Number Bonds

I have gotten many questions over the last few days about number bonds.  I can't say that I blame you!  This is a completely different strategy for addition than the way that adults of our generation learned to add, let alone the way that your older children learned to add.  Please keep in mind that this is ONE OF MANY strategies that are presented to the scholars as methods to solve an addition problem.  The thought process behind number bonds is that it builds a strong conceptual understanding of how the groups of tens and ones are combined.  With that said, I fully agree that they are complicated to draw and keep orderly.  My job is to present multiple strategies and make sure that my scholars know how to correctly use the variety of strategies.  When the students take tests they are able to choose the strategies that they prefer.  So while you may see classwork and homework from me asking them to use number bonds, if they prefer to use a different strategy on their test that is perfectly fine!  As long as they understand the process of addition and are able to explain their thinking then our mission is accomplished.

Here are the steps for addition with regrouping:

Student work

 Number bonds for addition without regrouping:

Some of the many other possible strategies that students may choose to use for addition:

More student work

When given a choice, about half of the class chooses to use number bonds to add and half chooses a different strategy.  All scholars are able to find the answer correctly using the strategy of their choice.

First grader scholars think like scientists!

I'm always amazed by the artistic talent and level of details that my scholars possess.  The scholars enjoyed drawing themselves as scientists for their science portfolios.

Universal Theme: Relationships can be Positive or Negative

Science Experiment: How do different objects change a beam of light?

One of my favorite things about our new Common Core standards is our all new science standards.  In past years we focused on concepts such as seasons, states of matter, and life cycles.  Our new standards are much more vigorous and I've enjoyed designing these new experiments for my scholars.  Here are some examples from the "lab reports" we completed last Friday.  The scholars observed how the light from a flashlight was changed by clear plastic, wax paper, cardboard, and mirrors.  I was so excited to see several scholars take the initiative to design their own follow up experiments, such as combining two materials or placing the materials in different locations.  The experiment was a big hit!

Examples of Junior Great Books work

One of my favorite parts of teaching GATE is being able to integrate Junior Great Books.  Bringing in high quality literature and engaging the students in a complex discussion of the books challenges their minds and always leads to deep discussion and understanding.  Sometimes their answers go in a direction that I could never have predicted!  Another reason I love Junior Great Books discussions is it give students who may not have the highest writing skills the opportunity to shine through their contributions to class discussions.  My role as the teacher is to pose questions and facilitate the discussion, but never to provide answers.  For our most recent Junior Great Books discussion the scholars recorded their ideas so we could see if our answers changed after listening to our peers' ideas during the discussion.  I'll let their work show you the kind of high level thinking these first graders are engaging it:

I'm so proud to see that we have reached the point where the scholars feel very comfortable changing their answer OR keeping their original answer, depending on their OWN thinking.  They are no longer as concerned with finding the "one right answer" but are comfortable with the understanding that different people can answer a question different ways, as long as they can justify their thinking and explain it by referring to the text.  This is a HUGE and very IMPORTANT step!!  At such a young age they are taking ownership for their own ideas and learning.