It's hard to believe we are already to December. The year is flying by! We are spending December focusing on subtraction strategies and story problems. The students have learned how to use a number line (my favorite!) and should know when to use the count back strategy and the count up strategy.
Counting up works best when the numbers you are subtracting are close together. For example: 9-7=? Students should think 7 in their head and count up 2 more to get to nine. Then they would know the answer is 2.
Count back works when the number that is being removed is a small number. For example: 8-2=? Students should think 8 in their mind and the count backward 2 numbers to end at 6. Posing different questions and asking them which strategy makes the most sense is great practice.
We have also been using cubes on our part-part-whole mats to show our thinking.
Thanks to Michaela's mom for stopping by to read to the class. It was fun to hear a story written just for Michaela! The students really enjoyed this book from putmeinthestory.com.
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