Adding Three Numbers

Wow!! I took a super long break from blogging. I just couldn't get back into it. I think it's the short winter days that make me feel blah. One of the first new concepts that we learned after Christmas break was adding three numbers together.

I almost always present new material in the "Flipped Classroom" format. The students watch a recorded Smartboard lesson at home and then we do a hands on activity in class the next day to reinforce the skill. The kids absolutely LoVE doing lessons this way!!! And, it's super fun for me to teach math this way!

So, I gave each student a bag with three different items in it. They had to count the number of each item and record them. Then, they added the first two numbers, came up with a "sub" sum, and finally added the third number to the "sub" sum. If they couldn't figure it out or didn't understand it, they could of course just count all the items.

If you wanna be a pirate...

I told my students that if any of them wanted to be a pirate when they grew up, they better learn to count money.  So, last week we learned to count quarters. We practiced counting by 25's by making paper chains. The kids worked in groups of two and had to collaborate in order to complete their chain. Their chains had to have 25 rings in it.  We hung the chains up in our classroom with labels by them: 25, 50, 75, 100.

We then gave each student a bag of quarters and allowed them to purchase a book and a candy cane from   my aide and myself . They had to count the money out for us and if they had trouble they had to count it out several times until they were comfortable counting by 25's.

The kids were proud of the books that they purchased and enjoyed the cherry flavored candy canes.

We also practiced counting by 25's on our worksheet and colored correct number of quarters to go with the price tags of toys. We talked about the dollar sign and when to use it. We talked abut the decimal and what it meant.

As always when we do our flipped activities, my students worked cooperatively and quietly.  I'm always amazed at how they love project based learning!!! It's a joy to me!  I feel confident that these kids will make fine pirates!