‘Assembling Numbers’ brings new life to math at Wellington Elementary

By Submitted by Carbon School District

    Math has always been a challenging subject to teach, and for many students to master.  Wellington Elementary teachers have been learning new ways of thinking about math instruction this year, and the dividends are paying off.
    “We are seeing students enjoying math this year,” stated Stacy Basinger, the principal at the school. “They like the conversations we are having about numbers now. It’s not just drill and kill.  Math instruction is about how numbers are connected, how we build them, and how they work in various operations.”
    This insight has come from a math course that teachers at the school have been taking this year on their own time. The course is paid for through funds from the Schools Lands Trust money.
“The teachers are knee deep into this math course they are taking,” said Basinger. “It has been very eye opening. Our instruction has really improved because the course has been helping us to develop a deeper understanding of number sense and how numbers are related.”
She said that along with the students engaging in math more, the teachers are also happier because they have a better handle on the instructive techniques they are using. In the past, it was common to just hand the students a paper and have them add or subtract problems.
“Now we give them a piece of paper and ask them, for example, how many ways one can get to the number seven,” she said. “Instead of having them do a series of mathematical problems, they are breaking down the number. That is simple with a single number, but it works even better when you are using bigger numbers and have place values.
    Take the number 120. It could be 120 ones, or a group of 12 tens, or 24 fives, etc. It is the conceptual part of numbers or what is behind them.”
    She said,  “Having kids just memorize math facts isn’t as effective as having them understand how to arrive at an answer. “Kids then discover the strategies they are most comfortable with,” she said. “What Jimmy and Sally do may be different, but they arrive at the same answer. We want to support them in developing effective strategies and accuracy. It is a way of letting kids explore and use what works for them. This kind of instruction provides a confidence in students when it comes to numbers.”
    In terms of overall instruction, she also said that the collaboration the school district implemented this year has fostered wonderful conversations during district-wide grade level Professional Learning Community (PLC) sessions. This time is focused on core standards, instructional methods and programs, and using data effectively.
    “This is not just about being familiar with the standards, but it is about really knowing them,” she explained. “We evaluate the state standards and we say ‘As a district team, let’s see that we are all on the same page’, ‘What does this look like?’, or ‘What does it sound like?’ The collaboration in the district has improved our instruction so much.”
    The school has also set some pretty high goals for academics in all areas of instruction this year as well.
    “We have set some pretty lofty goals for this year,” said Basinger. “We have set some in reading and math.  We are working towards increased percentages of growth within our DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) benchmarks, and we expect growth within our math testing as well.”  
Basinger also pointed out that the school still has dedicated big focus on respect, responsibility and integrity this year. “Those traits are part of our school motto, and we set goals to educate and support development with those traits.”
    “I have seen cases this year where the motto of our school concerning these traits has really been taken to heart by students, some of whom learned that they were not living up to the what it stands for,” said Basinger. “Along with that, we have set high goals about safety in the school too. If kids know we have a strong character expectation here, that supports the need to be and feel safe.”
    The second graders recently participated in a letter writing exercise to students that faced the floods in the Houston School District in Texas. The project was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, and each letter had a $10 McDonalds coupon in it for the child the correspondence went to.
    Basinger also said the Music Majors, a singing group from the school, seems to be growing every year.
    “They performed at community events, at the local senior citizen centers and the care centers in the area for the holidays,” said Basinger.
    The Utah Daughters of the Pioneers also came to the school and presented to fourth grade classes information about what Christmas was like for the pioneers.
“It was interesting and the students loved that they received a homemade sock of goodies,” she said.         Basinger said that one of the goals that was set by the School Community Council this year is to have two parents’ nights, one of which will take place in February. The first family night took place in November and it was academic based. The one in February will be based around social and family needs.
    “The focus that night will be on having various community agencies come in and speak about various topics that families are struggling with, as well as help connect families with the many resources we have in our county,” she said. “That will take place on February 22 and everyone is invited.