Building Mathematical Comprehension - Chapter #8


Welcome back friends!

This week we are talking about synthesizing - which is arguably the most challenging of all strategies.  To be honest we just barely gloss over it in first grade reading, so I know it will be more of a challenge to implement it in math as well.

Here are some things that Laney Sammons states kids need to know about synthesizing in math...
-  Mathematicians are aware of changes in their mathematical thinking through additional mathematical experiences.  
-  Mathematicians synthesize ideas when they consider their new mathematical experiences in light of existing knowledge to construct new mathematical meaning.  
-  Mathematicians understand that a synthesis is the sum of information from new mathematical experiences and existing mathematical knowledge that leads to new ideas or understanding.
-   Mathematicians know their knowledge of math continues to evolve as new information or ideas are encountered.
-  Mathematicians can explain how using synthesis helps them better understand mathematics.  

Synthesizing in math can be taught in many ways - they key is to make those ways concrete for kids to understand.

-  Modeling and Think-Alouds
-  Nesting Dolls (to help kids think about how a number of smaller concepts can be synthesized into one BIG concept).
-  Baking A Cake (use ingredients together to make a new mixture)
-  Make conjectures.
-  Math Stretches (support or disprove my conjecture).

Hopefully you can use some of these tips in your room this year to get you kiddos synthesizing like pros!  

We are heading into the home stretch for our book study!  Next week we will read about monitoring mathematical comprehension and the following week we will finish up with some discussion about how this all fits into the Guided Math classroom.  See you then!!


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