multiplication 2 - Tulse Hill - Evaluation

This session worked really well though was not without its challenges.  I think the pace and variety of activities was well balanced and all of the activities were quite achievable.  I was probably right about two sets of the cards being helpful.  In the first place more cards to find and in the second I could split up big groups as there were more than is comfortably good to make one group for a task.  Anyway, it went ok except for a complaint of two about wanting a particular colour or not being allowed in.
It was a good task as it allowed those with some timestables knowledge to support others and got some conversations going.  It also helped to familiarise them with that style of writing numbers which will help when the lattice method is dealt with.
Moving on to the circles investigation - also a good task but this was the point where some lost the desire to keep doing what I had asked and tried to find their own patterns.
I also noticed that some of them who may not have been sure of their tables shied away from doing this or just did one activity.
It would have been good if some of them could have investigated the circles further.  I should try to think of a question or a challenge such as finding which fives belongs to two different circles. or which circles don't have any 5s ((and why)

I tried to end with the hopscotch game but only one or two were up for it.  Developmentally it was a good game but like all things, it requires selling to the explorers.
lets see what we can change for Brixton

multiplication session 2 - tables

I will start this week with a treasure hunt.  They can go around and find parts of the times table in lattice form.  It won't be the whole thing there will be some missing ( and I'm sure some will get lost).  They will bring them back to place in the grid (colour coded for each times table) and then work on filling in times tables in lattice form.I will need to explain the format prior to the hunt I suppose which may mean a problem for those who are latecomers.  I suppose that would be a good induction into the session.
Discussion - what patterns do you see in each table

We can then try to transfer the numbers to a 100 square.  I may need two sets of all of these things.
It could be good to do this a table at a time and then place them back.  We can then talk about patterns formed and look at patterns with tracing paper and see if they can identify the tables from the 100 square patterns.
It would then be possible to show a pattern for primes and see if anyone can see that they are mainly missing ones.  We'll see about this.

From here I would like to work with smaller groups and give independent challenges to others.  I'll work on the lattice method using the cards placed in a grid.

I would like others to look at digital root circles and unit circle patterns of different tables.  Also they could try the timestable jigsaw

Once we've all gone through the lattice method and have an idea how to do longer multiplication, I will introduce the idea of a symbol that is a digit.  I can do this with a simple multiplication and then a slightly more complicated one.  I could also produce part of a hundred square (or a whole hundred square with shapes rather than digits.

This could provide ending challenges

A game would be good though.  still to think

Resources
lattice type numbers
grid for multiplication
grid for 100 square
digital root and unit circle patterns
timestable jigsaws
small 100 squares
tracing paper grid patterns
puzzles with shapes for digits
large puzzle that uses all digits for a multiplication

Multiplicative relationships - planning

This is a 6 session programme with multiplicative relationships as the focus.  The key learning objectives (evidence based) will be:

Multiplication as relationship

recall of multiplication facts
ability to represent multiplication facts in different ways
organisation of multiplication facts in tabular and possibly other forms
use of keywords (multiple, factor, prime)
decomposition of composite numbers

Sessions 

Doubling/halving & tripling/thirding Multiplication and Division by 10, chessboard problem - big numbers and place value - make sliders

Multiplication table - napier bones, lattice method - cuisenaire/commutativity

Multiplication as area and volume - types of number (prime, rectangular, cuboidal, multiple cuboid, cuboid array) dimensions

Prime factor decomposition  - hundred square analysis 

Number characters - primes as building blocks

Multiplication of binomial - Cuisenaire squares and rectangles

Serpinski shapes
Napier bones/chinese/lattice
multiplication table jigsaw
slide rule
Area multiplication grid
multiplication patterns algebra
Multiplication of tens (twenties etc.)
place value (base 10)
criptarythms times tables
unit circles
digital roots and roots in times tables that coincide

Cuisenaire rods and squares

Arithmagons

Multiplicative session 1 - eval

I did not feel that this session went well.  I can't put my finger on exactly what it was but I can identify a few areas that I would change for next time.  I think as a kind of summary, I needed to think more about hooking them into the activities.  They got started and sometimes engaged but I just started the activities hoping that they would get going and enjoy doing it.  This will not work for everyone.
The starting activity was quite good but had that problem.  I needed to get them to gel as a team for a bit with a simple activity such as find this number.  I could have made the reference to the number simple or complicated.  When they had a direct competitive aspect to it, they all performed better.  There are lots of ways to explore this type of activity.  For example, is it possible to produce a closed loop of 8 cards?  That could be extended.  The problem is why create the loop?  what would be in it for them?  The competitive element helped but not massively. They needed to buy in from the beginning.
I like the idea of the prize with 3 possible amounts but again not enough of a hook.  I think a race would have been better.  They could have had 10 squares and either started with 10000 each day or £100 doubled each day or 1p multiplied by 10 each day.  I could then ask which starting amounts would make this fair.  With a grid or two they could have taken charge of one of them and gone on day by day until the end. We could have compared as a group what happened to the numbers.  That would have led on to the big numbers activity a lot more easily.

It would have been good to have the number words and see if they could read them first and then decide what order they would go in and how many zeros.
I really would need one slider between two also.  Then they could create a number and get their partner to read it off and change partners and numbers and test someone else.  Maybe one each.  It would be good to have a few of them.
It would also be good to start this like I started with M this morning.  Start with multiplying 1 by 10 again and again.  I could also check if they can link it to the scale of the universe video.
I could then try 15 or something like that and do it again.  That way I could have drilled the numbers.  I still need to think about how I could do that with them all as I couldn't lead the whole group in that kind of chant.
The end game was pretty good once it got going.  I didn't get them to find the cards (which would have been good) or read them out except in a few cases.  I could get them to act in teams and give points for the size of the number for example and for reading them out.  The pattern was clearly seen by most also.

Key takeaways
Hooks
think through actual things that will be done in activity and any manipulatives needed
Add competition or collaboration.

Club session - 10 Sep - Eval

There were loads of people this week.  There must have been over 20 in total including the little ones.  It was quite overwhelming and I think an important lesson in how I respond to the sessions and difficulties faced by explorers.
The first issue was that there were a lot of newer explorers and parents who I wanted to get the chance to talk to or induct and that wasn't possible but there were some positive things to take from this.

It was a real buzz of activity.  A lot of the explorers came up with discoveries, solved puzzles and worked through activities independently.  In some cases, the parents got to work with their children in a new way that seemed to be a useful thing for them.  It was just like a club too.  There were lots of interactions, mostly those that I didn't make happen but a few of those I introduced also worked well together.  There were also good examples of people working independently.  R2D was a great example of both.  She went around trying as many of the activities on the sheet as she could and occasionally working with others.
The range of activities and problems associated with the activities were not so well thought through but they provided some good opportunities for the skills and habits that I'm looking to promote.  They were not self access enough to work for newer explorers unfortunately but there need to be some activities like that.  The plan for a map could be a suggested route through the puzzles.  There could be a competitive route and a collaboration route and then each activity could have instructions about how to play competitively or collaboratively or if it just lends itself to one or the other.  This way explorers could come up with other ways to do the task and this might help them see that aspect of the explorer way, to come up with new ways to play old games.

A meeting game would have been good once everyone had their codes.  It could be a challenge for new and more experienced explorers to find the real names of some of the codes for example.  Or I could mix up a few of the characters and have that as a group challenge to see if they can add something towards the discovery of the key people for that week.
The parents and explorers all got together and helped to tidy up.  I don't know what I would have done without that.
Key takeaways

Some kids will form groups naturally, others won't and will need help. This should be a key part to the session
I should look to find ways to help people (parents and children) get through the sessions without my help.
I should think of some parings that I think would work from the beginning and set them a collaborative puzzle to start things off (I would need to be there early for that kind of thing to happen of course)
Set up induction events (once a month perhaps)
Continue work on the self access nature of activities
Continue coming up with ways to get feedback from everyone.
Find a way to introduce a plenary activity that doesn't involve too much talking or listening but gets explorers to say draw a picture of something important or talk to one person to tell them about an activity (think, pair share for example)

Comment stock market

Thu 3rd Sep - club session

One of our busiest sessions.  And even finally after a year or so managed to get our menu idea going in the form of a challenge list.  It worked well for parents and I think that that is an important thing as then they can start to see what's available.   The initiates worked well with this also.  It was a bit harder for those who were not used to this way of doing things and I think that I should employ a guide (another explorer to show and play 3 or 4 activities with newish ones).
There was a decent range of activities to keep explorers going but they did not choose to try all types of activity (maybe a map of activities would be better and then explorers could be encouraged to "visit" each continent).
Prioritising trying and finding some way to record attempts then questions would be good too.
Just started this time with handing out challenge lists and then told them to get on with it.  I should find a way to get them to earn points (which could be stars that they use for the evaluation part).  Competition, collaboration, questioning, talking about an activity (review or observation), helping others, variety of activities etc.  Maybe 5 points per star.  Could be difficult to organise the points but worth a try)
work needed with J and 007 to get them into it.  Linked up with other explorers would be good but no one really in J's range other than the girls (I and J).challenge sheet

Parent's were much more engaged in this as well so a guidance sheet for them would have been good.  Or maybe not but some ideas up my sleeve instead.

Activities that need development.
Hex - the most loved game but difficult to get them to look at strategy development ( and maybe they shouldn't be doing it)
Nim is similar to Hex in this regard.  Part of the issue with Hex especially is that once they've beaten me they don't need to think more about it.
An observations gallery would be really good.  I could laminate and put the them near the activities with the code badge of the observer (or questions/problems).  This would be really good.  I could find a few that have been told to me already and put the me together as examples and then have post its where explorers can tell me or their parents and get it put in a box for that kind of thing. Definitely a development priority for next week (do it NOW!).  This should be one of the tick boxes on the challenge sheet also and then the map could be on the back.