Reading, Writing, & ARITHMETIC

If You Were A Plus Sign…

That’s the title of a literature tie in to our introduction of addition in recent weeks. Students have been hard at work exploring this type of computation. Not only have they learned the vocabulary associated with addition – addends, sum, equals and plus; they have also used many different types of manipulatives to gain a deeper understanding of the concept. We have used number lines, Cuisenaire rods, calendar pieces, etc. to assist these concrete thinkers in pursuing different strategies to solve addition problems. They have had an exciting time! We’ve extended learning by looking at the Commutative Property of Addition which allows two or more addends to be added in any order without changing the sum. They call these types if problems switcheroo’s. We have also begun to explore strategies to solve equations where there is a missing addend. For our more active students, we have practiced addition through playing body tic-tac-toe. All these tools have been excellent at meeting the needs of our various learners. We have a group of amazing math thinkers!