Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Addition Strategies, Data Team Goals, and More!

We have hit the ground running this week working on addition strategies for our Operations and Algebraic Thinking Unit.  I am sure a lot of you are doing data teams and setting grade level data team goals.  My second grade team met a week or so ago and decided to really push numbers and operations as our focus unit.
I enjoy teaching addition and subtraction strategies to second graders because they can handle the idea of math journaling to explain their strategies.  You can really hold them accountable for solving the problems and explaining their thinking to others.  Today we worked on our Addition Strategies, Properties, and Pictures Flip Flap Fold Booklet to review the strategies we've learned so far.

I LOVE to do foldables with my students!!! So simple and they offer great teaching opportunities.
Foldables give students a chance to create graphic organizers for all subjects.  We worked on the strategies sections today and plan to complete the properties and pictures flips tomorrow.  Here is one of my groups working on their booklets...
They did a great job matching up the strategies with their descriptions and equation examples.  I had my kids use the flip and fold option that has the strategies, pictures, and properties all in one.  
Some might want to make two separate flip and fold booklets to teach them at different times.  Because we've already worked quite a bit on these, I knew my students would be fine with combining them altogether.
I had a conversation with a co-teacher this week about teaching strategies.  There are many different ways teachers express the strategies using different language and vocabulary.  Ultimately, what our students need to really know are the basic strategies such as their doubles and ways to make ten.  

I enjoy using my strategy posters to help my students with addition and subtraction strategies.  Once we are solid with our basic facts, we move into adding and subtracting larger values using pictures and properties.  Here is my Math Fact Fun Resources packet that we use for fact practice, buddy activities, and strategy fun!
I'd love for you to check it out and let me know what you think.  I'd also love to hear what cool ideas you have for teaching addition and subtraction strategies to your students. Thanks for stopping by.
Have a great week!-Yvonne




Thursday, October 17, 2013

Place Value Tubs!


Sending home report cards tomorrow to end our first nine weeks of school! Can't believe it is October already!   It has been an awesome start to a school year I must say.  I have a dream class of 25 sweeties and to top it off I was surprised to have been chosen as teacher of the year for my school several weeks ago!  What an honor!!!  All I can say is...God is good!  Just when you least expect it...blessings come your way.  My philosophy has been and always will be that WE ALL deserve to be called teachers of the year because of the dedication, time,  and love we all give our students!!!

We've spent these first nine weeks working diligently on place value and sense of number.   Most students continue to work on place value throughout the year so I wanted to share with you all two new tiered tubs for differentiation.  I always start the first week of school introducing different ways to write number forms.  My students start with smaller values and work their way up to greater values by writing standard, expanded, and written forms of numbers.  We also begin to build numbers immediately using base ten blocks and tens frames.  This math tub helped me to see who had mastered number sense and different number forms.  I used this as an assessment to prepare for report cards.  I'd love for you to look at my Number Form Puzzles geared towards K-2 levels.

The other tiered tub I'd love for you to check out is my Base Ten Mystery Match!  I just posted this and think you will LOVE it!  This tub told me SOOO much about my students and their sense of number. Students match two different sets of base ten blocks in value.  I was able to see who really understood that 10 tens is the same a 100 and 10 hundreds equals a 1,000 block.  A little more advanced and a great tub for the end of our place value unit.  Here you go!

Again, these tubs are tiered based on how your students do on the pretest included.  There are 3 levels in each tub.   I love being able to meet my students on their own levels, yet challenge them to move up in levels.  For me, tiered tubs make differentiation SOOO much easier in Math and they give me the evidence I need to show parents how their children are doing in conferences.  I've had so many requests for more tubs, especially on the 3rd grade level.  I'd love for you to check them out.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks so much and have a great week!-Yvonne