The Holidays are Here

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. The holiday season is here and I am prepared for the daily question (multiple times) of "How many days until Christmas?". So with that in mind, I try to make December a time of fun but am still holding strong to our classroom routine. The kids rely on a routine and get CRAZY when it is changed. Just a few reminders: 1. Please remember to send a small snack daily for your child. When they don't have one, they think they will starve before lunch :). 2. We go out in cold weather so always send gloves, hats, etc. 3. Keep practicing those math facts, at home. The kids are already showing improvement with their fluency.

Doubles

An important skill for adding fluently is memorizing the double number facts. Once the kids have the doubles memorized, they can use the knowledge to figure out double plus one and minus one. For example: if they know 8+8 is 16 then it's easy to figure out 8+9. A great way to practice doubles, at home, is to flip over playing cards and quickly say the double. When your child gets good at this, have him/her flip over the card and name the doubles +1 fact or doubles +2. Here is a fun video we watched about doubles.