Math Lab

Debbie Butterworth in the Pond Cove math LabResponding to the pressing need of assessment and support in mathematics, CEEF awarded Pond Cove major-impact funding for the creation of a Math Lab in 2007, to be run by its own Math Lead Teacher. Students identified as needing additional instruction receive skill-specific targeted help until skills are mastered.  Reinforcement of tools taught in the classroom, and collaboration with the classroom teacher, will be foundations to the success of each student.

An Update from Math Lab Lead Teacher, Debbie Butterworth ~

In October of 2008, second-grade teachers noticed that a large number of their students had difficulty with telling time to the quarter hour, both with reading the correct time and drawing clock hands to indicate a given time.  I designed a diagnostic assessment, and teachers administered it to the entire second grade.  That assessment revealed that only 45% of the students were able to tell time with 80% accuracy, and together we analyzed the reasons for their errors.

We set a goal of increasing that percentage in a two-month period.

To meet that goal, I created three activities and some practice worksheets for all the second-grade teachers to use for whole-group lessons, and I brought small groups of students into the Math Lab for additional practice and targeted instruction.

When the post-assessment was administered in December, results showed that 87% of the students could now tell time with 80% accuracy, and the students who did not meet the benchmark of 80% accuracy were only off by one or two problems.

Second-Grade Teacher Lisa Derman's Thoughts on the Math Lab ~

My students think of Math Club as a special treat.  They continually ask when it will be their turn to go!  As a teacher, I can see the benefits every day.  Before Math Club, I may have recognized the need to go back over concepts for certain students but because of time restraints, was unfortunately not always able to do so.  I currently have one student who has some math anxiety and he now regularly goes to Math Club to give him that needed boost to improve his confidence and skill level.  With the wide variety of student abilities that we see in a classroom, it is crucial that these more vulnerable students get this added support at an early age.  Our first-grade teachers do a wonderful job preparing their students for second grade.  Even so, there are usually a handful of students who still struggle with a few specific first-grade skills.  This year has been different.  This year -- the first year that students have entered second grade having participated in Math Lab in first grade -- virtually every second grader in my class has a solid understanding of the skills and concepts taught in first grade and is prepared to learn the second-grade math curriculum.  Fewer students need additional work in the Math Lab (including those who visited the Math Lab frequently in first grade), and those who do visit the Math Lab are soon secure in the skills and concepts they practice there.  In my view, the Math Lab has made a world of difference.

-Lisa Derman, Grade-Two teacher