Although they're not smiling (I haven't been great about getting good pictures), we really have been loving working with number bonds these last few weeks. "Number Bonds" if your child hasn't already shared with you help kids see that numbers can be broken into parts to make computation easier. Students are learning to see the relationship between numbers through this model. Ask your child about our stories we've incorporated into this, especially that of squirrels hiding their nuts! Above, students were working with different groups of pattern blocks to show the amounts of each and then how many total there were. As students begin to see this relationship, they are starting to put these parts into a "number sentence" and learning about the meaning of an = sign. Everybody is starting to become familiar and flexible in how to use this equal sign in a variety of positions. 
We have been playing many math games during our "math work places" time. Many games are building students fluency with subatizing 20 frames and building their understanding of teen numbers. INQUIRE with your child a faster way to count cards like these without counting by 1's.
Students have also been practicing naming and writing numbers before and after in a variety of partner games and group white board work, comparing groups of numbers, and counting on from a variety of numbers.
