Another great week in 2nd Grade math!  This week there was a strong emphasis on counting.  We tried out various strategies for counting large sets of objects, and determined what worked best for each of us.  Some students counted by 2's, 5's or 10's.  Others sorted by color, counted up the groups, and added them together.  Others learned to keep track by keeping a running list of numbers while counting (this strategy was developed after a very frustrating experience of losing track of our count after getting beyond 100!).  It was great to see the engagement of the children and the way they approached this activity.  We also counted large numbers of objects grouped in bags, and determined if there would be enough for the class.  Obviously with our small class there always was, so the next question was "How many cubes will be left over?"  This posed another challenge, and yet another opportunity for problem solving and strategy.

A favorite game has become "Guess My Number."  We think of a number (usually between 1-30) and with clues, our partner makes a guess.  The object is to guess the number with as few guesses as possible.  To help us we used number lines, and even 100 charts, to narrow down and visualize the numbers.  We talked about the terminology greater than and less than, and the corresponding symbols. Try this game at home - your 2nd grader will love it!  

We'll start the next week talking about money and coin values, providing us with further opportunity to develop an understanding of the magnitude and sequence of numbers up to 100.  

Counting by groups of color

 Counting by 10's

 Playing Guess My Number

 More Guess My Number 

Studying the 100 chart

Filling in the class 100 chart

Using our number lines

 Guess My Number while using number lines

Working in our math journals