Constant Difference

Today we began looking at a new strategy to help with mental subtraction called Constant Difference. This involves taking our 2 numbers that we are subtracting, and changing them in order to help solve a subtraction problem easier mentally.

In class today, we completed this anchor chart and glued it into our math notebooks.

In order to subtract easier without having to regroup all of the 0's, we subtracted 1 from out minuend and our subtrahend. This kept the amount between each number the same. We then subtracted as we normally would and checked our answer with the inverse operation.

This anchor chart can be found in your child's math notebook. A video of this strategy can be found on your child's Pearson Math page. Pearson can be accessed by logging into Ready Hub. From there, click the Math Textbook link. Once inside the Math Textbook, click Unit 2, Topic 3. This will take you to a list of videos for 2-3. Both the Visual Learning Video and the Another Look Video are helpful in explaining this strategy.

If you have any questions, please let me know! 😊

Place Value Strategies

This week we have been discussing place value strategies for adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers. Students glued an anchor chart into their math notebooks, then we walked through the process for adding and subtracting three digit numbers using this strategy. We also did examples on a blank page of our notebooks to practice! Here is an example of what we did in class.

This is just one of the many strategies we will talk about during our adding and subtracting unit!

Subtraction and Coin Sorting

In math this week, we focused on subtraction. We've been practicing subtraction by taking things away and figuring out what we are left with, but this week each kiddo got to do their own subtraction problems.

At my table, the kids each got their own boy or girl with 10 teeth and "took away" teeth to see how many would be left over.

 

 

At their second station this week, the kids did a spin and graph with different shapes.

At their third station this week, the kids practiced sorting coins into jars with the matching amount on them.

At their fourth station this week, the kids practiced tracing and writing their numbers.

Pennies and Addition!

This week in math our main focus was pennies! It was the first coin we talked about this month. We will do a different coin every week! To help introduce pennies ... we have a new song ... that we now have to play daily! (I'm not gonna lie, it's really catchy. I was singing it this afternoon while we were making community helpers). :)

We also reviewed addition and subtraction since we had a couple of weeks off. I got an idea after school and made this cute Pete the Cat addition and subtraction game that is sitting on our large shelf by the carpet. I used the felt game sheet from Making Learning Fun, stuck some velcro on him and to the buttons and made a couple of addition and subtraction word problems for us to fill in.

For the addition problems, we wrote how many buttons Pete started off with, then counted how many we added and then counted them all together.

For our subtraction problems, we wrote how many buttons Pete started off with, then counted how many we took away and wrote how many he had left on his shirt. 

They've been playing this game in free centers at the end of the day all week!

At my table this week, the kids review which coin a penny is, how much it is worth and showed me some different amounts. Then the REAL fun started ... they got to shop for "special treats"!

We only went up to 10 cents in our game, but they bought things like donuts, candy bars, strawberries, bananas, cookies and yogurt!

At their second station for the week, the kids practiced writing addition sentences using our snowman addition mats and buttons. 

They put buttons on each snowman, then wrote how many each one had. After they did that, they added the buttons together and wrote the sum.

At their third station of the week, the kids matched numbers to their ten longs and units.

At their last station of the week, the kids played a New Year Roll and Cover game. 

We used 2 different game boards and the kids either played by themselves or played in pairs to see who could cover the most numbers first! 

They had so much fun, we played again as a whole class at the end of the day.

She got to be my partner!