Number Routines

Maia demonstrates flexible number sense by considering different ways to get a sum of 14. She can show her math thinking symbolically using drawings and equations. Students are learning that they need to be precise in math, whether in properly printing digits or including symbols. Sometimes, students forget to include the ‘plus’ or ‘equal’ sign, so we’re trying to review our work too!

In Term 2, we continue to develop our number sense with a strong focus on addition up to 100.

What is number sense? You can think of it as “a person’s ability to understand, relate, and connect numbers.”

Our math learning takes form in different ways – worksheets, open-ended morning questions, picture books, games, drills (Chrono Maths), and number routines.

One such number routine is the ‘problem of the day’. This week, students have been reflecting on their addition strategies.

We’ve been using Carole Fullerton’s Good Questions: A Year of Open-Ended Math Problems for Grades 2-4 for daily discussion.

Open-ended questions are low-risk and inclusive to all learners. They invite multiple solutions and rich discussion. The class understands that so long as the answer ‘makes sense’ (ie. is logical), it is up for group consideration.

Students practice both creative and critical thinking skills during this activity, helping make math more dynamic. They also develop their communication skills as they might be asked to share their math thinking in different ways – symbolically, concretely, and/or verbally.

Open-ended questions include more students in the act of problem-solving. The more often we expose students to these key math ideas the more fluent they become; the more we recognize and celebrate different problem-solving approaches, the smarter the collective becomes. (Fullerton)

As the school year progresses, we’ll continue to build on this and other number routines.

Les maths au gymnase

We started playing a new game in PE this week. Students aim to win the biggest number of points by throwing beanbags into the hoop.

Yellow beanbags are worth 1 point each. Red beanbags are worth 10 points each.

This simple game has students practice a number of skills.

Students practice spatial reasoning in assessing how hard or soft to throw a bean bag for it to land on target.

They practice personal and social responsibility in participating in the game and encouraging their classmates.

Finally, they practice creative and critical thinking in counting beanbags to figure out final scores.

Le matériel de base dix

We’ve started exploring base 10 materials this week. We’re exploring this Big Idea from the Grade 2 curriculum: “Numbers to 100 represent quantities that can be decomposed into 10s and 1s.”

We’re learning this content regarding place value:

understanding of 10s and 1s

understanding the relationship between digit places and their value, to 99 (e.g., the digit 4 in 49 has the value of 40)

decomposing two-digit numbers into 10s and 1s

As seen in the photo above, students had fun exploring even bigger numbers. They noted how the number 10 is important in each unit, ex. 10 ones make one ten, 10 tens make one hundred, etc.

We’ve been learning relevant math vocabulary such as une unité (a one), une dizaine (a ten), une centaine (a hundred), or valeur de position (place value).

La lecture

Students change their books.

Students are learning to choose appropriate books for themselves. Every week, they’re encouraged to switch them to be more exposed to new stories.

We read daily in different ways – lecture avec un.e ami.e (read with a friend), lecture (teacher readaloud), lecture à soi (read to self), and lecture en groupe (group readaloud), so regularly changing one’s books is essential to sustain interest.

When we read to ourselves, we have a special routine in deciding how long we’ll try to read. We use ‘real world’ math in deciding just how many minutes we want to read on a given day. We use number lines to track different lengths of time in minutes.

Once decided, we aim to read that number of minutes following the three basic rules below. After the session, we use a chart to record how many minutes we’ve successfully read.

The three Lecture à soi rules.

We know we’ve been successful if we’ve stayed in one spot, remained quiet, and read. Simple yet so hard sometimes!

Our current reading stamina chart.

L’estimation

This week, we’ve been focusing on estimation. Students are learning to estimate reasonably by looking for groups of 2, 5, or 10 and then using that quantity to estimate the total quantity.

Students’ impulse is to count immediately, but they’re learning that estimating is an important math skill in itself.

Counting collections at the ready.

Today, they did an estimation activity with a partner. In each Ziploc bag, there were up to 50 objects. They were asked to look for a referent, estimate, and then count with ten frames.

We practiced estimating by (1) first looking for a group of 5 – “a referent” (2) looking for other approximate groups of 5 (3) creating groups of 10 using mental math (4) and finally actually counting with groups of 10s and 1s using ten frames.

Interestingly, many pairs estimated the exact number of objects in their Ziploc. 🤔 We’ll continue to practice estimating to fully understand what it means.

Consider creating your own ‘counting collection’ at home. It’s a great way to practice skip counting too!

 

 

Les bonbons d’Halloween 🎃🍬

We found a way to talk about ‘real world’ math today when talking about Halloween candy. Students shared what rules they have at home. How many candies are they allowed to eat per day? It then led to an important discussion about equality and value. What does the ‘equal sign’ represent in an equation?

Quel est l’intrus? – Version champignon

Math routines are an important part of our math program. One such routine is called “Which One Doesn’t Belong?” or WODB in English. In class, we’ve translated it to Quel est l’intrus?

Students must identify and explain which image doesn’t belong. There may be a few possible answers. Rather than it be about finding the ‘right’ answer, the focus is on explaining why their answer makes sense to them.

In math, we’re learning that we need to be precise and logical with our ideas. Students practice a few core competencies in this activity – communication, critical thinking, and creative thinking.

Recently, on a hike, I spotted four different mushrooms. Together, we discussed which one didn’t belong.One student reasoned that Mushroom #1 didn’t belong because it was more narrow than the others. Another said that Mushroom #4 didn’t belong because it was the only one growing on the ground rather than on trees. Someone else added that Mushroom #4 was the only one that grew alone rather than in clusters.

This math routine had us talk about form, size, colour, quantity, and orientation. Not only were we thinking like mathematicians but also like scientists!

We were curious to identify these local fungi. With the help of books and the Internet, we think:

  • Mushroom #1 might be “Yellow Brain Jelly” or “Witches’ Butter”
  • Mushroom #2 might be Oyster Mushrooms or Angel Wing Mushrooms
  • Mushroom #3 might be ???
  • Mushroom #4 looks like a Bolete – students found a picture of a “Weeping Bolete” and thought it had similar colours but that fungi seems more common in Europe

Finally, we talked safety. We understood to never touch or eat wild mushrooms. There are too many lookalike mushrooms, and it’s often tricky to tell apart poisonous ones from non-poisonous ones.

Students understood that it’s always best to simply observe a mushroom. In doing so, we respect their place in our local ecosystems and leave them be.

 

La lecture à soi

Division 10 students have been practicing their reading stamina since our first full week together. We decided what three rules were most important when we read to ourselves.

Overall, students have been increasing their endurance. We debrief every day’s session and self-assess how we did. Did we stay in one spot? Were we calm and focused? Did we read?

We refer to the chart to analyze data and see if we can notice trends. A bit of math gets thrown into our literacy routine! Below, you can see our first completed chart as well as our three golden rules.