Numerical guidance from the big kids
Lacie Smith’s Consumer Education and Parenting classes teach Wiley kindergarteners about the importance of numbers
January 25, 2019
Most of us could think back to our first introductions to numbers, whether it be from a parent, teacher, or Sesame Street, but kindergartners at Wiley got a lesson in numbers and counting from the students of Lacie Smith’s consumer education and parenting classes.
On Jan. 8 and 9, the students walked over in groups to the school to teach their assigned games and activities to groups of kindergartners in rotation. All of the students had learned how to teach their games to the children and give them valuable lessons on the subject in the process.
One of the classes was the kindergartners of Julie Champagne, who would learn various games such as “Uno” and “Identity Theft”.
“We’ll talk about it and write about it [money and numbers],” Champagne said. “This was a valuable lesson.”
The games were varied among the students and groups, in hopes to get a diverse learning experience where all children could take away a lesson from the activity.
“A few of the objectives we had was on how to compare numbers (less than, more than, equal to),” Smith said. “Adding and subtracting numbers 1-10, identity theft, and matching colors and numbers.”
But it wasn’t just the kindergartners who gained from this experience. It is felt that the high schoolers learned something from it, too.
“[It taught me] Experience in how to teach children,” said Jovan Namo.”To help prepare me for my future children.”
“My students had to work cooperatively to research, plan, and execute lesson plans pertaining to topics that we discussed in Consumer Education,” Smith said, “It was their job to make the content they learned age appropriate.”
Although some may not see them as important, these classes teach students about their impact on others, the work place, and responsibilities that are unique to these areas of learning. The students succeeded in this and the days went off without a hitch.
“My students expressed how much fun they had and I noticed students that are usually quiet in my class light up when they worked with the children,” Smith said. “I received an email from the teacher, Mrs. Champagne about how much her students loved the visit and activities.”
