It's All About Strategies in Math!

This year we will study nine investigations in Math. No matter what investigation we are in, we will always revisit and discuss strategies for solving story problems and counting numbers. The following image shows the four strategies that we cover in first grade. (Click on image to view larger version) Friends have been introduced to each of these strategies, however, they have been told to only use the strategies they are comfortable with. As students master one strategy, they move up to the more efficient strategy. When friends are ready to move on, we will see a lot more who are counting on and using the open number line.This month in Calendar Math, we are going to dive deeper into equations and discuss the parts: addends and sum. We are also going to focus on grouping numbers by 5's and make sure that we are grouping our tally marks correctly. We practice counting on through many of our math activities during the Workshop and we also practice number line with our Start With/Get to game each day before Calendar Math. Take a look at your child's work that will be sent home in their red folder this week and have them explain the strategies they used to solve their problems!