Math is Fun!

Each time we earn bears during the day we place dots on the board.  Later, we share how we grouped the dots to determine the number of bears.  This activity allows kids to think flexibly about numbers and count on.  Today, we found different ways to group our total of nine and shared our thinking.  Then I told the kids that they were going to earn a total of 11 bears.  Students were then asked, how many more dots do we need to add to the nine so we can have eleven bears?   We pulled out manipulatives and and everyone got to work trying to figure out the missing addend.  The kids used what they knew about matching up pairs.  Once the students were ready we walked around to see what others had done before discussing how we got the missing number.  As you can see, everyone was engaged and excited to share what they were thinking and how they came up with a number.  The kids were amazing and I was so inspired and impressed!