A big focus of our math that we're doing for the last two months of school will be on methods for fast, efficient, MENTAL computations in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. A lot of the strategies we will be working with are just building upon what we've done all year, but some will be new strategies that I've saved because kids tend to be better able to learn mental math strategies at this point in the year after several months of building up critical thinking skills.
The strategy I introduced today was a method for adding multi-digit, multi-addend problems (for example, adding four three-digit numbers) very quickly, completely in their heads, without the use of paper or pencils. After just a very short session this morning, MANY of the kids in the class were computing these kinds of problems literally in just a few seconds! Not all of the kids are that secure yet, but we will be working more on these kinds of problems to get them more secure.
Parents, take a moment sometime tonight or over the course of the next few days to have your child show you how quickly they can add. See if they can solve a multi-digit, multi-addend problem in their heads faster than you can on paper! If they can't yet, they should take some time to practice using the method that we practiced today. You can get practice problems using the worksheet websites in the list of links to the right.
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