It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween....

We have been focussing on how to add and subtract, what the operational signs mean, putting math facts into our long term memory and this week, what strategies we can use to find the solution.  As a child identifies a strategy, they become the expert and their name is put onto the strategy for our 'Math Wall'  If another student doesn't understand that strategy, I will ask the 'expert' to explain their thinking.  Hearing the idea from a peer demonstrates that others in class can do it and also child language may be easier to understand than teacher language, at times.

Today was all about Frankenstein's monster, and so 'Frankie' shared his strategy with our class.  Fact Families help us know our basic facts because the numbers used are related, like in a family.

(Thanks Amy Lemons for sharing this fact family poster with me)

The students looked around the room for eight cards cards with fact families identified.  They copied them down on their recording sheet and then worked through the 2 addition and 2 subtraction equations that could be created. (Thanks Hope King for sharing this little activity with me)

This should not have been new learning, but for some students, this was challenging.

Seeing that addition equations end with the largest number and subtraction equations begin with the largest number was not easily recognized by all the students.  This will continue to be an area that we practise.

Here's our labelling page (remember labels will be nouns) and then the students again generated adjectives to describe the nouns, which they recorded.

They look great outside our classroom!

I love how each on is full of their own personality.  By the by, those are bolts on the sides of the neck!

Our coat area is never this clean during the day!  Thanks to those who have sent in ice cream buckets.  Those are labelled and put on the shelf so that the mittens and hats for winter can be kept under control.  We share this space with 20 Grade. 1 students!  The bottom ledge is where the backpacks are to be lined up.  The literacy bags are all ready for taking home tomorrow.  I have three families who have not yet signed the contract, so you'll notice empty hooks.  I am sad that those children will not be able to take home bags tomorrow.  Remember bags are due on Monday please.

I have pushed the 'invite' button for all the e-mails on Fresh Grade, the digital portfolios.  Hopefully you'll be getting notice tonight and can look at the little addition that I did last night.