What's My Value? Part II

As promised, the answers to our "What's My Value?" Puzzles.

 
    

                          

4 + 1 + 0 = 5        

 0 + 5 + 2 = 7 
My personal favorite. I enjoy seeing the look on their faces when they realize paper is worth five.

2 + 1 + 8 = 11






We have new student generated puzzles on the way! Be on the lookout!

Math Trickery

They're cute.
They're catchy. 
They provoke a chorus of "oohs" and "aahs" from a once catatonic group of students. 
But they are also misguided, fleeting, and often cultivate misconceptions and gaps in learning. 

The Beloved Dreaded Math Trick. 
That is my nemesis. 

A "math trick" is only beneficial if it is rooted in actual mathematics. But all too often our math tricks are just cleverly disguised fibs. 
We tell our young students that in subtraction "we always  start with the bigger number."
Our intermediate students are told that "multiplication always makes things bigger."
And, we encourage the use of acronyms that work in limited situations (PEMDAS and FOIL).

Now, I don't place any blame here. It's what we were all told in our elementary math years. But I struggled to unlearn these mantras (because that is what they become to an 8 year old) in order to continue my mathematical learning. 

Every year I am ready to do battle with my nemesis. And this year, I happened upon some allies (thanks to the August issue of Teaching Children Mathematics).

I hope you will take the time to read this article. If I can "unlearn" these tricks, so can you! 
And then hopefully our students won't have to fight this battle.

http://www.nctm.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=42962

Math Office Hours

Office Hours are becoming popular!
Open to all, students are invited to sign-up to spend part of lunch/recess in our Peck Place 
Math Quarters (Room 202) 

in order to refine their concepts and skills, play math games, practice math facts, write math jokes, or create math puzzles.  

We have enjoyed a lovely mix of ages and it is exciting to watch all of the students explore mathematical ideas together. 

We look forward to sharing our first round of student created puzzles next week.

What's My Value?

We love Greg Tang! 
From his books to his website (www.gregtangmath.com) to Kakooma and beyond. 
Mr. Tang is simply one of our favorite resources. 

I had the privilege of attending Greg Tang's Math Plus Conference in July. It was hands-down the best educational conference I have ever attended. During that conference, Greg emphasized the importance of truly understanding place value. To illustrate his point, he challenged us to solve a number of "What's My Value" problems and encouraged us to use these with our students. 

We created a "What's My Value" bulletin board in our hallway. 

The highlight of  each day is observing students interacting with each other as they solve these problems. 

Here is how it works:

If the the first place is 1 (quarter note is 1 beat), the second place is 4 (whole note is 4 beats) and the third place is 2 ( half note is 2 beats), what is the total value? 

Here are some samples from our interactive bulletin board.  
See if you can find the value and defend your answer. 

 1st and 2nd grade 

3rd and 4th grade 

5th and 6th grade

Need an answer, check back in a few days OR ask your child. 

Have fun!