From the Preschool/Elementary School Principal

 

*This week's images come from the World Book Day book drive initiative to support Abernecessities, a Grade 5 student's assembly presentation about Ramadan and the Grade 2 trip to the Aberdeen Science Centre. There is also an image of two Grade 5 students posing with a thank you card from a visitor to ISA; these students acted as tour guides, showing our guest all around the Preschool and Elementary School.

Fraction of the day: three-fourths

Visiting classrooms in the past few weeks has given me the chance to see children across many grade levels grappling with fractions - whether that's at the conceptual level or developing discrete skills around comparing, ordering or computing with fractions. Our teachers work hard to ensure that lessons are engaging and challenging, while offering timely support and intellectual provocations based on their observations. One line of questioning that I love to pursue with children goes something like this:

"Which is larger, one half or one quarter?" 

Most children, across grade levels, will immediately say, "One half."

I then ask, "So, is one half always larger than one quarter, or one-fourth?"

Again, most children will reflexively say, "Yes!" or "Of course!"

I then say, "Hmm. I disagree." And then, raising an eyebrow, I wait to see how the children respond to this. 

If the children remain absolutely positive that their position is the only mathematically accurate position, I will ask: "Can one quarter ever be bigger than one half?"

It is at this point that some children stop and think. It is also at this point that the children suddenly start to turn to each other (rather than me) to talk through their ideas. Some might need a further prompt, others are keen to grab something to show their thinking or explain themselves more clearly or to help themselves visualise what they can't quite put into words. There is always a small cohort of children that quickly detect that it might be a good idea to simply agree with an adult. So, when anyone states, "Oh yeah, sometimes one quarter is bigger than one half", it is critical that we ask, "Why?" or "When?" or "How do you know?" Invariably, there is always at least one child who might describe themselves as being "bad" at math who can explain why one quarter can sometimes be bigger than one half, revealing a deep, conceptual understanding of what a fraction is; just as often, there are children who can manipulate fractions at a level beyond what we would expect for their age that struggle to understand that comparing "one half" to "one quarter" depends entirely upon the "whole" that we are considering. Without the deep, conceptual understanding of what fractions represent, a person might be able to add or divide fractions without knowing what that actually means. At ISA, our teachers understand that there is value in both, which is why we strive to develop conceptual understanding, rather than simply speed of recall or skill deployment - whether that's with fractions or with any of the other concepts that underpin the learning experiences that we plan for the children.

Speaking of fractions, the fraction of the day is three-fourths. This Friday marks the end of the 3rd quarter of the 2024-2025 school year. This means that three-fourths of the school year is officially complete. Our students continue to make progress in developing their conceptual understandgins, their skills and their ability to tackle new challenges. Hopefully, the Parent Teacher Conferences were productive and the children have a good sense of the goals they each need to strive for in the final quarter of the school year. Please note that the Quarter 3 progress reports will be accessible via PowerSchool on Friday, April 11.

I encourage you all to take some time to chat with your children about the discussions that you had, emphasising the importance of trying one’s best and striving to bring the ISA values to life. We place an enormous premium on the value of communication, so please do get in touch with your children’s teachers or with me if you have any questions or observations to share.

Finally, it has been a long time since we returned to school back in January. Many thanks to all of the Preschool and Elementary teachers; each one has worked with tremendous dedication to support student learning over the last three months. Congratulations, also, to the students for their efforts during this long period of school study, and to the ISA parents/carers, for their continued support. I hope everyone has the very best of holidays, filled with family fun, and that the children return to school ready to learn, full of stories of exciting adventures and new discoveries.