The main point of today’s math lesson was to get the kids to quickly be able to tell me a sum using a starting number and then adding 0, 1, or 2 more. Try this: point at your student and ask them, “What is two more than 5?” Do they immediately say, “Seven” or do they have to think about it a bit? Practice with them. Say:
This may seem simplistic but it is an important skill. Some students quickly gain confidence in this and some need more time. I’d like you to get a feel for how quickly your learner can tell you an answer to a problem using 1 more, 2 more, or zero more. Have your student complete questions 23-25. I want them to make up their own story for #25. Let me know how it goes! Have a great night!
Part 1 (Math): Dear Parents & Families. we are hitting basic addition hard in this unit. Much of our focus will be on adding doubles and near doubles. Tonight’s math homework is called
Domino Dots. The students need to create math sentences using the domino illustrations provided. Note that the last three problems are looking for missing numbers. If your child fills in the missing domino dots on those three dominoes they will find the missing parts of those number sentences. Please discuss HOW your children know what they know as they do this work. Feel free to send me comments or feedback. I love to know how homework goes!
Part 2 (Daily Reading Homework): your child needs to reed at least 20 minutes every night. Please record what they read, how long they read for and then initial it (there is now a space for reading on the homework sheet). Thanks! KJC
Wednesday, Sept 17 Homework in
two parts:
vocabulary &
math:
Part 1 (vocabulary): I've sent home a sheet titled
Four Square. Parents, one of my favorite times of the day is that part of my workday when I teach vocabulary. I am sending home a vocabulary assignment tonight. It is called
Vocabulary Four Square! Your student needs to fill in the Four Square sheet using the word “
steep.”
They are to:
*Write the word
steep.
*Write out the meaning of
steep. They need to use complete sentences. They need to start sentences with capital letters and end sentences with exclamation marks.
*Your student needs to use
steep in a sentence.
*Finally, have your student draw a picture of something that is
steep.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2 (math): Parents, we are working on
adding doubles! Have your student do these addition problems and then discuss them with you.
1+1=____
2+2=____
3+3=____
4+4=____
5+5=____
6+6=____
7+7=____
8+8=____
9+9=____
10+10=____
Ask your student if they notice any kind of
pattern as they add doubles. Discuss what pattern they see as they add doubles.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, Sept 16th As we get further into addition and subtraction, I find that one skill is very important:
add-on counting. Above you’ll see how I teach add-on counting. Please have your child answer the addition problems using add-on counting. Also, I am sending home the math mat game board the kids used in class today. You should try playing that game with them... it is fun for them! You’ll need a paperclip and a pencil to make a spinner out of... your child can show you. Have a good evening! Make sure your learner is doing the hand motions that go with add-on counting! KJC
----------------------------------
Monday, Sept 15 We took the end of the unit test today. It was supposed to have been administered on Friday but the early release changed that. To close out this first unit, I am sending home a test. There are two versions of the end of the unit test over addition and subtraction: Form A and Form B. If your child took the Form A Test today then their homework is Test Form B and visa-versa.
I’d like you to have your child take the test in the home environment and explain their thinking to you as they take it. Hopefully they’ve learned a few things:
How many more or how many less problems are trying to find the difference and are subtraction problems.
How many in all questions are addition problems.
If we know both parts then we are trying to find the whole and we are looking at an addition problem.
If we know the whole and one part then we are trying to find the missing part and we are looking at a subtraction problem.
As before, many students are coming up with answers without showing their work. See if your learner can illustrate how they arrived at their answers. Please let me know what you observe about your student’s understanding of this test. Have a great night. KJC
_________________________________
Friday, Sept 12 Obviously there is no homework on Fridays. However, that doesn't mean that the kids shouldn't do anything! Read! Read! Read with your kids! I love to hear kids come back from the weekend and say, "Mr. Copeland, guess what I read this weekend!" It makes my heart soar!
I hope everyone stays safe and dry this weekend. I encourage everyone to register for NBISD's FlashNews. Just go to www.newbraunfels.txed.net to sign up. You can recieve e-mails and/or cell phone text messages about emergencies facing NBISD. Come to think of it, there is a bit of homework I'd like to assign: my students are all old enough to remember their home phone numbers! Friends, please start working with your child to have them memorize their home phone number.
Peace. KJC
---------------------------------------------------------------
Science Homework, September 11th. This is due tomorrow, September 12 (Friday). Parents & students, please sign and return this form.
Tonight’s homework will build on the work we've been doing in class (see blog entry above). I would like your learner to fill out the Venn Diagram that is on the other side of this sheet to compare and contrast frogs and toads (they’ve done this assignment before comparing and contrasting other animals). Next, they should take a lined piece of paper and write complete sentences comparing and contrasting frogs and toads using the information they put in the Venn Diagram. The sentences should explain at least two ways frogs and toads are alike and two ways they are different. The writing should clearly show that frogs and toads are being compared and contrasted. They should write their name and date in the upper right hand corner of the lined sheet of paper and the title Frogs and Toads on the top line
_________________________________________________
9/10/08 Math Homework: review your child’s math test with him or her. Give them the math test again after the review and see how they do with the concepts outside of the classroom. Please remind them to show their work. This is due tomorrow, Sept 11, 2008. Have a great evening.
Parents of the Room 310 2nd Graders,
we are coming to the end of unit 1 which focused on addition and subtraction. I am sending home the test that the children took over the unit. Please go over it with them. I will be giving another test on Friday over the same material. Don’t worry if your child didn’t do well on this first exam. They will have the opportunity to replace the grade.
Here are some of the things I noticed:
Many students aren’t showing their work. I can tell you that I continually stress that they need to show how they came up with answers but most of them still just bubble in the answer when they see what they believe to be the right answer. Please go over your child’s test with them and see if they showed their work.
Some are still confused about when a problem is an addition problem and when it is a subtraction problem. Words like “altogether” and “how many in all” always indicate addition problems. “How many more” and “what’s the difference” indicate subtraction problems.
We’ve learned to think of these problems as part/part/whole. If the whole is missing then the students need to add the parts to find the whole. If a part is missing they need to subtract the known part from the whole to find the missing part.
I am attaching a copy of the test with all of the correct answers. Let’s go through the test...
Problem 1. The whole is missing and the two parts are known. This is an addition problem.
Problem 2. The whole is known and one part is known. This is a subtraction problem. If they fill in the missing side until they get to the whole (12) they will find the missing part. Since the left side has 4 dots in it and the whole is 12 the student should start putting dots into the right part: “Dot 5, dot 6, dot 7, dot 8, dot 9, dot 10, dot 11, dot 12. OK... I’ve filled in the part with the missing dots. I see that there are 8 dots in that side. So 12-4=8.”
Problem 3. Everything is known: part/part/whole. The only thing missing is one number sentence from the fact family. The student looks at the three sentences that are already filled in and then decides how to fill in the missing sentence. The missing sentence is the only subtraction sentence that could work.
Problem 4. The problem asks “how many altogether?” so it is an addition problem. Also not that both parts are shown in the illustration but the whole is missing... another indication that this is an addition problem.
Problem 5. Problem 5 asks “How many in all?” so it is an addition problem. I have illustrated the part/part/whole that could have been drawn.
Problem 6. The problem talks about balloons going away. It is a subtraction problem. My favorite way to draw one like this is to draw a dot for each balloon that Tim had and then to circle the ones he gave away. Another way is to draw the part/part/whole... we know the whole was 10 (what he started with) and we know the part he gave away (8) so we are looking for the missing part. The student could draw “balloon 9... balloon 10... OK, it looks like I’ve drawn 2 balloons in that part. 10-8=2.”
Problem 7. “How many more?” problems are always subtraction problems. I’ve illustrated one more way to show this. I drew the fish that Rico had and I circled the ones Carla had leaving me with the difference. I could also have done a part/part/whole illustration.
Folks, this can be tricky stuff and we are just getting the year going. Please praise your learners for what they’ve done well with and help them along with the concepts they aren’t all the way there with yet. I have faith that everyone will do great as the year progresses.
Thanks, Kerstan Copeland
__________________________________
9/9/08 Daily Language Review Homework This is due tomorrow, September 10 (Wednesday).
Every day in Room 310 we practice English skills with our Daily Language Review. Parents, I’d like you to sit down with your learner and see how they do with this at home (again). I am sending home TWO DLRs together (Monday of Week 3 and Tuesday of Week 3). Please note that your student has already had a crack at these in class. They might say, “I’ve already done these!” Just smile and say, “Good, then they’ll be easy for you!” I’d like to know how they do with them in the home environment.
A couple of things to watch for: In problem 2 of Monday the sentence reads “his bike is blue with a orange seat” ... one of the things that has been harder to explain to the students is that a orange seat needs to be changed to an orange seat because the word after a starts with a vowel sound. This has been a challenging concept to teach the kids. As time goes on they will begin to get a sense of what sounds right but I am not surprised that many are having trouble with the rule now. Problem 5 of Tuesday asks the kids to group like words. Hopefully your student sees that ten, six, and twenty have something in common and that the word many is the odd word out.
Please let me know how this goes. The Daily Language Review is something that we will be working with all year and I’d like the students to be as proficient as possible with them as soon as possible. Thanks and have a great evening!
-------------------------------------------------------------
9/8/08 Math Homework Parents: we continue to work on
fact families. In case you’ve not heard the term, a fact family is a group of 4 number sentences that all go together. For example, I could make a fact family out of the numbers 4, 6, and 10. There are only four ways for 4, 6, and 10 to fit together:
4+6=10
6+4=10
10-4=6
10-6=4
2nd Grade Math Homework, September 8th. This is due tomorrow, September 9th (Tuesday).
Please work with your student to complete problems 6, 7, and 8 on today’s math mat. Note: your student needs to come up with their own
fact family for problem 8. If you look inside the math mat at problems 1-4 you’ll see that the students have been learning about
fact families as a continuation of part/part/whole problems (number 1 has one part as 4, the other part as 5, for a whole of 9 dots). Please have your student create their own part/part/whole illustration when they come up with a fact family for number 8. Thanks and have a great evening! Sincerely, Mr. Kerstan Copeland
