Addition

The way math has been taught has changed. It is less about memorization of facts and algorithms and more about the how and why. 

Last week we discussed story problems and how to find out what information is important how to decide if we are adding or subtracting. 

This week we are beginning addition. We use an organizer called part part whole to figure out if we know the the parts and the problem want to know how many more, how many altogether, how many in all, etcetera...

We then write the equation, draw a picture to help us determine our answer, fill in the equation and wrote an answer sentence. 

I know what you are thinking...MY KINDERGARTNER CAN SO WHAT?!?!

Yes they can!  

We will continue to use our Math Workshop where we have an opening, work time, and  closing. 

During the opening we reviewed the standard, read the story problem, circled what was important, filled in our part part whole organizer, and wrote an equation. Then we worked through the problem together.  When we determined our answer we filled in the equation ask wrote a sentence. 

Then they were off to work with their partners. 

Lastly, we have our share time. Two students are able to show their work and answer questions from their classmates. 

Math Addition Strategies - Part Part Whole

Part part whole is our math graphic organizer.   We use this to determine if a word problem is addition or subtraction.  I ask "Do we know the parts or the whole?"  If we know the parts we are adding.  If we know the whole and one part we are subtracting. This helps the students realize that they can't use the key terms (the words more or less) and assume that they know the operation being used.  

For example, 

Lindsay had 6 black dogs and 2 brown dogs.   How many dogs did she have together?

This tells us we are missing the whole. Now we know we add. ___+___=___

Lindsay had  8 dogs.  2 dogs are brown and the rest are black.  How many black dogs are there? 

This tells us we are missing a part. Now we know we subtract.   ___-___=___