Sunday 18 March 2018

The Value of Part-Part-Whole Relationships in Mathematics




As an instructional coach, I was often asked to focus on early development of number sense for addition and subtraction.  Providing students with a wide range of experiences to compose and decompose a number was the best way to approach this. I wanted to create a way to have teachers understand how developing part-part whole relationships is critical to building an understanding of addition and subtraction concepts.

My work has often included English language learners.  Instead of using focusing on strictly number talks, I began to explore pictures as well.  This included themed part-part-whole cards.  Each card was divided into three equal frames.  Based on themes, students would explore the missing part.  For example, the first frame had a number listed.  The remaining frames were made up of parts of the whole number.

Cards had one foldable flap.  I was absolutely delighted when a 6 year old student created his own cards to use in a partner math chat.  I have often used the cards in addition to number talks, placed them at math stations and used them for assessment purposes.

While assessing students, I observe how they "see" the objects.  Do they count them?  Can they subitize based on prior experiences?  These cards become a useful tool to develop part-part-whole relationships while building some thematic vocabulary.


No comments: