For Math this past week we have been focusing on Mental Math strategies. Through using Math Talks, we have practiced and shared the many paths to right answers. We also discussed when we used Mental Math outside of the classroom. Ranging from grocery shopping, to telling and thinking about time, we realized the broad range of situations and experiences we already had using Mental Math. My favorite was an example of using Mental Math when comparing or quickly guessing the size of fish caught on a fishing trip! Clever!
A great way to continue to practice (and have your child demonstrate their thinking) is to present a multi number addition or subtraction problem and compare all the different ways we can quickly get to an answer. Compare which strategy works best for you to a friend or family member! It is fun to see all the different ways we see and solve Math problems.