During story time, Mrs. Jordan introduces the class to There's a Bear on My Chair, written and illustrated by Ross Collins. Watch an excerpt of how she engages the children in the story in a way that highlights and builds upon spatial relations ideas. 

Note: As you support participants' engagement with this video, you might find that you want to 1) pause the video at strategic moments and encourage reflection and discussion, and/or 2) pose reflection questions after viewing the video that participants are asked to respond to in writing, with a partner, or with the group. We provide a range of questions/prompts below and encourage you to choose the one(s) that best fit your context and learning goals.

Possible Prompts to Pose to Participants

• What mathematical ideas about spatial relations did you notice highlighted in the clip?
• How did Mrs. Jordan elicit and build upon children's spatial ideas?
• What other ways might you anticipate children sharing their spatial ideas (either verbally or non-verbally)? What would this sound and look like?

Young children engage in important mathematical work as they negotiate and reason about their bodies in space, and in relation to other things in their environment. Teachers can provide deliberate opportunities for children to communicate and reflect on important spatial concepts through, for example, storybook images and illustrations (visit Describe, Draw, Describe for more information about this activity).  In the clip below, Mrs. Jordan returns to an illustration in a book the class has just read together to engage them in thinking about how movement is portrayed. As you watch, consider how she supports students to make connections between themselves and ideas about spatial thinking.

Note: As you support participants' engagement with this video, you might find that you want to 1) pause the video at strategic moments and encourage reflection and discussion, and/or 2) pose reflection questions after viewing the video that participants are asked to respond to in writing, with a partner, or with the group. We provide a range of questions/prompts below and encourage you to choose the one(s) that best fit your context and learning goals.

Pauses and Prompts During the Video

• [pause at 0:19]  The teacher just asked "What do you notice?"  What do you think students might say? Try to generate a range of ideas that students might share.
• [pause at 0:51]  Why is the teacher asking students to show with their hands how the bear will fall? What might this accomplish for students' mathematical learning?

Possible Reflection Prompts After Viewing the Video

• What mathematical ideas about spatial relations did you notice in the clip?
• What were some of the different ways that students communicated their ideas about space and movement?
• How did the teacher support understanding of spatial relations ideas and terminology?
• In what ways did the teacher invite students into the conversation?  How did she pick up on students’ ideas?

Inviting children to draw what they see on paper allows for them to grapple with important spatial ideas, such as where to place something on the paper and where one thing is located in relation to another (visit Describe, Draw, Describe for more information about this activity). Watch as Mrs. Jordan engages with a child about her drawing and decision-making.

Question for reflection

• What did you learn about the child’s emerging understanding of spatial relations?
• How did the teacher elicit the child’s ideas about her drawing?  How did she follow up on what the child said?
• How did the teacher support Allison to reflect on her decision to start over on the other side of her paper? 
• What other kinds of questions could you ask a child after they have finished their drawing?

In this clip, we see a group of four children building a home with wooden blocks. As children build, they negotiate ways to share the blocks and communicate with each other as they play. Ella, in particular, perseveres to communicate her plan to rebuild the roof -- using objects, words, and gestures in her communication.

Questions for reflection

• What are the range of ways you see children communicating beyond words?
• What do you notice about Ella’s thinking and decision-making?  
• What math ideas is Ella engaging in as she tries to find the piece she needs?
• What are the benefits of letting children play without adult interruptions?
• How might you build on this rich play experience?

During choice time, Sophie and Amelia play with magnatiles – a tool that offers a variety of opportunities to engage with space, shape, measurement ideas, and beyond. Watch as they build “cakes” with their magnatiles.

Questions for reflection

• What are all of the math ideas that surfaced during this play?
• What do you notice about how children engage with each other’s ideas?
• What other math opportunities might emerge as Sophie and Amelia continue to build with magnatiles?
• How might you build on this rich play experience?

Ms. Franchi enters children’s active play by inviting Debbie and Amelia to co-create a map of their self-made obstacle course. Through thoughtful questioning, gestures, and visual supports, Ms. Franchi encourages the children to engage in symbolic representation, spatial reasoning, and collaborative problem-solving. This video is an example of how teachers can build on children’s play to support rich, open-ended math opportunities. This video has talk in both Spanish and English.

Questions for reflection

• What is the range of math content that is being worked on in this interaction?
• What do you notice about how engagement with math is integrated with other important learning?
• What kinds of teacher moves does Ms. Franchi make to support engagement in creating a representation while still allowing Debbie and Amelia to take the lead?
• What do you notice about how Ms Franchi listens to and responds to student ideas?