This past month in math has focused on finding ways to increase our fluency with math facts beyond 10, in particular when one of the addends is an 8 or 9. Students have learned a more efficient way of solving these problems by finding ways to make a 'friendly number.' All students can quickly add on with 10, so we have been learning how to turn the 8 and 9 into a 10 to restate the number sentence in a more friendly way. INQUIRE with your child how this process works! This underlying theme of finding friendly numbers will continue to help your child increase their number sense in many ways!
Every day, we continue to practice our counting - by 2's, 5's 10's - both forward the backward, increase fluency with all math facts by doing "sprints" and challenging ourselves to think outside the box and explain with mathematical terms what the process each person takes to solve different problems. A few times a week, students work with partners to play math games that help strengthen skills taught during the week. INQUIRE with your child how to write a number sentence the vertical way - can they tell you how many pennies makes $1? Take some dimes, nickels, and pennies out of your pocket - can your child count how much you have?
