The second grade mathematicians have successfully mastered our first unit, Counting, Coins, and Combinations. They have developed an understanding of the magnitude and sequence of numbers up to 100, developed strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems with totals up to 50 (and beyond!), mastered their combinations of 10, and explored doubling a quantity. These goals were met through a variety of ways. We solved problems in our journals, presented ideas to our classmates, played math games, read and discussed relevant books, and explored materials.

Doubling 

Working at the doubling center

Journal work

Playing Plus 1 or 2 Bingo 

Playing "Double It"

 

Working on doubles arrays

Playing "Double It"

Another new development in math this month has been the introduction of "Math Workshop." After new concepts and topics have been introduced, explored, mastered, and summarized, students have the opportunity to participate in Math Workshop, consisting of various math centers (usually about 4) pertaining to our unit.  A center may have a game to play with a partner, free exploration of math materials and manipulatives, math journal work, or "challenge problems."  This has provided a wonderful opportunity for the students to work with partners, share ideas, and further explore mathematical concepts.

Looking ahead, we are just beginning our unit on geometry.  Students will explore the characteristics and attributes of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes.  We will do in-depth work with rectangles and rectangular prisms and investigate symmetry.  This has already captured the interest of the second graders, and I'm looking forward to witnessing and guiding their interest, creativity, and enthusiasm!

Playing Tens Go Fish

Exploring and drawing geoblocks

Tens Go Fish

We started the week with an activity called "counting pockets."  We counted the amount of pockets each student had, and recorded the total number.  This was a great exercise on estimating, counting, comparing and combining, as the students collected, represented and interpreted data.

Later in the week, we read the book Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.  It is a story about a girl who starts to think of everything as a math problem, and believes her teacher has given her a "math curse." We talked about how everything can appear to be a math problem when you start thinking this way.   Inspired by the book, we made up our own math problems and shared them with the class.  This was an amazing exercise as the students had to think about ways to express themselves and their mathematical ideas.  The problems had to be relevant, challenging enough but not too challenging, and interesting for their peers to solve.  The students loved coming up to the front of the class to write out and present their problems.

Plus 1 or 2 Bingo was also a favorite this week. We worked on our addition combinations while playing games with our friends.  Looking ahead to next week, we'll be learning more games to assist us with combinations of 10.

In closing, here is a link to an excellent article discussing the beauty of math.  Enjoy!

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/10/finding-the-beauty-in-math/

Writing our own problem on the board

Presenting our problem!

Finding a solution in our journals

Problem solving

Playing Plus 1 or 2 Bingo