You Can Do Magic...

Now for the formatlities:
Common Core: CCSS.Math.Content.1.OA.D.8 Determine the unknown whole number in an addition or subtraction equation relating three whole numbers. For example, determine the unknown number that makes the equation true in each of the equations 8 + ? = 11, 5 = _ – 3, 6 + 6 = _.

Above is what I have to teach, the eternal question of every teacher is how to make it interesting. Well, I always try to find a way to make things fun and relatable to my students. As you have may have noticed we try to think a little outside of the box. Sometimes I use the box, and then just add my special spin. I think all teachers do and that is a great skill that we all share.

So with the help of the student teacher in my class, we made math mats. Essentially I told my students that this week, we will be looking for the mystery number. I called it a puzzle and we had to find the missing piece.

First I introduced the terms that we would be using, whole, addend, missing addend. The puzzle I told the students was to find the missing addend. We talked about counting up and counting everything "in all."

Here is  how we step through a mystery. The card above to the left shows what the mat looks like. The second card up top shows the mystery beginning. We have the whole number at the bottom and up top the known addend which is 3. I then would also write the equation on the board for them to see it using the numbers and signs: 3+ ? = 7. Then I tell them it is time to start solving the mystery. We put 3 dots for the known addend then we count up adding dots until we get to the whole number of 7. After we put our dots in the missing addend column, we count the number of dots and that should solve our mystery. Then we count the dots "in all" and check to see if it equals the whole number of 7. Then we fill in our equation sentence. We are practicing four of these mysteries a day. I did add the "d" to the end of addend, sometimes working fast catches up with you!

Update: This week I found some great worksheets that transfer what we learned and practiced on our mats in equation form. You can find them at Worksheetplace.com. There are Missing Addends to 10 worksheets that you can use as follow up practice. I cut the sheets in half so we are working on 5 equations each day.