What's New in Math?

Math Workshop has been an exciting time in Room 9 lately - today was our very first exposure to division! By using foundational subtraction skills, we practiced dividing large numbers of game chips among index cards, and discussing what was left over. Try this at home!! 

Pick a number between 8 and 32, and set aside that many game chips/pennies/marshmallows/etc.

Roll a die, or pick a number between 2 and 6. Lay out that many index cards/post-it notes/paper scraps.

Can the chips can be distributed evenly among the cards? What is left over? Turn that into a subtraction fact.

Although we are only using manipulative materials to guide our discovery of division, this first exposure is crucial to a child's understanding of how division works.

In other math news, we've been working on new strategies to solve large subtraction problems. Many students find that using base 10 blocks to physically subtract one number from another is a helpful visual. Once students are comfortable with this method, pencil and paper strategies become easier.