Place Value is SOO Valuable!

Hello darlings!  I think everybody has a place value unit that they start the year off with.  We gauge to see what our kiddos remember from last year, and then we add on.  Common Core has upped the ante and really requires students to understand place value to be able to use mental math strategies to add, subtract, multiply, and divide larger numbers.   Here is a peek at what we do in third grade....

Students have place value mats and place value discs. (from Singapore Math)  We use these to visually represent numbers so we can complete number patterns and decide greater than and less than.

Here are a few games we play.  The first game is a FREEBIE!

This is a PART of our SCOOT games, but you can see the kinds of questions we are working on.  Click the pic to get the SCOOT game.

This is a Quick Check just to see how they are comprehending.

The next few pics are from two of my smartboard lessons.  I chose a few slides to show you and give you ideas of the types of questions you can ask your kiddos.

This project is my favorite part of our unit!  We are reading the book POPPY by Avi for Interactive Read Aloud, so I created a themed Place Value review using the POPPY characters.  The kiddos loved it!  It does have some challenging questions that require kiddos to EXPLAIN their thinking.  They have to PROVE their answer which is a must do in the Common Core!

Want these awesome resources?  Click the pic below to get the entire unit of supplemental materials. 

Have a fantastic weekend!  And make sure to follow us on Bloglovin!

Want this unit for free?  Leave a comment with your email and I will randomly choose a winner on SUNDAY!!!

Singapore Sunday.....sadness (its the last day of spring break)

I have been working on teaching my students to add money (the Singapore way).  Because we spent so much time using the place value mats, I decided that it may help with their transfer to add money using the place value mats with a decimal.  I began by just showing the students coin combinations in my SMART notebook file.  They have to recognize coins and find the sum of each circle combination.  Then I have them record the amount on the money adding page recording sheet.  Once all the students have their answers recorded on their sheet, I select a student to come up and "uncover" the mystery amount.  This allowed me to see who understands the idea of coins, dollars and the placement of the decimal.  After that, I had my students write the sums of two coin combinations into the place value boards and find the total amount of money for both coin combinations.  I like to remind them that when the sum is ten or more (in each place value) you have to share next door.  I think with a few more practice sessions using the place value boards, the kiddos will really understand how to write money, its relation to place value, and adding with regrouping.  I hope to continue this with subtraction!

Adding Money page 1

Adding Money page 2

You can visit my teachers pay teachers account to purchase the SMART notebook pages! It is up and running.....I have posted the pages under Adding Money on Gretchen Kassel's Teachers Pay Teachers account!

Singapore Math Tutorial Freebie

Have you heard all the buzzzzz about Singapore Math?  Our district adopted it a few years ago and we have seen a humungo jump in our math scores!  If you don't know much about Singapore Math, it is a math program that focuses on number sense and a deep understanding of place value.  Students are taught mental math strategies and model drawing to complete word problems.  Basically, kiddos are taught the WHY so they understand the HOW.  The program builds on itself, delving deep into concepts before moving on to the next objective.  Students master objectives and then build upon them in consecutive grades.

I hated math all through school.  I hated memorizing rules and formulas and I never understood WHY I was doing anything. I KNOW if I would have been taught like this, I would have LOVED math! 

My purpose for this post is to offer resources to teachers who currently use Singapore Math in the classroom, or to give non-Singapore teachers strategies to add in their current math lessons.  I am NOT an expert by any means.  Below you will find a few resources and a video created by one of my teacher friends (Bobbi Love) and I for our district.  Follow our page to get the latest resources that we post. 
Students are learning to subtract 3 digit numbers with borrowing.  With Singapore Math, we "Trade" place value discs.  View the video below for directions. *the video is 4 digit, but you get the idea

PLEASE comment!  We LOVE comments!