We have been doing a WHOLE lot of adding and subtracting in my class these days! Whew. Here is a look at some of the things we have been doing. (This post is very picture heavy.)
Addition and Subtraction Anchor charts.
Addition and Subtraction Math Huddles
We started with these 2 questions, the first was designed to get the students thinking about regrouping and the second was a typical addition word problem.
My math huddles are set up so that the students have a minds on (Getting Started) type question that we discuss together. Then we share the lesson problem and often discuss possible strategies together.
Then I send them out to work on it...usually in pairs or groups.
I post up most of my student's own work and use that as the teaching point for discussions.
If there are any gaps then I fill in with what I want the students to learn.
I often recopy my student's examples so it is a little easier for everyone to read and on the day after the "Working on It" we revisit the learning and annotate the learning. **This can also happen right on the day of working provided that students are able to reach the solutions to the problems within the class time. **
Once we started to feel good with the addition strategies we moved on to subtraction, and the lesson cycle repeats again.
Getting Started
Lesson Problem
Working On It- this was added underneath the addition examples from our earlier lessons
Finally, anchor charts of big ideas are created or shared. I actually used the annotations on each strategy as the big ideas for this math huddle and then posted these anchor charts that I found online at the Jordan School District.
And now we practice!! Even though the majority of my Grade 3 students are proficient using the traditional regrouping algorithm for 3-digit addition and subtraction I have insisted that they practice all 5 strategies we studied. It's amazing how many of them have memorized the steps but are unable to communicate their knowledge of place value by using a variety of strategies. The work continues!!
