Blogger Showcase: Fun In 1st Grade!

Hi, friends! Welcome to the first day of my Blogger Showcase! I am so excited to introduce to you Dana from Fun in 1st Grade! As you all know, first grade is my favorite grade so I love reading her blog! I am honored to have her write on Learning 4 Keeps today and I know that you will enjoy her as well. She even has included something special for you at the end! ;) 

This is my first time to ever be a guest blogger and I am so excited and honored!   I should probably start by introducing myself.  I am Dana from Fun in 1^st Grade.  I have been blogging since late April and have been teaching for 10 years.  I have taught Pre-K, K, 1^st, and 2^nd.  I love blogging and will admit, at times, it takes over my life…

Leah asked me about a week ago to be a guest and I have been racking my brain ever since.  I decided I would ramble talk about math.  Love it or hate it, we have to teach it and our kids have to know it.  Math is a focus at my school this year, so it has been on my mind a lot.  My state is switching over to Common Core Standards for math and language in K-2 this year and 3-5 next, so we have received a lot of math training. 

There are many ways to teach students to add and subtract.  We are currently using EnVision Math by Pearson .  This series, like most others, teaches every way imaginable to add- make a ten, use doubles and doubles plus one, count on, use a number line, and related facts.  With subtraction, they learn to use a number line, related facts, and count backwards.  While I teach all of these methods, I REALLY like to teach my students TouchMath.  If you are not familiar with TouchMath, here it is in a nutshell- each number has specific dots on it and the students learn where they are and count up or down, depending on addition or subtraction. 

We do our TouchMath a little differently than the company that sells the program.  We call it Touch Points and have changed the location of the dots on the 9 and how we draw a few of the dots.  The method is still the same, though.

Here are their numbers-

The dots are easier to draw on tiny little worksheet numbers than a dot with a circle around it.  We just practice over and over where the dots are and how many times you touch it.  For an addition problem, I teach them to say the big number then touch the points on the smaller number wile counting up.  It is the reverse for subtraction. 

Click {HERE} for the parent letter we send home, explaining this concept.

Click {HERE} for the numbers with Touch points.

What are your thoughts on teaching children to add or subtract?  What works for you?

Thanks to Leah for this opportunity and I hope you’ll stop by my blog soon!  I am having a 500 follower giveaway that you don’t want to miss!

-Dana

Thanks so much for joining us Dana! Just click on the link above friends to connect with Dana and to watch for her 500 follower giveaway! I am sure it will be a fantastic occasion!

See you all tomorrow for another Guest Blogger! Happy Blogging!