Curriculum Resources

On Tuesday, we were given an opportunity to look through resources that are available to teacher and students in the primary and elementary grade levels in the Newfoundland and Labrador schools.  When I think about my primary and elementary years, the only resources I can remember using to learn were the workbooks that we would buy every year for mathematics.  

I knew that over the years this has changed and there is now many more resources available to both students and teachers.  I was very impressed with the amount of resources provided for teacher in the primary and elementary grades.  However, I did find it strange that after being out observing students and teachers for ten days over the last few months, I have yet to see many of these resources being used in the classroom.  I know I have only spent a few days in the classroom, but during those days I tried to take time each day to look around the classrooms for various resources that the teachers use for different subject areas.  Knowing that all of these resources are available and are not put to use as they should concerns me.  Are teachers so stuck in the old way of teaching and think these resources are not necessary?  Maybe they aren't encouraged enough by the school board and administration to use the resources to benefit the learning experience of the children.  Either way, I was very surprised to see the lack of use of these marvelous books that are provided.    
I thought that the story books that are made available to the primary students were really neat.  I was especially impressed with the big books that are accessible to for kindergarten.  Each of the stories were bright and colorful and would be very appealing to a five year old.  The various books that we looked at are a great way for children to practice and understand concepts that are brought forward in mathematics in a way that targets different learning types.  

I found it very interesting that the picture books seemed to disappear as we looked the elementary grades.  It is just as important to provide students with various ways to understand a concept at the grade five level as it is the grade one level.  

As future educators, we should make ourselves aware of these great resources and be sure to use the various resources provided by the department of education.  Although they are not provided to us as much for older grades, we should take the time to find our own resources that can be used within the classroom to help children of various learning types succeed in mathematics.