Shower, Graphs, Custard and Bounce Houses!

End of the year craziness is in full swing!

Sister 2 and I hosted a bridal shower for Sister 1 on Tuesday. We had an ice cream sundae bar...it was a huge hit. She loves hockey and the Red Wings. When we were out shopping for her gifts we found a Stanley Cup popcorn popper, we couldn't resist!

We have a few more units to get too but the kids are checking out and I have to admit... so are we! We've been really drilling subtraction with regrouping. We've also been working on graphing. It's one of my favorite units!

It's getting harder and harder to get the kids to focus on learning. Especially because today was our end of the year celebration [even though we go until June 12!].

We had a frozen custard firetruck swing by today!

We also had 5 bounces houses, obstacle courses, and slides!

Why did I wear a dress today?!? I would have totally raced the kids in the obstacle course!

We also had yearbook signing. We couldn't have asked for a better afternoon.

It's time to head home and snuggle my little girl... who's 2 MONTHS old. Ugh, how is it possible??? Time's going by tooooo fast.

-Sister 3-

Subtraction with Regrouping

Subtraction with regrouping is one of the hardest concepts for our students to grasp. They get so mixed up and try to regroup like they did in addition. Does anyone else have this problem??? We knew we needed to do something to help them understand why and how we regroup in subtraction!

We teach our kids 4 strategies. We start with base ten blocks. We have them work with a partner to practice different problems. They build the numbers and manipulate the blocks to come up with the answer. We also have them write about the problem and explain the steps they do in order to solve it. We've learned that this is the best way to start our unit!

After they have a handle on the base ten blocks. We move to the open number line.  This is the easiest strategies for students.

The next strategy we work on is decomposing, we won't lie.... this is the most challenging. I kind of dread this one! BUT it's so important.

Finally, we get to the algorithm.  The kids think they are so cool when they finally learn this! They think they are "big kids."  After all the strategies they truly have a deeper understanding of subtraction with regrouping.

We made some worksheets that require the student to complete all 4 strategies with the same problem. You can grab one of them here!

We will be finishing up our subtraction unit this week!

-Sister 3-

Hello.. is anyone still out there?

OHHH MY! We are terrible bloggers... we've been MIA for a while now. Let's get caught up on what we've been up to.

I've officially been back to school for a week now. Coming back from maternity leave is HARD. Leaving my precious baby everyday is so difficult but I know she's in good hands, my mom's hands. So she's being spoiled - that's for sure!

Sister 1 has been busy planning her wedding and is building a new house! Sister 2 and I have been planning her school bridal shower for May 20.

Baseball season has started for Sister 2. With her 3 boys she's been running from game to game.

And at school...

I came back to a busy week. We had our field day... which made the transition easier. You can't go wrong with an afternoon of fun!

We finished our poetry unit last week. One of my favorite poems is the shape poem. We have the students pick anything they want and create it out of construction paper. They glue it all other on a piece of white and then write words or phrases that describe it along its edges.

Another favorite is the Haiku.

After we create a handful of poems we put them all into a poetry folder. The student's each get to pick their favorite poem and practice reading it for our poetry party.

Last year our "Afternoon of Poetry" was such a hit that we decided to host "A Morning of Poetry" this year. We invite all the parents, have each student read their best poem, and then celebrate with snacks. It's a ton of fun!

We are going to try and be better about updating this blog sooooo if you're still out there, THANK YOU for not abandoning us and please check back soon!

-Sister 3-