The school I taught at during the 2019/2020 school year had students who had been through trauma. We provided free and reduced lunch and breakfast for all students. It is a trauma informed school where students come having experienced trauma in many different forms. Students may see abuse at home. School might be the only place they receive food for the day. Each Monday there was professional development. During this time, teachers completed an online ACES and Trauma Awareness class. This class covers what trauma is, ACES scores, and why we need to address trauma in schools.  I had 21 students in my kindergarten class. My Capstone Project was centered around a group of five students. Student 1 was a female with a bright and bubbly personality. She had three siblings at home. She did not bring back optional math homework I often provided to my students. She spoke English at school and at home. She was not identified in Special Education. Student 2 was a male. He loved talking and making friends. He came into kindergarten speaking no English. He spoke Spanish and his family spoke Spanish at home. He received English as a Second Language (ESL) services. His English was improving rapidly. He was able to actively speak and understand English. Academically, he received outside intervention in reading. Student 3 was a female. She was sweet and always excited to learn. She was identified in Special Education for developmental delay in speaking/listening and academics. She received Special Education services for math, reading, and social skills. She also received speech intervention. Student 4 was a female. She was a sweet girl who enjoyed learning and working with friends. She comes from a loving family. She showed a need in number sense through a lack of understanding regarding math concepts and ideas.  She spoke English at home and school. She was not identified in Speech or Special Education. Student 5 was a female. She was loving and always smiling. She spoke English at school and at home. She did not consistently bring back homework either. She received outside reading intervention and speech intervention done by me. She lacked focus in large groups and benefited from one on one and small groups. She showed improvement in reading since being pulled in a smaller group setting. Using what I know about these five students, my observations, and their test scores, I determined they would benefit from targeted small group intervention focused on number sense skills.

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Need

    The data I collected during the 2019/2020 school year from my students showed a need in number sense. The data I collected from observations and test data on these five students showed a need in number sense. Through my observations of these five students I was able to identify these deficits in their number sense skills: one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, subitizing, and number recognition. They all scored below the 21st percentile on their Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) math test. This means 79% of students of the same age scored higher than they did on the same test. The 50th percentile is the national average. The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test is a test that adapts to students' responses in real time to measure their skill level. These growth scores can be used to tailor lessons to skills students are lacking. The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test broke down which standards the students have not mastered yet. All five students showed a need in the Common Core Standard CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.2: solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within ten by using objects or drawings to represent the problem. Student 1, 2, and 3 were ready to add two sums together within five given two sets of objects. Students 4 and 5 were also ready to do that and solve for the total in an additional “put together” word problem with numbers within five using objects. I have also facilitated a numbers baseline assessment where students scored fairly low. This assessment required students to count objects, identify numbers, and write numbers. All five students scored below five out of ten. Compared to the class, these five students showed the biggest need (lowest scores) on the numbers baseline assessment. This correlated with the data I collected from the MAP math assessment.

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Importance

    The information gained from this study is important because it allowed me to know my mathematicians on an individual/small group level. This way I could better help them succeed in math by finding out their individual needs and skills. Mathematical proficiency is becoming increasingly important for all individuals. Identifying students who struggle with number sense early on may help prevent mathematical difficulties in the future. This gives teachers the opportunity to develop young children’s mathematical understanding early. A critical amount of students will enter Kindergarten lacking early number sense. Kindergarten serves as many students' first exposure to formal mathematical instruction.  I want to support my students and help them reach their full potential as mathematicians.