Fractions Day 7: Cooking with 1/4

March 30, 2020March 29, 2020 Jen Moffettdistance learning, Fractions, Grades 1-3Leave a comment

Today was our first day of Distance Learning from our school. Though I am grateful for all of the lessons now being planned out and having some awesome challenges to engage in (Shout Out to Coach SMITH and Mrs. NEAL!!!!), it messed up the routine we had been rolling with. I spent so much time navigating the different sites and trouble shooting that I didn’t have time to prep the new colored strips I needed to start thirds, sixths and ninths for the Fraction Kit.

I honestly thought Chris wouldn’t ask about the math, as he had so much to do for his other classes. (I was ready to ditch out on the fractions today.) But he asked at lunch, When are we having our fraction time, Mom? How can you say no to that?!!! (Well, okay lots of us can, but anyone who knows me knows I can’t. Ask my good friend who had to wait for me to write on receipt paper math tutorial links for the cashier at Total Wine the other day!)

Fortunately, a good friend had posted on Facebook a recipe for making salt-dough ornaments. See below for the recipe, but what I loved about it was there are only 3 ingredients (And I had them all!!!!) and the amounts were cups and halves. Perfect!

I pulled out all of my measuring cups and asked Chris how he would name them. He called the full circle 1 whole. He took the others and rotated them within the cup to figure out how many fit inside. Pretty similar to the Fraction Kit, but with circles. We named them verbally and I asked him to find the fourth. We put the rest away.
I asked him to measure 1 cup of flour with the 1/4. How many fourths would you need to make a whole cup? 4 How do you know? Because it takes four of them to make a fourth. (He rotated the 1/4 in the air to show the whole circle.) 1-fourth, 2-fourths, 3-fourths, one-whole.
We needed to measure 1/2 cup of salt. How can you use the 1-fourth to find 1-half? Well, since 4 of them made a whole, I need only 2.
We needed to measure 1/2 cup of water. I didn’t bother asking; I knew he got the gist of it.

The recipe is super easy to make and fun to create different ornaments to paint and share with friends during this isolation time. I am having Chris write a letter with each to send out next week so we can get some Pen-Pal action going!

Note: We did not put parchment paper down the first time we rolled out the dough and it was a huge mistake! Place parchment or wax paper down and sprinkle some flour before rolling out the dough.

salt-dough-ornament-recipe Download

War!(HUH!) What is it good for? (Absolutely lots in Math!)

July 18, 2017July 16, 2017 Jen MoffettAddition, Games, Grades 1-3, Grades 5-8, Magnitude, math, Multiplication, Numeracy, parent support, Pre-K-K, PreK-K1 Comment

With my family on the go so much during the non-lazy days of summer, we need easy games to entertain the tiny humans that don’t require mass amounts of attention from the adults (who are often in conversation). Enter the game of War. This versatile game can be used for all age groups and can really keep your child’s skills in arithmetic in check during the “summer slump”.

How to Play (Basic Version)

Grab a deck of cards (I keep one in my purse and in the car at all times). You don’t have to, but I prefer to take out the face cards and jokers. Shuffle the rest and divvy out to all who are playing.
All players shove all of their cards into a “deck” and keeps the deck face down.
All players (at the same time to avoid cheating) flip the first card. The player with the largest value is the winner and takes all of the cards in the round.
If there is a tie (that is the largest value), those players place 3 cards on their original face down and flip the fourth card. Whichever player NOW has the largest value gets all of the cards from the round.
Continue playing until either a) one player has all of the cards; or b) you get sick of playing. The player with the most cards is the winner.

Additional Versions

For younger players: Use only 2-5 from the decks and play with those. The game goes faster and they are working only with 2, 3, 4, and 5. You can use the aces as 1. Even better, use number cards or dot cards (see below for links). Print on cardstock (4 cards per number) or go online and buy a set.
For any age: You can also play and whoever gets the smallest value wins. This is great for preK-1st graders!
For students who need review with addition: Play two cards at a time and add them. The player with the largest sum is the winner of the round.
For students who need review with multiplication: Play two cards at a time and multiply them. The player with the largest product is the winner of the round.
For grades 5-7: red cards are negative values; black cards are positive values. Flip over one card. If I have a red 6 and you have a black 2, you are the winner since positive values are always greater than negatives.
For grades 6-8 (or 7-8 if using Common Core): Play two cards and add them, using reds as negatives and blacks as positives. The player with the largest sum is the winner of the round.
For grades 6-8 (or 7-8 if using Common Core): Play two cards and multiply them, using reds as negatives and blacks as positives. The player with the largest product is the winner of the round.
For grades 6-8, use only values ace (for 1) through 5. Flip the first card; that is your base. Flip the second card; that is your exponent. The player with the highest value wins the round.

Different Sets of Cards:

You could probably look on Amazon for different card types, but I love the sets at 52 Pickup. They are of high quality and there are many different types ranging from dot cards to ten frames to cards that go through the thousands (so you can work on place value!)

https://sumboxes.com/collections/types?q=52%20Pickup%20Card%20Decks

How Many Are Hiding?

July 1, 2017 Jen MoffettAddition, Games, Grades 1-3, math, Numeracy, parent support, PreK-K, subtraction1 Comment

This is a great game for tiny humans in need of some entertainment while waiting at a restaurant. Just make sure to ask for an extra children’s cup to play.

Age Level: 3-6 year olds

Materials: children’s plastic cup (any cup will do, just not transparent), a set of objects (I used goldfish for the example, as that was what was in my purse! Other options are pennies, beans, tiny annoying toys, etc.)

How to Play: Place out a certain number of ‘stuff’. Normally for me, it is however many I have in my purse! I would recommend starting with 5 or less, see how they do, and adjust as needed. The first time I played with my 5 year old, we started with 10 and it was quite frustrating for him. They catch on and you can up the number as they grow!

Have your child count how many there are.
Have your child close his/her eyes. Hide some of the objects under the cup.
Ask your child to open his/her eyes. Ask the following:
1. How many do you see?
2. If there were _________ to start with, how many are hiding?
Allow your child to check their answer by lifting the cup.
Ask the following:
1. How many were hiding?
2. How many were out?
3. How many in all? (Woah! It is the same as what we started with! Weird!)
Switch who hides and who plays.

Why play? Aside from counting one-by-one and ‘holding’ that number in their heads, students need lots of practice understanding that a number can represent an amount. That amount can be broken into parts (decomposed), but when we put them together (add them) they make the original number we had. This is part of the idea of conservation, which is critical for young mathematicians to understand (not the word but the idea) in order to add and subtract numbers.

Special thanks to my tiny human for playing this morning! Love ya, bud!

Response to Confusion 43-13

March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 Jen MoffettGrades 1-3, Magnitude, math, Numeracy, parent support, subtraction4 Comments

So today a friend tagged me in a FB post regarding the “frightening” method that students MUST solve subtraction problems. I have posted the link below, and I believe the link is at the bottom of this post as well! Take a look.

So let’s summarize the tutor’s concerns. 1. That we are writing problems horizontally rather than vertically. 2. That students are using a strategy of “adding up” rather than “stack and subtract”. 3. They MUST use this strategy and no other.

I would like to address each of these and provide some comments.

Most of us are used to seeing math problems vertically. Why? Well, for one, it makes the problem ready to go for the algorithm of “stack and subtract” (which is not the ONLY algorithm in the world, mind you). I would contend it also saves space for publishing companies in their workbooks. If the problem is already written for the algorithm, publishers do not have to provide additional space and therefore can fit more problems on a page, and save money. (Yeah, I went there. Bring on the comments!) However, when you write a subtraction problem vertically, you lose the essence of the numbers. Here I only see single digit subtracted by single digit. I do not see 40 – 20, but 4 – 2 and 5 – 1. This is okay for problems where we do not have regrouping. However, some students get so stuck in the process of regrouping that they no longer see the value of the places and just write a very ‘random’ value as the difference. When I write the problem horizontally (45-21), it allows me to view it from a place value perspective. My eyes look first at the tens and then the ones, versus the horizontal example where I start with the ones and then look at the tens. Also, writing it horizontally does not constrict me to a “stack and subtract” method. (See prior blog for more info on great subtraction strategies to help kiddos.) Really, both are fine; no need to get all uppity about it. And if a teacher says they HAVE to write it that way, it is not true, but what is true is that they learn to think about relationships and different strategies using place value and properties of numbers BEFORE learning the standard algorithm. In fact, the standard algorithm for multi-digit subtraction should not be mastered until grade 3: CCSS.Math.Content.3.NBT.A.2
Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. So students have lots and lots of time to process what it means to subtract and its relationship to addition.
(and 3.) Adding up is one strategy students can use. Makes sense to me! If I already know how to add, I can simply use that to help me figure out the missing addend. This is all a subtraction problem really is: a missing addend problem! Consider the following: 43 – 16. This is really finding out 16 + ____ = 43. Now typically, students do not need to go to the next five as the tutor suggests. And really a number line is FABULOUS for modeling adding up. Here is one way to get the value. Notice this is a great strategy for students who struggle with regrouping, because there IS NO REGROUPING!!! I went up 4 to the nearest ten (20), added 20 more (40), and ‘hopped’ 3 more to get to my end point (43). 4 + 20 + 3 is 27. Therefore, 43 -16 = 27. Using the tutor’s problem (43-13), I think adding up is efficient, if you move up by tens. I can simply add by tens until I reach 43. 3-tens is 30. Not sure why it is so convoluted in her explanation and NO! Students do not have to add up the same way the tutor did. In fact, that is the wonderful thing about Common Core. CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.B.7
Add and subtract within 1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method. Understand that in adding or subtracting three-digit numbers, one adds or subtracts hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose or decompose tens or hundreds. Notice that students can use any method, with or without drawings or concrete models!!! Super awesome! Hooray for creativity! I no longer have to use one method (that I don’t really get and just memorized because my teacher told me to); I can use any method so long as I keep in mind place value and my rules (properties).

“Our classrooms are filled with students and adults who think of mathematics as rules and procedures to memorize without understanding the numerical relationships that provide the foundation for these rules. The teaching of mathematics has been viewed as a discrete set of rules and procedures to be implemented with speed and accuracy but without necessarily understanding mathematical logic. For the majority of our nation, knowledge of mathematical rules has not allowed them to use math confidently in their daily lives. With almost two-thirds of the nation’s adult population fearful of mathematics, they have simply said “NO” to math and closed the doors to careers that require higher math” (Burns, 1998; Parrish, 2010).

Let’s allow students to make sense of number relationships, what the operations MEAN, and figure out what makes sense and how to approach the mathematics based on the numbers given.

3 Common Subtraction Strategies

October 22, 2015October 22, 2015 Jen MoffettGrades 1-3, Numeracy, subtraction2 Comments

A dear friend had this posted last night:

Why?! Why would I even consider doing simple subtraction like this?! It’s about 10 steps too many, not to mention super confusing!!!

And to be honest, I had to look at the first problem (represented as a “tape diagram”) to figure out what they were asking. So my next blog will be about the difference between CCSS standards and how they are being implemented (often poorly). Today is to help out my friend…

So, back in the day we were given a set of procedures to follow step-by-step. We never really knew why (or at least I didn’t): just follow the magical steps in order and it will produce a number that your teacher will smile at and say you are smart. If you did not follow the steps correctly, then have fun with extra practice and staying in during lunch.

CCSS is reversing this. They are allowing students (through research-based strategies kids naturally use) to explore a variety of ways to solve problems. From there, in grade 4 they will generate the traditional algorithm. It hasn’t gone away; it is just the end of the journey.

Here are 3 of the most used strategies for kiddos in subtraction.

1. Count Up. Makes sense. We spend so much time teaching how to add. Why not use it? A subtraction problem is considered a “missing addend” problem.

One of the ways to represent counting up is on an open number line. This is the one the above pic shows on a tape diagram. So you are finding how far (the distance between) it is from one value to the next.

Typically, kids will add up to the nearest ten, then hundred, and jump until they get to the number they need. Add up all of the “hops” you did and that is the distance.

28 – 9

Think about it as, “What plus 9 makes 28?”

Or “How far must I go to get from 9 to 28?”

400-165

Think about it as “What plus 165 makes 400?”

Or “How far do I have to go to get from 165 to 400?”

This is my favorite strategy, because it takes the “borrowing” out of the math. (Why is it called “borrowing”? You will never give it back.)

2. Decompose the subtrahend. Name it what you want. You will break apart the second number in the subtraction problem to make it easier to subtract. This is typically shown by a number bond.

28 – 9

Break apart the 9 into 8 and 1. (9 = 8+1)

This allows the student to subtract the same amount of ones from ones first (8 – 8). The leftover ones (in this case, 1) can be taken away second. Again, a great strategy when the subtrahend (the second number in the subtraction problem) has a digit larger than the minuhend (the first number).

400-165

Break apart the 165 by place value (165 = 100+60+5).

This is typically a strategy that works well in your head, versus the complexity of seeing it written out mathematically. Trust me when I say that kids can do this quickly in their head; writing what they did is much harder (and much harder for us to figure out what the heck they did). You do have to know the ways to make 10’s and 100’s. So I have to know that 60 + 40 = 100 (or 6 tens + 4 tens = 10 tens = 100) to know that 300 – 60 = 240. This is the second grade standard; subtracting multiples of tens. (BTW: This is the one that gets blasted on Facebook. I have seen students use this strategy in their head time and time again. The minute we record their thinking mathematically, people get all out of whack. It is not more steps than the standard algorithm. The moves you make are written as equations using place value rather than little meaningless tick marks at the top of the problem.

3. Solve using place value. Similar to the second strategy, but you can break both numbers up as you choose.

28 – 9

Again, looks a lot scarier when I record it this way. Using a number bond is a great visual, and typically the student starts this process by just saying what they want to subtract verbally, rather than writing all of the notation down.

400 – 165

I am just showing one way to break apart the values. When I asked my son how he would do it, he said he would break up 400 into 100 + 100 + 200. That made sense to him, and in the end that is what we want. For students to use a strategy and make sense of it.

You will find that one strategy works with the numbers given better than another. For example, with the 400 – 165, I would use a counting up. With 28 – 9, I like the break up the subtrahend. The point of it all is for students to really understand what is happening when they subtract. Where is the “borrowing” or “regrouping” happening, so when they learn the traditional algorithm, it is an extension of their learning rather than some random tick mark step-by-step formula.

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