The Land of Numeria

So back in February we had a first grade math block that was... well... lame.  I've found that with Waldorf you get pretty detailed direction for the first two math blocks a child ever has--the Qualities of Numbers block and the Introduction to the Four Processes block.  After that, you're kind of on your own.  You're told to have the child continue practicing problems using the four operations, and you're given some ballpark ideas of what skills they should have, but not given a whole lot of direction on how to get there.  So I floundered... and so did my daughter.  This was also at the same time that we were getting the house ready to sell and my energies were pulled in 50 different directions.

I was determined to do another math block later in the year, and I was determined that this one would be both successful in terms of skills improvement and also in terms of being fun and memorable.  Even though I really did not have time to do it, I buckled down and put the time and effort into making this block work.  Mostly.  There are still things I would tweak, do differently, and add to the next time I teach this.  (And after all that work, you can bet I am saving ALL my notes and ideas.)

I knew I wanted something magical and fairy-tale-ish in theme.  I found my inspiration in a mixed-age block called Land of Numeria from Marsha Johnson's free files.  She had ideas for the block and had it pretty well laid out for the first week or two, leaving the rest of it up to the parent to put together.  I adapted this to be just for first grade.  I also relied heavily on the oft-recommended book Games for Math by Peggy Kaye.  For the progression of skills, I religiously followed every word written in Making Math Meaningful by Jamie York, to an extent I had not done previously.

We started outside of the gate to the magical Land of Numeria.  In order to unlock the gate, we had to crack a secret code.  In order to learn the code, we went on a nature walk to hunt for things to represent each number from 1-10.  Sariah had to draw the item in her book and write the corresponding number.  (This ended up being a review of our Qualities of Numbers block from a year ago.)

She took her job very seriously.

"5"

Trying to get out of the wind and cold.

"6"  There are six petals on a tulip.

I don't remember what we were doing here, but I love this picture... she is so studious and focused.

 

The next day we collaborated on a map of what we thought the Land of Numeria was like.  The important elements include the Forest of Finnegan, the Grand Village, a mountain where we would once again meet our mining gnome friends, and the River Shillegan, which leads out of the land.  Sariah had a great time drawing this map together with me.

The next day, we found ourselves travelling through the Forest of Finnegan at night.  We created a dark forest "tunnel" using blankets draped over a couple of tables.  I had story problems related to forest creatures who come out in the night to play games, and she had to shine a flashlight on the cards with the correct answers.  This ended up being more chaotic than I anticipated due to the older and younger brother who insisted on being part of things.

The next day, I created a storyline involving a rain storm pelting the forest with water, so we had to stay in our tents the entire day.  I had story problems involving cooking a camp breakfast, and then we played some games that might be played while holing up inside a tent.  Math checkers was one of those games.  She had to solve the equation to be able to move each piece.

One of the days we wrote out all the "bonds" of 12.  We did this several times over the weeks with different numbers, up to 20.  This is to help with math fact memorization.

I carried out the forest theme for two weeks.  The third week, we found ourselves in the Grand Village.  One day we did a village market storyline, and I had word problems related to shopping in the market and going on a picnic.  The next day we were invited to the castle above the village to meet the Count and Countess.  We played a really fun game from Marsha Johnson called Court of the Count.  I had a couple of other games too, but I can't remember them off hand.

The last day of that week, the village held their annual May Festival, and we were invited.  The children (especially including those NOT in first grade) were thrilled that I brought real food for the celebration--strawberries, angel food cake, whipped cream, and lovely lemon cookies.  We practiced many hands-on problems related to division and multiplication as Sariah cut the goodies into pieces.  And then of course subtraction as we ate them!

To leave the Grand Village, we had to climb a ladder over the village wall.  I adapted the game Math Ladder from the Peggy Kaye book to fit our story.  Basically, you roll the dice and then add that number to the numbers on each rung of the ladder.

We did frequent bookwork to illustrate the stories and word problems during the block.  This one is an especially nice drawing Sariah did of the castle and Grand Village, with some problems involving flowers, berries, animals, and I can't remember what else.

After leaving the Grand Village, we had to ascend a high mountain.  I can't remember the name of this game, but it involves addition problems and following the winding path around the mountain to the top.  (Another one from Peggy Kaye, adapted.)

And of course, once we were at the top of the mountain and spent some time with our math gnome friends (who naturally had problems for us to solve), we had to come back down the mountain by way of playing the game Mountain of Minus.  (This one is a Marsha Johnson game.)

At the bottom of the mountain, we had to boat down the River Shillegan to get to the exit to leave Numeria.  The Games for Math book has a game called Fast Track that I adapted and called Fast Track Down the River.  This game gave lots of addition and subtraction practice as well.

The games were really fun, and Sariah made a lot of progress with addition and subtraction.  We didn't do as much with multiplication in the form of skip counting as I had hoped we would do.   Luckily, I know we have all next year to work on times tables.  I also wish I would have had more time and energy to flesh out better stories.  I think I had some great themes for each day, but too much mental burnout going on to put together truly engaging stories.