2020 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Joel Lookadoo, shows students ways to better understand math. In this episode, Joel teaches students to compare equations by using number lines and tens sticks. He encourages students to visually represent the equations to have a better understanding of how the equations compare. Accompanying this video is a worksheet that provides students the opportunity to practice comparing equations.
2020 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Joel Lookadoo, needs your help adding blocks. Can you help him find his total? The worksheet that accompanies this video provides students the opportunity to practice using manipulatives (or drawn representations of them) to solve addition and subtraction word problems.
In Module 4, Topic B, students apply their understanding of place value strategies to the addition algorithm, moving from horizontal to vertical notation. Their understanding of vertical addition starts with concrete work with number disks, moving to pictorial place value chart drawings, and ending with abstract calculation. Consistent use of number disks on a place value chart strengthens students’ place value understanding and helps them to systematically model the standard addition algorithm including the composition of a ten. It is important to note that the algorithm is introduced at this level and is connected deeply to the understanding of place value. However, fluency with the algorithm is a Grade 3 standard and is not expected at this level. In Lesson 6, students use number disks on a place value chart to represent the composition of 10 ones as 1 ten with two-digit addends. The use of manipulatives reminds students that they must add like units (e.g., 26 + 35 is 2 tens + 3 tens and 6 ones + 5 ones). Lesson 7 builds upon this understanding as students relate manipulatives to a written method, recording compositions as new groups below in vertical form (as shown at right). As they move the manipulatives, students use place value language to express the action as they physically make a ten with 10 ones and exchange them for 1 ten. They record each change in the written method, step by step. In Lesson 8, students move from concrete to pictorial as they draw unlabeled place value charts with labeled disks to represent addition (as shown at right). As they did with the manipulatives, students record each action in their drawings step by step on the written method. In Lessons 9 and 10, students work within 200, representing the composition of 10 ones as 1 ten when adding a two-digit addend to a three-digit addend. This provides practice drawing three-digit numbers without the complexity of composing a hundred. It also provides practice with adding like units. As student understanding of the relationship between their drawings and the algorithm deepens, they move to the more abstract chip model, in which place value disks are replaced by circles or dots (as shown below right). It is important to note that students must attend to precision in their drawings. Disks and dots are drawn in horizontal arrays of 5, recalling student work with 5-groups in Kindergarten and Grade 1. This visual reference enables students to clearly see the composition of the ten. While some students may come into this topic already having learned vertical addition, including carrying above the tens, the process of connecting their understanding to the concrete and pictorial representations develops meaning and understanding of why the process works, not just how to use it. Therefore, students will be less prone to making place value errors.
Module 4, Topic E begins with an extension of mental math strategies learned in first grade, when students learned to subtract from the ten by using number bonds. In Lesson 23, they return to this strategy to break apart three-digit minuends and subtract from the hundred. For example, in first-grade students solved 14 – 9 by restating the problem as 10 – 9 + 4. In second grade, students use the same strategy to restate 143 – 90 as 100 – 90 + 43. In Lesson 24, students use number disks on a place value chart to represent subtraction and develop an understanding of decomposition of tens and hundreds. This concrete model helps students see the answer to the question, “Do I have enough ones?” or, “Do I have enough tens?” When they do not, they exchange one of the larger units for ten of the smaller units. Repeated practice with this exchange solidifies their understanding that within a unit of ten there are 10 ones, and within a unit of a hundred there are 10 tens. This practice is connected to the strategies they learned with tens and ones; they learn that the only real difference is in place value. The strategies are also connected to addition through part-whole understanding, which is reinforced throughout. In Lesson 25, students move towards the abstract when they model decompositions on their place value chart while simultaneously recording the changes in the written form. Students draw a magnifying glass around the minuend, as they did in Topic C. They then ask the question, “Do I have enough ones?” They refer to the place value disks to answer and exchange a ten disk for 10 ones when necessary. They record the change in the written form. Students repeat these steps when subtracting the tens. Students use math drawings in Lesson 26 as they move away from concrete representations and into the pictorial stage. They follow the same procedure for decomposing numbers as they did in Lesson 25 with the number disks, but now they may use a chip model or number disk drawing. They continue to record changes in the written form as they work with their models. Topic E closes with the special case of subtracting from 200. Using number disks on a place value chart, students review the concept that a unit of 100 is comprised of 10 tens. They then model 1 hundred as 9 tens and 10 ones and practice counting to 100 both ways (i.e., 10, 20, 30…100 and 10, 20…90, 91, 92, 93…100). Next, they model the decomposition of a hundred either in two steps (as 10 tens then decomposing 1 ten as 10 ones) or one-step (as 9 tens and 10 ones) as they represent subtractions from 200. Students use this same reasoning to subtract from numbers that have zero tens. For example, to subtract 48 from 106, students model the decomposition of 106 as 10 tens 6 ones and as 9 tens 16 ones. Throughout the lesson, students relate their models to a written form step by step.
Module 4, Topic C parallels Topic B, as students apply their understanding of place value strategies to the subtraction algorithm, moving from concrete to pictorial to abstract. It is important to note that the algorithm is introduced at this level and is connected deeply to the understanding of place value. However, fluency with the algorithm is a Grade 3 standard. In Lesson 11, students use number disks on a place value chart to subtract like units (e.g., 76 – 43 is 7 tens – 4 tens and 6 ones – 3 ones). They practice modeling the standard subtraction algorithm within 100 without decompositions and then progress to problems that require exchanging 1 ten for 10 ones (e.g., in 76 – 47 students must recompose 7 tens 6 ones as 6 tens 16 ones). The use of manipulatives allows students to physically experience the renaming and understand the why behind recomposing a quantity. Lesson 12 builds upon this understanding as students relate manipulatives to a written method, recording recompositions in vertical form. In subtraction, a common error is for students to switch the top and bottom digits in a given place when renaming is necessary. They perceive the digits as a column of unrelated numbers, rather than part of a larger total, and simply subtract the smaller from the larger. Hence, many students would solve 41 – 29 as 28, instead of understanding that they can take 9 ones from 41 ones. To prevent this error and aid students in seeing the top number as the whole, students use a “magnifying glass” to examine the minuend. They draw a circle around the top number and add a handle. Before subtracting, they look inside the magnifying glass at the whole number and determine if each digit is big enough to subtract the number below it. If not, they decompose one of the next larger units to make ten of the unit they need. In Lesson 13, this is used in conjunction with the chip model; students record each change they make to their model simultaneously on the algorithm. In Lessons 14–15, students move to the more abstract dot drawings on their place value charts and follow the same procedure for decomposing a ten and relating it to the written method. Here, however, students subtract a two-digit subtrahend from a three-digit minuend (e.g., 164 – 36). This provides practice working with and drawing three-digit numbers without the complexity of decomposing a hundred. As in Topic A, Topic C closes with a lesson that focuses on one- and two-step word problems within 100. Students apply their place value reasoning, mental strategies, and understanding of compositions and decompositions to negotiate different problem types with unknowns in various positions. Because two different problem types (i.e., add to, take from, put together/take apart, compare) are often combined in two-step word problems, some quantities will involve single-digit addends, especially when students are working with the more challenging comparison problems. They are encouraged to be flexible in their thinking and to use drawings and/or models to explain their thinking. Students continue to use tape diagrams to solve word problems, relating the diagrams to a situation equation (e.g., 8 + ____ = 41) and rewriting it as a solution equation (e.g., 41 – 8 = ___), thus illustrating the relationship between operations. Students find success when using their mental strategies of making a multiple of 10 and counting on (e.g., 9, 10, 20, 30 40, 41) as they experience the relationships between quantities within a context.
Module 4 culminates with Topic F, in which students think about and discuss the multiple strategies they have learned to represent and solve addition and subtraction problems. They share their reasoning as they link their drawings to two written methods, and discuss the similarities, differences, and efficacy of each approach. In Lesson 29, students learn the totals below written method. Throughout Grades 1 and 2, students decompose numbers into expanded form to recognize place value and to understand that they must add like units. These problems are written horizontally. Here, students use this prior learning to solve addition problems in a similar way. They decompose two- and three-digit numbers, then add like units and record the totals horizontally. They then transition into the vertical form of the method when they decompose the numbers mentally, add like units, and record the totals below. The totals below method gives students the option of adding from left to right or from right to left. Students explain how each step of their math drawing relates to this written method. In Lesson 30, students represent and solve problems using both the totals below and the new groups below methods (students used the latter method throughout the module). They relate both methods to their math drawings and discuss the differences and similarities between the two. In Lesson 31, students apply knowledge of addition and subtraction strategies to solve two-step word problems. Students are challenged to make sense of more complex relationships as they are guided through more difficult problem types, such as comparison problems. These problems will involve smaller numbers and will be scaffolded to address the heightened level of difficulty.
