Math Groups Have Begun!

On Monday of this week, we began math groups. While most work at Summers-Knoll is done in mixed age groupings, math is an area where we have found it better to work with ability peers. This often means - and this year was no exception - that first graders work together and second graders work together.

With my second grade group, we start off with playing a lot with numbers, place value, and general "number sense" activities. I like to get a sense if students truly understand what numbers mean. We have been starting each morning with some warm-ups at the rug which include things that parents can do at home as long as you have two of my favorite math tools - dice and playing cards.

* With dice, we start of with rolling one die and quickly telling "how many more to 10." So if I roll a 4 die in front of someone, they need to oh-so-quickly tell me SIX! The make-ten strategy is so important for our base 10 system, so being able to do this fluently is key.

* With 2 and 3 dice, we add the challenge of telling "how many more to 20 (or 30)." So if I roll a 5 and 2 in front of a student, they need to add up to 7, then tell me how many more to 20 - THIRTEEN! This adds another important skill - the add-ten strategy. Most, but not all, children leave first grade knowing that 3 plus 10 is 13, for example. This game gives them practice to do so.

* With playing cards, I've been giving up to 4 cards to each student and having them make the biggest number possible, and then the smallest number possible. We've also talked about what the VALUE of each card is, depending on where the card is. We will play lots of games with place value, and will work will very big numbers this year!