SUBTRACTION BLUES...

Hey Parents!

OK... so...the homework...having subtraction problems? I hear you...

I can assuage your fears and concerns in guaranteeing that your kids are beginning to understand what to do when it comes to close subtraction...

... I can also totally understand the frustration you had when trying to show them your methods, and seeing that it wasn't going so well...

It wasn't a lack of oversight that I didn't ask the kids to do a "method"... it had to do with training them to use their heads and seeing subtraction as "a difference".

The whole idea is, why bother doing a method for, example, 900-879, when you can see how close they are and use the “10s friends”… up 1, up 20, answer 21.


We have now spent a whole bunch of time looking at mental differences (counting up from the lower number using 10s friends). It is just the same with 102-89 as it is for 702-689, 1002-989, and so on. The homework does get a bit more complicated (as in 95-38), but all in all, the mental calculations could always be used (there were about 10 that were way too far apart... sorry about this, homework books can sometimes bite you back!)

ANYWAY... DON'T PANIC! It's all about training and practicing and doing it over and over... no one will be perfect right off the bat.

So, maybe what I really need to do is perhaps have an open classroom after Fall Break for the parents, to show them the math and the methods… or lack of methods… I think this might do the trick, if we’re all on the same page, we can work together with the kids.

In teaching subtraction methods, this will of course come within a few weeks, but I want to lay the missing foundation first. Know what I mean?

I hope I cleared a bit up. Let me know what you think…

Thanks,

ANDY