (Read allowed shared reading)
9:00 – 10:30 Kaplan
10:30 – 11:30 Math summer success
11:30 – 12:30 Math Intervention
12:30 – 1:00 Student lunch/ Dismissal
The day I attended was the day of exploration, which is a day of review in what they
learned in the past weeks. They covered specific topics, which were; Odd and Even numbers,
problem solving, pattern and algebra, operation, geometry, measurement, and data.
The day I attended in P.S 150, the math class were covering lesson 14. Even before the
teacher asked the question (is the number 14 add or even), one of the students said eagerly that
14 is an even number. The students seemed enthusiastic when it comes to answer the questions.
The next question that the teacher asked was number 14 is closer to 10 or 20. The strategy that
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the students used to answer the question was they looked at the number line above the board.
Some students used their hand and counted the numbers. Some students used colored cubes as
manipulative to get their answer. The next question was what is the half of the number 14?
Students who were good with times table divided 14 by 2 and get the answer 7. Student who had
trouble-memorizing time’s table used the manipulative to get the answer.
For the operation segment (adding and subtracting), the question was students have 14
candies, how many more they need to have 50 candies. Students used three strategies to come up
with the answer. They counted from 14 to reach 50, saw the number line and got the answer 36.
To check their answer they take away 36 from 50 and got 14.
For the geometry segment, the teacher asks how many sides the rectangle has. She asked
volunteers to come up and show their answer. Three students went up and wrote rectangle has
four sides, four angles, and four vertices (the outside corner).
For the problem-solving segment, the teacher asked how the square and rectangle are the
same, how are they different? The students answered both of these have four sides, four angles,
and four vertices. That is how they are same. Rectangle doesn’t have four equal sides, square has
four equal sides. Rectangle has larger sides than square. That is how they are different.
For the pattern and algebra segment, the teacher asked what a perimeter is. One student
answered that it is not an area. Another student said if we add up all the sides of a rectangle we
will get the perimeter. Another student said perimeter is the distance around the figure. The
answer to the question of why do we need a perimeter, the students came up with brilliant ideas
which blew my mind. One of the answers was if I need to make up a tablecloth and I want to put
lace around the cloth, I have to measure the perimeter.
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For the counting money segment, the teacher gave the group plastic coins in a container
and they were directed to dig out coins using a spoon and count with a partner to see who came
out with a higher amount.
For the measurement segment, every student was given a small clock. They had to fix it
according to the room’s clock’s present time that was 11:30. Then the teacher asked what time it
was 14 minutes ago? The students subtracted 14 from 11:30 and they got the answer 11:16.
For the data-reading segment, the teacher showed a data, which shows the number of
brothers and sisters the class has together. The student had to understand the graph and answer
the questions (what is the total number of brothers, what is the total number of sisters in the
class, and what is the total number of brothers and sisters in all?)
For the symmetry segment, students had to fold their papers and chose pattern blocks.
The third step was they had to draw the shapes of the pattern blocks in both sides (it is like a
mirror image, what they had in one side had to be the same in the other side). Before starting this
activity the teacher explained when something is divided in half equal is called symmetry.
In general, the students’ reaction to Ms. Debby’s method of teaching was cooperative.
The students were able to come up with many ways of problem solving. After the students
completed each segment, they discussed and shared what they learned. Homework was not
assigned that day. The review was enough for the students to understand completely any
questions that the teacher asked relating to the topics they reviewed.
As an observer, I felt that the teacher had full control over the students and I was
astonished to see the students were as eager as the teacher was in their work. I believed that her
method of teaching was completely accurate. I now have a batter understanding of
communicating with the students. I feel I don’t need to put any suggestions on improvements
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because I learned more from it than I need to criticize. Only thing I need to comment on, as an
adult it is hard for me to concentrate in two or three hours of classes without a break. I noticed at
one point students were tired and wanted to go home. I felt if they were given a break between
two hours of math class, they would have been as enthusiastic as they were at the first hour of the
math class.