Currently in Math

4/14/15:
The children have begun using the Sums of 10 facts to help learn how to subtract a number from 10. Their fact cards will be coming home soon, so please be sure to help them practice these facts for mastery! Also, the children have been measuring different items using inches, and in our lesson yesterday, they were introduced to the concept of measuring in feet. We continue to do lots of skip counting and practice counting money, also. Coming up later this week, the children will learn how to add 9 to a number (using the strategy of adding 10 and then subtracting 1).

3/10/15:
As I reported last week, the children have now been skip counting by 10's starting at any single digit number. Yesterday's lesson reinforced the concept of adding 10 to a number using money. The children discovered that when we add 10, we only changed the number of dimes. They also know how to find the number they are adding to on the Hundred's Chart and look down to find the number that is 10 more. 

Tomorrow, we begin ordering numbers to 50 and then move into the Sums of 10 facts. I'm really excited to teach these facts with a fun little abacus-style bead slide that I made for the kids! I think they will really help solidify the concept in a fun way.

3/3/15:
Last week in Math, the children began regrouping. They continued using dimes and pennies to illustrate the concept. They began trading 10 pennies for one dime. 

They were also introduced to telling time by the half hour. We first discussed how to divide a cirlce in half. Then I drew & numbered a clock face on the board and drew a line from top to bottom. They saw that the line went through the 12 and the 6. I told them the minute hand (long hand) had to go half way around the clock (pointing at the 6) in order for the time to be "half past" the hour. I also have a demostration clock that has gears in it and I showed them what happened as I moved the minute hand from the 12 to the 6...the hour hand moved slightly also and then points half way between the hour it is (say 4 o'clock) and the hour it will soon be (5 o'clock). They took turns practicing with the smaller demonstration clocks (which do not have the gears, so they had to move both hands). I was careful to stress that they needed to move the hands forward in the clockwise direction. 

The children are improving on the Doubles Plus One facts! This week they will be learning how to add 10 to a number, how to skip count by 10's starting at any number, and next week, they will learn the Sums of 10 (1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6...they already know 5+5). 
 

Updated 2/17/15:
Currently in Math, the children are using dimes and pennies to add the total of 2 items. We spent a couple of days practicing by creating our own store named "K Mart" (short for Kindergarten Mart). I chose 2 items from our store to purchase, the children filled in the receipts, and used the dimes and pennies to find the total. This is teaching the children how to add without regrouping.

We also began learning about the "Doubles Plus One" addition facts. I introduced these facts by first talking about the Doubles Facts. After listing all the Doubles Facts on the board (with the kid's help), then I wrote a Doubles Plus One Fact next to it. For example:
Doubles Fact: 4+4=8  Doubles Plus One Fact: 4+5=9
The children used linking cubes to find the answers. We talked about how the answer to the Doubles Plus One Facts are 1 more than the Doubles Fact because one of the numbers in the fact (or problem) is 1 more.
We also talked about how we can identify a Doubles Plus One Fact: when the numbers in the fact are next to each other on the Hundreds Board (or when we count by ones)
When we recognize a Doubles Plus One Fact, we Double the smaller number and then add 1. For example, in 4+5, 4 is the smaller number so we must double it (4+4=8) and then add 1 (8+1=9), so the answer is 9.
This week: We will review and practice these concepts, and the students will be given their Fact Cards to practice at home.