Regrouping

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Regrouping
By Kimberly

When I teach this to my 2nd graders, I get them all around me where they can see. I don't use the board--this is special math (little do they know it's because it's so hard for them to grasp). I use a MagnaDoodle to write
on. Taking them out of their element makes them really pay attention because they aren't sure what you're up to and they don't want to miss ANYTHING! I draw boxes around each column so we make sure we line up the tens and ones. We have the Ones family and the Tens family. The number at the top of each column is how many people live in that house. I even draw a tiny roof on top of

each "house". The bottom number is how many people are leaving the house to go where ever. We physically hold the numbers up with our fingers and if we don't have enough kids we go next door to the Tens house. We really knock on the door and ask if we can borrow one of the kids. We "leave them a note" (cross out and write the new number)of how many kids they have left (we wouldn't want them to worry!) We take the new kid over and put him with the Ones family. We can't add him to our family because he doesn't have the same name. He just sits beside us. Now we have enough kids to borrow.

This may sound silly, but I've done it for 3 years and the kids really relate to it. The ones who get it which is most of the class have fun working with the very few who need extra help. Good luck. This really is a hard concept.