First Grade - November 10th - 14th, 2008

First graders are working on addition and subtraction story problems. Students are learning how to show their work using pictures, words, and numbers. It is very important for students to be able to show or explain how they got their answer. We often hear young children say, "I just did it my brain." We are trying to move kids away from that answer to actually showing their work.

Here are some of the strategies our students have learned to add and subtract:

• Counting All - Students add 3 + 7 by counting 3, then counting 7, and then starting over again with 1 and counting all the way to 10. We would like to see students move away from this strategy when they feel more comfortable with numbers.
• Counting On - Students add 3 + 7 by counting 3, then counting on from 3 an additional 7 so that they get to 10.
• Counting Back - Students solve 9 - 4 by starting with 9 and counting back 4 so that they arrive at the answer of 5.
• Using Known Combinations - Students solve 6 + 8 by reasoning that if 6 + 6 = 12, then 6 + 8 must be two more than 12 which 14.