Math Update

Dear Math Families,
I wanted to update you on some of the new manipulatives and games we have been playing in our classroom. We are using our new Rekenreks every day. The rekenreks are the white and red wooden tools you see in some of the pictures above. They help us visualize and manipulate numbers in chunks of 5 and 10s. Ask your child to explain how we can show 7 or 14, for example. What numbers do you see in the pictures above?
We have also played many games with coins. Ask you child how we play "Nickels and Pennies" and how we make exchanges between the coins.
Lastly, every day we share number sentences for how many days we have been in school. We wanted to share some of those. Ask your child to explain. Ask your child to figure out the turn-around fact for some of them. Ask your child to create new ones for the target number indicated in the pictures.
Happy Math!

Math Online

Dear Families,
I just wanted to remind you all of the terrific resources we have online for you and your child to access at home.  We have started our new unit on sea creatures and lobsters.  I hope you all received the latest unit letter in your child's homework folder.  If not, please know that it is linked in this blog's sidebar for your convenience.
In this unit, the students will continue to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s.  They will also continue to familiarize themselves with our 10 frames and other manipulatives to justify and expand their mathematical thinking.  I am so proud of our 1st grade mathematicians this year!  Sometimes, I wonder if we are doing 3rd or even 4th grade math as we make connections and see patterns in repeated addition!  WOW!  In this unit, we will also spend a lot of time on practicing number sense using different unit, primarily money and temperature.  Please know that our Team wiki has many educational games for you and your child to access at home.
Here is the direct link toour wiki (simply scroll down for academic strands you are interested in)
http://inspirefirstgrade.pbworks.com/w/page/19992542/Math

Looking at 10

The students have created different art-projects for numbers in our class. Here is an example of how we can look at 10, while learning about sea creatures, specifically crabs. Crabs are interesting anim,als in so many ways. They have 10 legs in total, 5 one each side. Ask your child to explain how many legs 3 crabs have? Can your child use his/her math vocabulary and explain how many pairs of legs 3 crabs have? How about 5 crabs?
Here is a challenge question for you at home: If you see 70 crab legs on the beach, how many crabs are there? Please ask your child to justify his/her thinking and explain how he/she knows.