Give and Take

In my previous post, I discussed different ways of teaching addition with regrouping. One strategy I teach is the Give and Take Method. It allows students to completely avoid regrouping by getting one of the addends to the nearest ten. And whatever they give they have to take from the other addend.

The first step is to look in the ones place. Decide which digit is closer to a ten. In the example, it is the 8. What do you add to 8 to get it to the next tens number? 2. If you add 2 to the 8, then you have to take 2 from the 4. Now look at your new problem. You can solve it without regrouping. The method works really well with 2 digit numbers. I use it with kids who have trouble remembering to regroup or add in the ten that was regrouped. I also use it as a way to check problems that have been worked out using a different strategy. Plus, it gives kids extra practice with addition and allows some practice with mental math. After a while, many use this method to work problems out in their heads.

To introduce and review tens bonds, I show the following video. It is a favorite of my students! We watch it over and over again. It warms them up for this strategy and makes it so much easier. Check it out!

Awesome Addition

Wow! We have come along way from when we were growing up and learning how to add. When we were learning facts, we were just told to memorize. You didn't need to know why 4 + 3=7. All you needed to know was that it was 7! You just learned your facts.

Then when we moved to adding 2 and 3 digit numbers, all we knew was that we stacked up the numbers and remembered those facts. If there was a number bigger than 9 in a position, we "carried" the other number to the next place. No one explained why. No one told us that the 1 in 12 was really 10 ones that could be regrouped into 1 ten and then that is why it was moved to the tens place.

Now we not only teach kids this but we expect them to be able to convey it on state and national tests. We no longer want to know that 53 + 29 is 82. We want to know "how did you find that answer", or "what method did you use to solve your problem", or "how did you use mental math to help you".

In other words, students must be able to show the "how" and the "why" and not just the "what". The problem is that anyone who has been teaching more than five years never learned how to teaach like this. All we know is the "old school" algorithm.

Through out my thirteen years of teaching, I have been criticised for teaching students using unconventional methods, especially when it comes to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Teachers have told me that kids have to know how to do it the traditional way! Why? Does it say it in a standard somewhere? Oh, it is in the book? Well, guess what...math books are becoming obsolete...so you might want to stop resting on your laurels and the way we have always done it and spread your wings a little bit.

I have created 2 different PowerPoint presentations on Addition With Regrouping and Addition Without Regrouping. These presentation include many different strategies for adding numbers, like drawing the problem out, expanded form, branching, a method called Give and Take, and even...Old School. You can see my

I have also created a packet entitled Autumn Addition that includes lessons on each method of addition without regrouping. It includes printables, rules, games, and more!

Finally, I have created a unit for teaching addition without regrouping entitled Game On:Addition with Regrouping. It includes lessons on each of the methods of branching, drawing, expanded form, give and take and old school. It has printables, activities, games, and songs to make learning about the "how" and "why" of addition with regrouping engaging and fun!

Happy Birthday, Johnny Appleseed!

Every year, I love when fall comes to town. Football, leaves, cooler weather, Halloween, and Johnny Appleseed. I know that sounds like an odd thing to get exceited about but Johnny Appleseed Day is one of my students' most favorite days.

We dedicate the whole day to Johnny and his Apples. We do art projects, make applesauce, weigh and measure apples, research, read books about Johnny, and even have an Applicious Party at the end of the day complete with caramel apples, Apple Jacks, apple chips, apple pie and much more.

I have always had an assortment of activities and printables that I have acquired throughout the years. Most were great activities but they had just started to fade. Others needed a little vamping up. So I have created a whole new Thematic Plan to make for one sensational Johnny Appleseed Day. Check them out at my TpT store.

There is an expository writing lesson on How to Make Applesauce. A Bushel Full of Math Centers sends kids exploring apples in whole new way by weighing, sinking, measuring, researching, drawing...and so much more. They will read a folktale about A Little Red House and create a comic strip about the story's events. Next they get to travel through Johnny the United States and create a graphic organizer about his life.

Singing Across the Curriculum

Since my first year teaching all those long (13) years ago, I have always tried to make learning fun. One way I have accomplished this is to integrate singing, rapping, and cheering into all of my classes across the curriculum.

These songs are a staple for my math class. We literally sing at least 4 of them every day. They have become an asset when 

teaching rounding, place value, number forms, problem solving, estimation, subtraction, multiplying by multiples of tens, and much, much more. 

We “Sing Across the Curriculum” not only to make learning fun and engage students in learning, but also so that students can use their songs to help them solve problems. Nothing makes me happier than when students are taking a test and I can hear them quietly singing their songs!

I have just posted my first edition of "Singing Across the Curriculum: Math Songs-Numbers and Operations". It includes my favorite songs that help my students in numbers and operations. Most of them former students had a part in making up! 

Check them out at my TpT store.
 
Here are some of my kids having fun with them!

Pirate Place Value

 

Place Value is the most important concept students learn in any grade. Without the mastery of place value, students will struggle with every other concept. It is always the first concept I teach each year, and throughout the years I have acquired many strategies, methods, and activities to aid students in learning about place value.

I utilize many strategies from Singapore Math along with methods and techiniques that I have developed myself throughout the year. One of those methods is teaching students a unique song I developed one year, 9 years ago, after being in complete desperation with my students lack of mastery of the concept. So I created this song and taught kids to point at the places in numbers while singing which allowed them to identify the place where digits sat in a number. I still use this method in my classroom today!

 

 

In the last few years I created a PowerPoint presentation that took students through place value by focusing first on identifying the places where digits sit in a number and then using that knowledge to help determine the value of a digit because of where it sits in a number. You can check out my Learning Place Value PowerPoint Presentation at my TpT store.

 This year I changed the theme in my room to P.I.R.A.T.E.S. Prepared, Informed, Responsible, and Truly Engaged Students. So how better to begin math than with a Place Value unit with a Pirate theme.

 

The packet includes a place value chart, activities, student notes, practice sheets, and a matching game. I used it in my classroom this past week and it is an awesome resource. Coupled with my Learning Place Value PowerPoint presentation it ensured the success of all of the 75 students I teach in mastering the concept of place value. Check out Pirate Place Value at my TpT store.

 

 

Check out my favorite videos and other activities.

Call Me Maybe-Teachers' Edition

One of our local churches hosted Back to School Blue Jean Sunday and wanted to show that teachers can have fun, too! We had so much fun creating the video and were happy to be apart of something so positive. Hope you enjoy it!

Scrunchy Border

One of the most almost things I found on Pinterest this summer was the "Scrunchy Border"! It is so simple and looks soooooo amazing.

The 3-D affect is so cool. It adds alot of flare and style  to my classroom, and seeing as I am a "little" dramatic that is important!

So here is how you do it:
1. All you need is butcher paper, scissors, and staples
2. Get 6 or more feet of butcher paper
3. Cut it into strips that are about 5-6 inches wide
4. Fold it accordin style (my kids did this part)
5. Scrunch it all up like you are about to throw it away
6. Start in a corner staple and then scrunch
7. Continue stapling and then scrunching all the way around the board

Easy Breezy!