Snow Day Work at Home!!!

With all of the snow days we have had this school year, we cannot stress enough the importance of working with your child at home. When they are used to having reading and math each day during the week, they need to continue to have that practice even on snow days. We also have our third Math Proficiency Assessment that all the first graders will be taking next Wednesday, March 11th. If we are out for the rest of the week due to weather, it is ESSENTIAL that you take the time to practice some of the material with your student that will be on the assessment. Our goal is for all students to receive a proficient or distinguished score and that will not be possible if students do not practice at home. Below are some of the sample problems you should practice with your child. Create new problems if possible and also have them finish their math homework for practice.

Sarah made a design out of 10 triangles. She colored 6 of them. How many triangles still need to be colored?
(Make sure students draw ten triangles and cross out 6 of them to find the answer. If students create the subtraction problem 10-6=4 that is also a strategy that has been taught).

What two numbers can be added together to equal 100?
a. 55+55                            
b. 95+15
c. 65+35
(Make sure students do not guess at the answer. Have students actually solve each equation to determine which is correct. Students can stack the two digit numbers on top of one another to add, draw a picture using base ten blocks-so for 55+55 it would be 5 tens and 5 ones + 5 tens and 5 ones, or simply add the ones place in each problem and then the tens place in each problem).

Which symbol would go in the blank to make the number sentence true?
16 __ 7= 9
a. -
b. +
c. =
(Make sure students understand that if you were adding 16 and 7, that the answer would be bigger than 16 instead of less than 16 like the answer 9 is. Have them double check their work and solve 16-7 to make sure they get the answer of 9).

Which expression makes the number sentence true?
18-4=?
a. 6+7
b. 8+4
c. 9+5
(Make sure students know the equation is supposed to be balanced, therefore both sides should equal the same thing, in this case 14. Have them solve 18-4 first then each of the equations a, b, and c in order to determine which also equals the same number-c).

Which number goes into the box to make it true?
20- ___ =11
a. 9
b. 10
c. 8
(Make sure students take the biggest number-20- and draw 20 circles. They will then circle or cross out 11 because 11 is already used on the other side of the equation. They then should determine that 9 is the number).

Also practice adding two digit numbers to other two digit numbers such as 26+12 and 45+15. Also practice subtracting a multiple of ten from another multiple of ten such as 80-20 and 70-60.

Here are some free websites that students can get on and practice some reading skills too! Even listening to a story read fluently will benefit students because they should be following along and will make connections with the words being read.
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.abcya.com/
http://www.storylineonline.net/

math: http://www.coolmath.com/

Feel free to email any of us if there are any questions! Thanks for all that you do.

Mrs. Palmer, Ms. Bale, Ms. Schwager