Hands on...Math!

Week 2 of the school year is finished and I can finally breathe and say...I think I've got this! New school, new grade level, new kids, new team, new chapter! I was terrified of going into a COMPLETELY different ball game, thinking omg 3rd grade is going to be awful, I'm going to sure miss my Kindergarten babies. And although I do miss my sweet Kinders, I am LOVING 3rd grade. I did not think I would like it as much as I do, and to be honest I believe this might just be where I am supposed to be. I'm really starting to get  in a groove and am excited to start putting my special twist on lesson plans and activities for my class. This week was our first week for Worksheet Free Wednesday, and it was a total success. I thought I would share some of the activities we did with our hands-on math... I dropped the ball and didn't take any pics of our hands on reading! So today, let's talk numbers!

Yes, these are place value cups, I'm sure you've seen them on Pinterest. This is one of the cheapest manipulatives you could ever make. It only took 80 cups for 20 students to have a place value set of their own that included thousands, hundreds, tens and ones.  I used a different color sharpie for each value. What you don't see in the picture (sorry) is the zeros... I actually wrote out how many zeros on each number, so students knew what order to stack the cups.

We also worked on subtracting two digit numbers and regrouping (borrowing)... I wish someone would've taught me, years ago, the meaning behind borrowing... Kids get so hung up on this concept, and get stuck in saying things like "you borrow 1".. "1 what?????" I ask them! I want them to explain to me exactly what they are doing here. That's why I love these new magnetic base ten block we have.. Students are able to actually take ten away from a number and see how it is added to the ones in order to make the number bigger. I'm a visual person, and this is so helpful to those that struggle with the whole concept of borrowing. 

I hope everyone has had a great start to another amazing school year! Can't wait to share more of my third grade adventures and to see what you are doing in your classroom! Happy teaching!