Subtraction without regrouping (P2)

Do visit http://numbernut.com/basic/sub_intro.shtml to practise basic subtraction(revision of last year's work)
Practise 3 digit Subtraction which was taught today(without regrouping)- http://numbernut.com/basic/activities/sub_quiz_3noborrow-v.shtml

todays's photos to be uploaded by Sunday

P1 & P2 Maths Workshop for Parents

P1 parents, do remember to sign up for our Maths @ Home Workshop.
P2 parents, do remember to sign up for the Model Workshop.

I know about Numbers to 10

Parents you want to visit this site to reinforce some concepts about Numbers to 10 that we have learnt in class such as counting, being able to recognise the number words or numerals, before after concepts.

Before After(Numers to 10) -http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_prevnext_1-10dots.shtml

Naming Numbers from 1-10 -
http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_mem20_1-10words.shtml

Match the cards with dots to cards with numbers-
http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_mem20_1-10dots.shtml

Practice Makes perfect

Our P2 pupils visited Numer Nut, http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/add_quiz_3nocarry-v.shtml to practise their addition of 3 digit numbers(without carrying over). Click on start quiz to begin. Pupils remember to show your workings on a piece of paper.
Parents do allow your child to continue practising at home.
It's more fun and interesting than the assessment books although it's the same thing.....
(Photos to be uploaded tonight)

Math Starts at Home.....

The importance placed on learning and enjoying the process of learning math concepts begins at home. As busy adults, we tend to look to our educational institutes to foster the love and understanding of math concepts, but this is not enough. Children need to see that we are willing to participate in learning situations and show the same aptitudes and learning issues that they will show in their experiences. The trick is to make the activity fun and family-focused.
The solution: Family Math Night.Family Math night requires some organization and a healthy dose of fun with the family. This exercise gives the parent and child a risk free environment in which to experience math activities while allowing the parents to see how something fun can also be concept building and educational .Most importantly, children have an opportunity to see that their parents value mathematics while the parents gain insight into your mathematics program. There is nothing like a chance to dispel the idea that interests and aptitudes are determined by the gene pool, i.e., Mom does not like Math so this will be the same for her daughter.
Head to About.com to read the full article http://math.about.com/library/weekly/aa100403a.htm

Compare The Numbers

Key words:
More
Less
greater than
smaller than

A video that explains the comparing number concept : http://www.brainpopjr.com/math/numbersense/comparingnumbers/preview.weml
For P1 pupils, let them watch the intro until they start talking about comparing bigger numbers. For P2 pupils, allow them to watch the whole video.

Parents you may also use the Beansticks to reinforce the concepts

I will upload more activties tomorrow with pictures.

All things Chinese

"Happy Chinese New Year & Gong Xi Fa Cai to all
celebrating Chinese New Year"

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, here are some links to all things Chinese.

Numbers to 10 videos : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlfG2VV4GFM&feature=related

Numbers in Chinese

Guess What! you can practise what you have learnt by playing this memory game, http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_mem20_chinese_1-10.shtml

Have uploaded the Beanstick activties

My sincere apologies to my P1 parents. I forgot to publish the activities for the Beanstick activities( I am a blog newbie). Scroll down and you can see that I have already published the list of activities that can be conducted with the Beansticks.
Please remind your child to bring back the bag of Beanstick on Wednesday.Thank You.

There is something called free lunch

Let me share with you places where you can get ‘free lunches’ to enrich the little ones. Oops, I mean websites where you can download Maths resources.

I love Jan Brett’s Website. She really has good resources that you can download for free. Print them in colour and Ta-Da, it looks as if you bought them. Laminate them and it can be passed down for generations. Many of the things in my class have been downloaded from her site.

Numbers 1-30. Really beautiful numbers with amazing pictures. Print them in A4 size and you have beautiful posters.
http://www.janbrett.com/numbers/main_page.htm
Flashcard size- http://www.janbrett.com/numbers/numbers_flash_cards_main.htm

Matching the Numbers to Picture. Print it in colour and the pupils can match.
http://www.janbrett.com/games/matching_numbers_game_main_page.htm

Matching Numbers to Number words. A mini jigsaw where you match the numbers to the number words. http://www.janbrett.com/games/matching_words_numbers.htm

Number Flags. Print in colour, add toothpicks and Ta-da you can use it for ordering of numbers. http://www.janbrett.com/number_flags/number_flags_main.htm

Number Tracers. Print this set and get the pupils to trace the numbers http://www.janbrett.com/numbers/number_tracers_main_page.htm

Rhymes & Math

Childhood nursery rhymes help children in Numeracy. Some rhymes helps the little ones remember the sequence and order of number.

For instance, when you want a child to arrange the numbers from the smallest to the biggest, you can ask the child to sing the song when he or she arranges the numbers(I will try to upload a video of my lesson in action when the time comes).
Meanwhile, here are some cute clips from youtube that my pupils will be watching for the next few days.

‘10 Little Indian boys’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IO24dCmxk0&feature=related) help the pupils remember the order and sequencing of numbers from biggest to smallest and vice versa.

‘One, two buckle my shoes’(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySIO-NJjTs&feature=channel) helps with sequencing 1-10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2P5bVpLO50&feature=channel 1-20

One, two, three, four-(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g8tYhmhxW4) Rhyme with Number words

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Once I caught a fish alive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AtR_BVSOuw&feature=related) Rhyme good for ordering and sequencing
This version is like karaoke with number words http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibjz44Er_qs&feature=related
This version has nice numbers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDSOMy7WN_Q&feature=channel

Even Apple Computers is cashing in on the trend. Read the article and you see that they have provided suggestions on how to incorporate music and math. http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/print.php?itemID=10668

So what are you waiting for! Have fun singing.

Beanstick Activities

Another video on Numbers to 10 - How many pigs in the farm? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBauqARk8lY&NR=1

Here are some activities for the Packet of Beansticks that your child will be bringing home on Friday.

1) Ask the child to pick a beanstick and to count the number of beans of the stick.(Parents to cover the yellow sticker)
2) Give your child a number and ask your child to pick a corresponding beanstick.
3) Child to pick a stick and spell the numbers. Parent you may want to ask your child to write the spelling down and your child can check the spelling by turning over the stick(where there is a label with the spelling).
4) You may ask your child to match a flashcard with numbers to the correct ‘beanstick’.
5) Comparing- Ask your child to pick 2 sticks and say which stick has more or less beans or you may ask your child to pick 2 or more sticks and say which has the most and which has the least. (Variation : Before starting decide you want to play more or less. Your child picks one stick and the parent one stick. The winner is the one who has picked the correct stick as decided earlier)
6) Ask your child to pick 3 or more sticks and arrange in the ascending or descending order.

Beans on a Stick

Number to 10 video that encourages pupils to eat vegetables
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egk7-m1lwsA&feature=related

In class, we made 'Beans on a Stick'. By the end of the week, all the pupils would have 10 sticks and on each stick there would beans(from 1-10). Also on each stick, there would a sticker to show the number of beans and on the back, the number word.
In the process, the pupils would have learnt to count, match the numbers on the sticker to the number of beans on the stick & match the number words to the numbers. (This is just the concrete part and over the next few days, the pupils would be doing the pictorial & abstract part)
The 'Beans on the Stick' is part of my 'Manipulatives that I can bring home' project. On Friday, the pupils will be bringing home their sticks so that they can practise over the long weekend what they have learnt.
The 'Beans on a Stick' will also be used for comparing & ordering concept which I will explain next week (when I would be teaching the concept).

Some photos of the Bean Stick in Progress




Final Product

"New Kids in the Blog"

"A warm welcome to the P1 LSM pupils

who have started lessons on Monday"

We started on Numbers to 10. We began the lesson with a video from youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcRBEqq-tGY. I am a fan of Sesame Street and I grew up on a diet of the series. I strongly believe that a colourful visual with a perky music brings the numbers across.
Another video, closed the lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wxHeWaXa_I&feature=related
Some of the activties that took place. I will let the pictures do the talking.

A common Misconception

One of way to find out if pupils have understood the concept is to 'test' them. Pupils have been used to completing the following types of question. Look at the question below.

To test them, I added in an extra line to the question.

Pupils who have not understood the concept of place value or have a misconception, wrote 2 on the line(300 + 2 + 4). According to the pupil, there are 2 groups of ten so he wrote 2 down. However, another pupil pointed out the mistake and explained that it is 20 because there is no ‘tens’ after the blank (P2 pupils cannot really explain properly but the point is the child has understood).
Therefore with the aid of Multi-e toolbox, I tried to explain and demo to the rest what the child had explained about the missing ‘tens’ concept. After lots of practise, they finally understood.
Mission Accomplished.
Lessons that I have Learnt
1) At times, let them try out questions before you teach them a new concept oe expand on an existing concept.
If they get it wrong, they will wonder why and will start questioning and it is an excellent opportunity to develop ‘metacognition’. It also makes them pay attention....
2) Peer-evaluation and peer marking with explanation on why it is right or wrong, is good. It forces them to think about the answer and to justify their marking.

Tips for Parents.
1) Whenever possible ask your child to explain the answer that he/she has written regardless of whether it is right or wrong. When your articulates, your child is running through the process of arriving at the answer and you can check you child’s understanding of the concept.

Numbers to 1000

In my earlier post, I had mentioned about Place value. You may be wondering about its importance. Place value helps pupils understand the concept of numbers. It also helps them when they are comparing or ordering numbers (to be explained in the next post)
In my class, I always ask the pupils to put the digits in their ‘houses’. For instance in 135, 1 is the 100s house, 3 is in the tens house and 5 is in 1s house. So when they read the number, they read as one hundred and thirty-five. This helps pupils who have difficulty recognizing, reading and writing numbers (100-1000).

Refer to the diagram below:



So from this diagram, we have 135 or one hundred and thirty-five.
100 + 30 + 5 = 135

This ‘housing’ also helps pupils when they write the numbers in word numbers and vice versa as they are able to read aloud and write it down.

Parents you may wish to test your little ones in this concept tonight. This site allows them to practise what they have learnt. Please click www.learningbox.com/Base10/BaseTen.html
Remember to click on all 3 buttons on the left so that 1, 10, & 100 is highlighted in green.

Another site http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_4bar_1-1000.shtml to test their concept on being able to recognize the number words of 100-1000.

Below are some of the pictures. We are extremely lucky and privileged that we have a SMARTBOARD in our class. (thanks toP, VP & IT Dept) The SMARTBOARD, brings the whiteboard to live. It's like having a mouse on the board plus coloured pen plus recorder. Yes, it can record every movement made on the board. Today, I will show pictures and activties that have taken place so far.

If you wish to read more about place value, there is an interesting article in http://www.garlikov.com/PlaceValue.html. (take note, its rather long)

Thank you, P2 parents

I held my breath when I asked my pupils if they remembered their place value as I was worried that the holidays were too long a break. However, to my delight, they were able to answer my questions and had remembered their place value. After, some recapping and revision it was down to business to tackle Numbers to 1000.
The strategies I used last year worked and my little ones have been doing their revision. I am really proud of them.
Parents,Thank You. We must continue to work together for the sake of our little ones.

Perception

What animal is this?

Young lady or old lady

What do you see in each of the pictures above? Ask your child what he/she sees in the picture.

There is a possibility that what both of you see is different. What you perceive is not what your child may perceive although it is the same picture.
So the next time, your child makes a mistake when completing a given task or sum, ask yourself, what did your child think/perceive. When you put yourself in her child's mind(shoe), you will be able to help your child better.
Meanwhile have fun with more cool optical illusions from http://www.coolopticalillusions.com/

How many faces are there?

Mathematics Everywhere

Students often ask me why must they learn Maths and how does it help them in the real world. To this question, the answer is the poster itself. Numbers are EVERYWHERE. From the time we wake up till we sleep, we are surrounded by Maths and Numbers.
For instance, when we wake up, we look at the clock and there are number digits on the clock face. At times, a time line can help us plan for the day. If we wake up at 8am and have to be in school by 11pm, we can use a timeline to plan the activities for the morning.

Tip for Parents:

Teaching of time can be fun and practical. You may ask your child to use a timeline to plan a simple activity like – It’s 8am now. You take 10 mins to eat. What time would you finish eating? What can you do for the next 20 mins? What time would it be then?
Do you realise that through the process, Mathematics becomes practical and your child is practising Mathematics without assessment books or piles of worksheets.

Activity For Child :
Look all around you. Can you find three things that are related to Mathematics? Discuss with your parents.

The Very 1st Post

Leaping the way for numbers

Finally... I have decided that I should create a blog just for my pupils, their parents and who ever wants to read. The reason is that as technology changes, the mode of communication should change as well. I hope that through this blog, I can connect and link with my parents and pupils.

Another reason is that I want to share what I have done with the LSM community. The LSM community is a small newbie in the Singapore education scene. I hope this can be platform where ideas can be shared and evolved to even greater heights.