Saturday, September 8, 2018

Addition Wars: Math Activity

Addition Wars 

Math Strategy: Applying Addition Strategies 

Math Strand: Number Sense and Numeration



Overview:

Playing games, like Addition War, is a great way to discover what strategies our students are using and where they are on the continuum of learning. As students are engaged in the game with their partner, the educator circulates around the room, observing strategies and engaging in conversation with their students about what they are seeing and providing feedback.



How 'Addition Wars' supports student learning:

In the Addition Wars video clip, in the 'What to Look For' publication, we see Kate using the counting on from the larger number strategy to determine that 6 and 4 more is equal to 10. Referring to the Student Continuum of Numeracy Development: Addition and Subtraction, from the “What to Look For” resource by Alex Lawson, we can see that she is still working on counting more efficiently and tracking.

Where to Next?

This continuum also offers valuable information about “Where To Next” that can be an excellent support during conversations and when providing feedback! A clear next step for Kate would be to use near doubles, as she develops her ability to work with numbers. 6 + 4 could be treated as 6-1 = 5 and 4 + 1 = 5. Using compensation, she would adjust the numbers to be able to work with 5+5; finding the sum of 10 more efficiently.


Knowing where Kate is, and providing feedback about where to next will help her to become more proficient with her addition strategies. We also need to support Kate by providing learning opportunities that promote the near doubles strategy. Some examples specific to this strategy can be found in the “Number Talks” by Sherry Parrish and the above-mentioned “What to Look For” text.

Share your classroom experiences with Addition Wars with us on Instagram and Twitter at @LKelempro #EngageLK!






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