Welcome back to Term 4 and almost freedom!!  As I have explained in previous newsletters, mental maths is critical and a real focus of the new curriculum.  In my next couple of newsletters I will be focusing on an addition strategy.

Counting on

Counting on means that you start with the biggest number and then count up from there. For example, to add 5+3, start with the “5” and then count up, “6, 7, 8.” This is to discourage students from counting like this: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…..6, 7, 8.”

It is also important to reinforce the commutative property of addition (commonly referred to as turn arounds) when working with this strategy. For example, even if students are adding “2+6,” they still should start with the bigger number. In this case we would start with “6” and count up “7, 8.”

Check out this video:

The counting on strategy should only be used for adding 1, 2 or 3 to a larger number. Counting on larger numbers is not an effective way to add. Students will realize this once other, more efficient strategies, are discovered.  Whilst it seems quite a simplistic strategy it is useful across grades and with larger numbers.  For example 349 + 32 is an opportunity to Count On.  I count on 2 … 351 and then count on 30 …. 381.  Counting on 30 is counting on the tens (361, 371, 381).  Students using a written strategy will verbalise that they added 2 and carried the one….. argh!! This frequently ends in errors and is particularly inefficient.  As we build automaticity, we don’t necessarily do the actual count but still use the strategy.  For example, I know that 3+8 =11 or 8+ 3 =11 so when presented with 43 + 18 I will automatically count 51 and ten more = 61. 

I hope this makes sense.  It is really important to share with your children how you mentally calculate.

Tell Them From Me Survey

We are really hoping to get a large percentage of our community participating in our TTFM survey, so that we can work towards continuous school improvement.  We value feedback from all members of our community.  I am not beyond a little bit of bribery. LOL!  (note the Guess the Lolly competition last term).  In a bid to encourage participation we are offering each parent participant 1 entry into our $150 entertainment voucher competition.  When you have anonymously completed your survey, if you could please email me kim.hogan@mn.catholic.edu.au I will write your name on a raffle ticket and drop it into a bowl.  We will draw out the winning entry at the end of the month when the survey closes.  The winner will choose their family entertainment of choice  eg movies, Doughboys, Treetops etc.  Each parent can independently complete the survey, thereby giving families a 2:234 chance to win the $150 voucher. 

Hoping to get lots and lots of emails.

God Bless

Kim