sutton007

In the teachers' lounge early in the year I noticed someone was donating some "freebies" to any interested party. There were children's books, books for middle readers and even novels for adults. It just so happened that this one day, there among the books, was an AM/FM Radio Kit. You know, it's the kind that you have to put together. Quickly, I snapped it up and brought it to my classroom. The kit sat among my games and forgotten for most of the year. Just the other day I was organizing the shelves and found it again. A few students were waiting to be dismissed and asked about it. After listening to the explanation I asked if they would like to try building it together during indoor recess. Little did I know the hubbub and stir that would ensue! Before any assembly could occur the kids realized they would need a screwdriver and started trying to decide which type was necessary. One student offered to bring one a small phillips head. Another said that w...

Practicing subtracting with regrouping A couple of my students were having difficulty mastering subtraction with regrouping (a skill they have been practicing since the younger grades).  It was clear they did not understand WHEN they should be regrouping and WHY they were doing so. The concept was too abstract and I knew I needed to make it more concrete. Grabbing my bins of base ten blocks, I sat down and started using them to instruct and SHOW the meaning of subtraction.  Reviewing the idea of "trading" the tens for ones and hundreds for tens was the first step.  I then gave the students a number to 'build' with the base ten models.  From there we came up with a number to subtract. I modeled how we would use the blocks.  It was then the students turn to use the blocks to subtract (they were NOT writing yet, but I was recording each step on a white board for them to see.)  In this way, we continued through many, many problems until the kids were comfortab...