[MIM strategy, Facebook, Upcoming Sale]

We're working a lot on addition and subtraction strategies.

Still. Forever.  LOL.

Some of my littles are struggling to figure out exactly how to solve an equation that looks like this:  9 = ____ -6.

Many of them simply write 3 as the answer without really thinking about it.

Yesterday we spent a good 15 minutes talking about why this is NOT reasonable.

I handed one of my littles 3 Skittles and said, "Okay, give me 6 of them back, and with your 3 and my 6, we should have 9 altogether."

Much laughter.  "Mrs. Reynolds!  I CAN'T give you 6. . .I only have 3!!"

"WHAT?!" But that's what you wrote as your answer - that 3 take away 6 = 9!!"

Ohhhhh!!  Lightbulb! (for my Despicable Me fans, please say that in the appropriate voice)

At least for some.  Others still had that totally blank look.

We talked about WHAT the answer SHOULD be and how they solved that equation.

And we tried again.

4 = ____ -5.

This time I heard a fairly even mix of "1" and "9".

Broke out the Skittles. Again. Candy makes everything easier, right?!  ;)

Handed one of my littles that swore up and down that "1" was the correct answer 1 Skittle and said, "Okay, you have 1.  The equation says 'take away 5,' so give me 5, and with your 1 and my 5, we should have 4."

I think we did this about 5 times.

There were more lightbulbs than blank stares at the end.

I hope the lightbulbs stay lit!!

One of my littles came up with the following strategy:
"Let's call it the MIM strategy - when "M" is in the middle, we add the outside numbers and get the correct answer!"

(We say the sound "m" for any blank in our equations)

Hmmmm. . .higher order thinking going on right there!  YAY!!!

So. . .we wrote the strategy and tested it.

And tested it.

And tested it.

And guess what?!  It worked EVERY.SINGLE.TIME!

There might have been much cheering.

Definitely a happy moment.

Continuing randomness - I now have a Facebook Page for My Little Classity Class.

Please stop by and "LIKE" me.  ;)

I'll figure out one of these days how to put a facebook badge/button/thingie on the sidebar.  Maybe.

And last random note for the day - I'm having a 25% off everything sale at Teacher's Notebook for Teacher Appreciation Week, so if you've had your eye on something in my shop, wait till Saturday.

Teacher's Notebook is having a HUGE teacher appreciation bash with awesome prizes and sales.  I'll post more info tomorrow.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this really long and random post.

Happy THURSDAY!!!