On July 16, 2009, as usual Denny, Reni and I went to SDN 117 Palembang to observe the activities of students in the third grade. It was the new year teaching of 2009-2010 period. Mrs. Ratu Ilma Indra Putri (our lecturer) asked us to make the plan of teaching and learning, or in Bahasa we called it RPP (Rencana Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran). The subject matter of our obligation which have to be accomplished by our group in the first semester was “The Number”. Based on our syllabus, in the first semester of 2009-2010 period, the subject matter included : 1) The Place of Number in Line Numbers, 2) The Addition and Subtraction Operations in Three Numeral Number, 3) Multiplication Operation in Three Numeral Number, 4) The Problems which are related to money, 5) The measurement of time, length, and weight, and 6) The relationship of unit.
For the first step, we tried to make sure that our RPP was suitable to be implemented in the third grade. We asked Mrs. Rusmawati (the teacher of the third grade in SDN 117 who is expert in Realistic Mathematics Education in Elementary School). We discussed with Mrs. Rus the part which have not been suitable yet to be implemented in class. She gave us comments and made repairing for our RPP, and then she made validation of our RPP.
Then, we tried to implement our RPP in class. Due to we had only two hours in mathematics subject for Tuesday, so we agreed that RPP which would be implemented was Denny’s. The subject matter was about “The Place of Number in Line Numbers”. Based on our scenario that before we entered to core activities, we made introduction about the subject, or we called it “apperception”. We introduced ourselves and explained what the purposes of our arrival in that class. We tried to made students felt comfortable and didn’t awkward to respond our teaching and learning processes. (We can see our introduction in video).
After the students could adapt with our situation, we asked the students about the date of their birthday. And then, we wrote the date of student’s birthday randomly. After we got some date of student’s birthdays, we asked the students to put in the right order from the smallest number to the highest number respectively. The students were very enthusiastic in responing the question of us. (We can see at the video).
The teaching and learning processes in class
One student went to the blackboard and wrote the answer which was asked by us. She put in the right order from the smallest number to the highest number respectively. In fact, her answer was correct, and we gave her a prize. Then, we divided all students become six groups, and we asked them to make the name of each group using cartoon figures. They named themselves using Doraemon, Ben10, Mickey-Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Sinchan, and Spiderman. We explained to them that we would run the competition in which each of group participated in that competition. We would gave the score for the group who could answer correctly. We run the competition through the game.
The game which under one’s belt was riddle which had to be conjectured by the students. One group went to front of the class. We gave them one number between 1 until 15 for example. And then they kept silent what number which they had. They were just allowed to give the clue using wave their hand. If the number which has been guessed by other students was higher than it was properly, the students who stood in front of the class wave their right hand, it means that the other students have to subtract the number which has been guessed by them. On the other hand, if the number which has been guessed by the other students was smaller than it was properly, the students who stood in front of the class wave their left hand, it means that the other students have to add the number which has been guessed by them. If no body guess the answer correctly, it means that the score was belong to the group who stood in front of the class. On the other hand, if there was one group which can guess the answer correctly, the score must belong to them. We said that when there was one group who made the highest score in this competition, we would give the gifts to them. It made the students were motivated to join the game enthusiastic.
The game using context “The place of number”
The students were very interesting in this game, because they could race each other. They tried to collect their score to become a winner.
After the game finished, we gave other instrument using calendar. We cut the calendar based on the date. From 1 until 30, we asked the students to arrange the number from the smallest number to highest number. Mostly, the students could arrange the number from the smallest to the highest. Finally, we asked the students to review the subject matter about “The place of number in line numbers”. We said to them that we can arrange the number from the smallest to the highest or we can also arrange the number from the highest to the smallest.
