2006 Olympics & Other Neat Stuff

The Olympics are well underway, and actually halfway complete. We have been discussing the world-wide event in class and keeping a daily medals chart to see which countries have been winning medals. Each day two children use the table on the Internet to update the chart we keep in class. We are always excited to see the numbers increase. We have used the globe to locate Italy on the map and know that the country is shaped like a boot. One morning we looked at pictures that showed the many events that take place during the Winter Olympics. Although there was quite a bit of interest in curling, snowboarding was by far the most popular.

This week we also began to subtract with regrouping. This is a very difficult concept for the students to master. We have used base ten blocks and work mats to actually manipulate the numbers and are slowly building up to solving the number sentences without the manipulatives. A cute rhyme that helps the children remember what to do when subtracting numbers that have more than 1-digit follows:

(Don't say this part as part of the rhyme: Look at the ones place for the top and bottom number)
"More on top, no need to stop." (This tells the students that they can subtract safely without any other steps.)
"More on the floor, go next door and borrow ten more." (This tells the students that in order to subtract properly, they need to borrow a group of tens from the tens place and add the tens to the ones.)
"Numbers are the same, zero is the game." (This reminds students that if the numbers in the ones are the same the difference must be zero.)

You can create practice worksheets if you would like to assist your child. Please use the rhyme to have your child examine the ones column and the tens column before subtracting. The more they use it, the easier the subtracting will become.

Presidents Day is Monday. We have spent some time this past week learning about George Washington and even worked on a WebQuest about him. You can find out other info there as well.

Have fun! Kristin