Adding 3 Whole Numbers

For those who don't know me....I LOVE MATH!!!! It is sort of funny because I disliked it so much when I was in school, but now I could teach it all day!

So this week in math we have been learning all about adding 3 whole numbers. We started by using manipulatives to help us add and have gradually taken away the manipulatives and worked our way to mental math. Keep in mind, we have been doing addition and subtraction concepts for WEEKS now.

Initially I presented my students with the question, "How do we use objects/manipulatives to help us add 3 numbers together?" The students have had numerous experiences with manipulatives and problem solving throughout the year. (*more on problem of the day to come later). We brainstormed a list of possible manipulatives we could use to solve a problem asking us to add three whole numbers. The list included the usual: cubes, base ten blocks, counters, etc. But they also came up with other ideas which were interesting to me...money, crayons, and scissors (they really got stuck on the idea of scissors, but I told them to go ahead and try it). I presented the students with the problem 6 + 6 + 2 and asked them to go to their seats and use whatever object they wanted to use and solve it.

I walked around and helped the students through their thinking process. I was really curious as to who would see the double and add that first. I wanted to know how they were counting. Were they counting one by one? Counting on from 6? Counting on from 12? Or using another method?

We then returned to the carpet to discuss our thinking. I find this to be the MOST critical part in mathematics. Discussion! It is AMAZING what these little ones can come up with and the way they manipulate the numbers. Here are some examples of what they did...

As you can see many of them just modeled the numbers as expected. However, the explanations is really were the "meat" of the lesson was. I really loved the one above who broke the sixes into its double (3+3). I thought it was unique. I also had some experiment with money, but they decided it wasn't really conducive to the problem. Some of the students also did base ten blocks, but I did not get a picture of it. :( I will get better the more I blog (I hope!).

We then went into our guided math groups and the students did their problem of the day (which was adding 3 whole numbers, of course!), workbook page, math tub games, and we met and completed this activity.

The students had to roll a dice 3 times and record their numbers. Then they used a manipulative to add them together and solved the problem. They seem to love any game that involves dice/number cubes. The next day we still focused on adding 3 whole numbers, but our focus was how do we draw a picture to help us add. Today we focused on how we could do it mentally in our heads by looking for doubles and tens to add quickly. More on that to come. 

In a side note:

2 more days until SPRING BREAK!!!

Classroom Tour

So today I think about drove my kiddos crazy with my camera. There will be many pictures to come of things we are completing this week such as math games related to adding 3 whole numbers together, conjunctions, and prepositions. However, I thought I would start my first true post with a tour of my classroom. I am not sure I will keep this color scheme next year, although I totally love it (GO DAWGS!). I am all about organization, but I need more bins to truly accomplish what I am going for (summer project!). Enjoy the tour...

Here is a challenge board I use in my room for various activities (mostly designed for my gifted learners in my class, but it works for everyone). Currently I have Boggle on it, an estimation station, and brain teaser. Our county has a wonderful program called Math Stars and it is a great resource for getting the students to think deeply about their math. I put them up on the wall often. I am hoping next year to add Sum It Up to the challenge board. It is like Boggle, but with numbers (totally Pinterest inspired...where would we be without Pinterest?!). Love my crinkle paper border! SUPER EASY!

Next is my math centers task board. This allows the students to know what group they are in and which center they should be at. I tried to come up with math names for their groups, so I chose the shapes they tend to miss on tests. More about my guided math to come soon!

This is my vocabulary wall. We add words as we learn them, so right now it is pretty full; I really should take some down. It covers words from our content areas. Next year I think I want to separate the science and social studies a little better.

Next, we do Daily 5 at our school. Only we don't have that great of a books on tape/CD collection. Therefore, I have made it into the daily 4 by taking out our listening to reading center. The students still hear fluent readers daily, just not through a listening center, so I don't feel too bad about it. It was also an management nightmare. Our CD player was always breaking. I group my students heterogeneously for centers and call guided reading groups during this time.

Here is my word wall. I add and take away as needed. I think word walls tend to get a bit too cluttered (like my vocab. wall). I also think they are the most underused resource in the classroom. I have really tried to focus on my word wall the past 2 years.

Anchor charts hung by clothes pins (thank you Pintersest!). Love this! I can add and take down so easily.

New Adventure

Welcome! After four years of teaching, I have decided to start a blog. We shall see where this journey leads. As a teacher I find the internet to be such a valuable resource and a great way to communicate with other teachers. I have been inspired by such people as Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade, Deanna Jump at Mrs. Jump's Class, and Christina Bainbridge at Bainbridge Class. I in NO WAY expect to reach their level of popularity or success. I think they are true teaching geniuses and amazing leaders in our field. However, I do hope you can find something useful on my blog from time to time. I plan to add to the blog, as often as I can, the activities I complete with my class. So please come back to look through them often. I look forward to starting this journey into blogging.

You will be able to find just a few things I have already created (just as a start and test run) on TpT. Please click the link to view my items. TpT