I learned this past week that the phone number I have been using in my classroom is wrong...I apologize to any of you that have been trying to reach me at the 466-0316 number. I also cannot access voice-mails that were left at that number right now. The classroom number is 466-0304. I have changed this on my email signature and homepage so as to not cause any confusion. A little late in the year to find this out....
Deep River Water Park
If you chose to participate in this opportunity, please return Reading Logs by this Friday, March 11th.
Partial Sums vs. Carrying
I am noticing in class and on homework, that many students are using the Carrying/Borrowing algorithm to solve large addition and subtraction problems. If practiced incorrectly, this can cause more harm than good. We are not learning that method in Second Grade, therefore most students are becoming very confused because of conflicting methods. Many are not ready to understand the borrowing/carrying process and therefore are getting answers wrong because they simply do not understand what to do or most importantly, why they are borrowing/carrying. At home, make sure to ask your student what makes sense to them. Everyday Math is about allowing students to think openly about Math, and not get stuck on "traditional" algorithms to solve. This is meant to have students better understand Math which will help them in their future Math Classes. The methods we mostly practice with in Math for large addition or subtraction problems is, Partial Sums, Column Addition, and Counting Up. If you would like to watch a video with an explanation of any of these methods please go to:
http://www.mathatube.com/addition-partial-sum-e2.html
In class, I do not tell students how to solve a problem. They are taught several methods to use, and then choose what makes the most sense to them. Oftentimes, we have great discussions in class sharing the ways THEY solved a problem and from this, add more "tools" to our Math knowledge. If a method does not work, we discuss that also. Please do this at home as well so they do not get flustered with Math too early on :)
Congrats to our Student of the Week: A.J.
Happy Birthday to Vanessa on Monday!
Don't forget: Friday is Pajama Day!