Composing..Decomposing..Number building FUN!

Ya'll.... I've shared this before, but I struggle a little bit in teaching Math. I adore ELAR.  I LOVE to teach reading. I LOVE to teach writing. I LOVE phonics (really!! so fun!) But....(dun..dun duhhhn...) Math is NOT my favorite thing to teach (eeek!) shhh don't tell!

I have been to various trainings on teaching Math, and they all really help, but a few years ago I went to a thinking maps training by a wonderful presenter that happens to be a family friend (seriously, she is fabulous and SO much fun!) and we learned how to use some various thinking maps in Math. Thinking maps in Math?! My kind of lady!! Who doesn't love a graphic organizer??

This is a spin off of one that she used as an example, and my kids REALLY loved doing it! After my kids are comfortable with simple addition we begin a "number of the day" as part of our calendar companion where they have to come up with number sentences that equal the number of the day. This is critical thinking, friends!! Some of my kids come up with them easily, others it takes a little time. (totally ok!) Either way, it is wonderful practice for their little minds!

In my small group station today, we made these little booklets:
 We first used yellow/red bingo markers to show all the ways we could build five (forgot to take a picture!) After practicing, I guided them through making the booklets. On each row, I had them dob on a certain amount of one color of dots. (see in picture) On the first row I said 5, 2nd row 4, 3rd row 3, etc.. They then had to switch colors and figure out how many more dots they needed to create the number five and then had to create the number sentence. YES, I sat with them the entire time - but they really understood the concept and did not have a hard time with this (hooray!!)


Here is a completed (inside) of the booklet. You could use various things to create the dots - cut up paper, shapes, stickers (those garage sale pricing stickers would work well!!) as long as everyone had two different colors or shapes. 

I've created a mini packet of these booklets with instructions so you can do the same thing in your classroom!! (for FREE!)
 
{click on the picture to grab your copy from TpT !}



I would love to hear from you if you grab them!
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22 comments

  1. This looks wonderful! Thanks for being willing to share!
    Tessa
    Spotlight on Kindergarten

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  2. This is awesome! We just finished up that part of our addition unit and I did a bunch of hands-on activities, but no projects. This will work perfectly as a culminating activity for next year!

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  3. THANK YOU! Love this idea.

    Michala
    thehallyhousehold.blogspot.com

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  4. Great idea!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  5. LOVE THIS!! I will for sure be using this:)
    www.123teachwithme.com

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  6. We have been working really hard on this over the last couple of weeks and this will be another tool for them to use. Thank you so much for sharing!!

    heathernnance@yahoo.com

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  7. Love, love, love this! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  8. Thank you for adding to my goodies for those older kids that visit my classroom (i.e. school holidays and summer time)

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  9. Thanks for sharing. I saw this on Classroom freebies. I never thought of using dobbers. How fun!

    Colleen

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  10. I LOVE this idea! Talk about Hands-On fun! Now... I just need to buy a ton of bingo dotters.

    Thank you for being willing to share!

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  11. Amazing!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  12. Thanks you for sharing this idea. I do something similar called incredible equations, however I do the activity whole group. I love your idea because the children get to complete it hands on.

    :) Sue
    theverybusykindergarten

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  13. Thank you! This is fantastic because my students LOVE using daubers!

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  14. Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing and making this available to us. I can not wait to do this with my class this year!

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  15. Thank you for sharing this. I am going into my second week of decomposing and composing numbers and this will be a wonderful addition to my lessons. I have put a post to your blog on my blog ( http://fantasticfirstgradeideas.blogspot.com/2012/09/rowdy-in-room-300-composingdecomposingn.html ) because I thought it was such a neat idea. Thank you, again, for sharing and I hope you don't mind that I linked to your blog.

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  16. Thank you for the books...I'm struggling to come up with fresh ideas this year. We are starting CC, with no resources. This activity looks great for what I'm planning. Right now I'm going day by day. Funny thing, though, I dug out my planbook from 2000-2001, and I used to teach math this way. Things truly do come full circle!

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Thanks for taking the time to chat with me!

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