Two Heads Are Better Than One

Cooperative pairs work through the hows and whys of addition while sharing their thinking and strategies.

Addition With Regrouping With Groups of Curious Kids

Warm up in pairs with Launch Problems to activate the math muscles.  School-wide, classes use the ICAN method:

Information, please.

Create a plan.

Act!

Now, is it correct?

Evelyn and Cassius can!

Thania and Scotty can!

Ja'niya and Japheth can!

Next comes independent problem solving...

Then pairs discuss answers and strategies.

Finally, everyone writes word problems for others to solve (and they're a lot harder than anything I give them).

Virtual and Tangible Manipulatives

During extended learning at the end of the day, Scotty completes part-whole addition problems online at Thinking Blocks.  After determining the missing information and constructing an equation, he confirms his answer with old school Unifix Cubes.

Ja'niya checks her understanding.

Japheth arranges base ten blocks.

Dynasty's just getting started.

Ketyra builds and determines the whole from two parts.