Maths has been hectic this term, particularly since my pre-assessment results turned out to be wrong when I got kids into their new groups and tried to teach to what I assumed was the right level.
What I found was that while a lot of my kids could add and subtract when given a written assessment, they couldn't do the same sums mentally (or stretch to working with larger numbers) because many of them were relying on counting on their fingers (sigh).
So I've re-jigged the groups, and we've been working on different strategies for remember our number bonds (thinking about both addition and subtraction) to 10/20. Part of that has been working with the idea of missing numbers. I want the kids to be able to think about the way numbers are composed and decomposed so that they can find the missing number in a sum, even if the missing number isn't after the equals sign.
I have a lovely little Fishy Numbers pack from Math Coach's Corner, and I started off using her missing number task cards to play the 'Back and Forth' game. However, I found that they were a bit too tricky for my kids at the moment, as many of the sums are laid out differently (e.g., they are written as 5 = ____ - 3, rather than ____ - 3 = 5). While I think the different layout is great, and something I want my class to be able to handle eventually, jumping straight into problems written that way was too confusing.
So...I made some cards of my own, that I used this week with the Back and Forth game board from the Fishy Numbers pack. The kids really enjoyed it, and they are starting to get the hang of how you find missing numbers in addition and subtraction problems, no matter which number it is that is missing. Yeah! We used Numicon as our concrete materials to help us figure out what our missing number was, although the 10 frames that are suggested in the post I linked to above would also work well.
To make sure that my kiddos are finding the right missing number, and aren't practising doing it wrong (!), I also made some 'Addition' and 'Subtraction' cards (see below):
What I found was that while a lot of my kids could add and subtract when given a written assessment, they couldn't do the same sums mentally (or stretch to working with larger numbers) because many of them were relying on counting on their fingers (sigh).
So I've re-jigged the groups, and we've been working on different strategies for remember our number bonds (thinking about both addition and subtraction) to 10/20. Part of that has been working with the idea of missing numbers. I want the kids to be able to think about the way numbers are composed and decomposed so that they can find the missing number in a sum, even if the missing number isn't after the equals sign.
I have a lovely little Fishy Numbers pack from Math Coach's Corner, and I started off using her missing number task cards to play the 'Back and Forth' game. However, I found that they were a bit too tricky for my kids at the moment, as many of the sums are laid out differently (e.g., they are written as 5 = ____ - 3, rather than ____ - 3 = 5). While I think the different layout is great, and something I want my class to be able to handle eventually, jumping straight into problems written that way was too confusing.
So...I made some cards of my own, that I used this week with the Back and Forth game board from the Fishy Numbers pack. The kids really enjoyed it, and they are starting to get the hang of how you find missing numbers in addition and subtraction problems, no matter which number it is that is missing. Yeah! We used Numicon as our concrete materials to help us figure out what our missing number was, although the 10 frames that are suggested in the post I linked to above would also work well.
To make sure that my kiddos are finding the right missing number, and aren't practising doing it wrong (!), I also made some 'Addition' and 'Subtraction' cards (see below):
I've cut these cards out and put them on a small ring. Each pair is given a ring. Then when they are playing their game, they have to check to see if their partner's answer is correct. If it isn't, the partner forfeits that turn. So far, it's been working well.
I thought these missing number cards, as well as the 'Check your Sums' cards might be useful to others as well, so you can get them here if you are interested. The Check your Sums addition goes up through 13, and the subtraction covers subtraction from 5 through 12. I'm planning to have my kids use these cards whenever they are playing addition and subtraction games - it's no use playing the games and having fun, but getting all of your sums wrong!
I thought these missing number cards, as well as the 'Check your Sums' cards might be useful to others as well, so you can get them here if you are interested. The Check your Sums addition goes up through 13, and the subtraction covers subtraction from 5 through 12. I'm planning to have my kids use these cards whenever they are playing addition and subtraction games - it's no use playing the games and having fun, but getting all of your sums wrong!
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