Mathematical Emphasis
Investigation 1—Exploring Materials

• Exploring materials used in this unit and throughout the curriculum
• Describing and sorting materials based on their attributes
• Identifying categories for different things
• Writing number expressions to describe configurations of cubes

Investigation 2—Looking at Numbers

• Keeping track of the number of school days
• Writing equations that equal the number of days in school
• Making combinations of 10
• Identifying the use of number in the world

Investigation 4—Counting

• Counting 15-60 objects
• Counting by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and other ways
• Comparing two sets by identifying how many more are needed or how many are extra
• Adding two-digit numbers
• Identifying coins and their values
• Combining coins to make 25¢ and 50¢

Tips For Helping At Home
Questions To Ask:

• What is the problem about? Tell me in your own words.
• What did you do in class to get started?
• Can you make a drawing (model) to help you figure out the problem?
• What have you already tried? What steps did you take?
• What do you need to do next?
• Can you show it in a different way?
• How did you get your answer?

Activities At Home

• Play the games sent home during the unit including: Tens Go Fish and Turn Over 10.
• As your child works on problems at home, encourage him or her to record strategies for solving problems or keeping track in ways that make sense to your child. Some children will use numbers, some will use pictures or charts, others will use words, and many will use a combination of these methods. We want all children to use problem-solving methods that are meaningful to them.
• Often children will work out number problems by using real objects. If you can, provide objects for counting, such as beans, pennies or buttons.

Vocabulary Terms

Coins

Students work with pennies, nickels, dimes in this unit

Color Tiles

One inch colored squares

Cubes

Interlocking plastic units

Manipulatives

Objects that can be used to help solve problems

Pattern Blocks

Plastic colored shapes including triangles, squares, hexagons, diamonds (rhombus), and trapezoids

Skip Counting

Counting forward or backward by multiples of a given number

Mathematics Vocabulary Web site

Mathematics Strategy—Today’s Number
One routine that is used throughout second grade is “Today’s Number.” Today’s Number is the number of days that the students have been in school. This routine provides children with regular practice in important mathematical ideas in number. Students explore:

• Number composition and part-whole relationships (10 can be 4 + 6, 5 + 5, or 20 – 10),
• Equivalent arithmetic expressions,
• Different operations,
• Ways on coming up with new numerical expressions by modifying prior one (5 + 5 = 10 so 5 + 6 = 11).

Today’s Number provides practice in number skills and strategies as well as an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the base-ten number system.

Source: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space: Mathematical Thinking at Grade 2. Dale Seymour, 1998. (Pages 124-125)

Mathematics Game—Fish for Tens
A mathematics card game based on the traditional game of “Go Fish.”

Materials

Deck of Number Cards 0-10 (four of each)

Players: 3-4

Playing the Game

1. The object of the game is to get pairs of cards that total 10. Each player is dealt five cards and the rest are placed face down in the center as a draw pile.
2. If players have any pairs of cards that total 10, they are placed in front of that player and those cards are replaced with cards from the deck.
3. The person to the dealers left starts and asks one other player for a card that will go with a card in his/her hand to make 10.
4. If that player gets the card, the pair of cards are put down and one new card is drawn from the deck. This turn is over.
5. If that player did not get the card to make a ten, he/she takes the top card from the deck and that turn is over.
6. If the card drawn from the deck makes 10, the pair is put down, another card is drawn and that turn is over.
7. If a player runs out of cards but there are still cards in the deck, that player draws two more cards.
8. The game is over when there are no more cards left. The person with the most pairs wins.

Get to Number Cards (for printing)