Candy Fractions

This week as a math enrichment lesson, I taught my student about fractions using candy as a manipulative resource.  Using different colored M&M candy, I asked the student to identify how many M&M's there were total and then create a fraction for each color of the M&M's based on the total number all together. For example, if there were 20 M&M's total and 7 of them were green the fraction would be 7/20. The student did a very good job setting up fractions. Then I asked the student to compare two different colored M&M's by using the symbols <,>, =. I was surprised to see that when I asked a similar question as a paper-and-pencil activity such as is 7/20 greater than, less than, or equal to 9/20 the student hesitated more to answer this problem then when M&M's were involved. This goes to show that using manipulative resources helps this student learn better. This student appears to be a visual and hands-on learner I will keep this in mind as I plan future lessons that will help enrich the student's math skills.

My student tells me that she does not like doing math and that it is her least favorite subject; yet, I cannot understand why because she does a really good job at it. She is always asking for a challenge and if she does not get a problem right the first time she asks me if she can try again until she reaches the right solution. I can tell that my student is a determined learner and whats to make sure she understands what she is being taught.

This week my student brought a book of Sudoku puzzles with her and with our extra time I allowed her to do one of the puzzles. I pretended that I did not know what a Sudoku puzzle was and listened to her explain how to solve the puzzle. It amazed me how excited she was to do these puzzles, and although there is math involved in completing a Sudoku puzzle, she seemed so interested and engaged in the puzzle despite the fact that she tells me she does not like doing math. Activities like these are what kids need more of, where they are doing math but do not realize it because they are engaged and interested in their learning activity.

I want to help my student realize that math really is fun as long as you allow it to be and there is more to it than just routine paper-and-pencil exercises. I hope to achieve this by developing  hands-on and creative lessons that involve some math topic but that the student will be so engrossed in the lesson that they will not even realize they are doing math. I look forward to introducing the student to a new topic next week through creative and hands-on instruction and learning, and hope that she will enjoy the lesson as much as she did this week. I am having a great time working with my student and learning more about her as an individual and young mathematician.