Nina Said:

Need a good lesson plan for 3rd graders!?

We Answered:

freezing and melting point of water as well as boiling point

Peter Said:

Memory Technique: Subtracting Integers?

We Answered:

Hi there Lisa,

There are a number of ways I teach my students about remembering the rules of integers, depending on what works best...

Firstly, students need to understanding positive direction (conventional addition - moving upwards on the number line) and negative direction (conventional subtraction - moving downards on the number line).

Style #1
Integer math is like a journey - you begin somewhere, go in a certain direction for a certain distance and you get to a destination.
2 + 3 = 5
The starting point is 2
The direction is upwards
The distance is 3
The destination is 5

The most important part about a journey is going in the right direction - you need to read the signs properly.
* If there are two different signs - go down
* If there are two same signs - go up
* If there is only one sign - do what it says.

So 3 + - 5 = ???
The starting point is 3
The direction is downwards (different signs)
The distance is 5
The destination is -2

5 - - 2 = ???
The starting point is 5
The direction is upwards (same signs)
The distance is 2
The destination is 7

Style #2
If students have some problems thinking about why two negative signs means to go upwards, or why plussing a negative means going down, I use the example of a heater / air conditioner

Heat can be thought of as +, cold can be thought of as -

A heater adds heat to a room (+ +) : the temperature goes up
A heater takes cool out of the room (- -) : the temperature goes up

A cooler adds cool to a room (+ -) the temperature goes down
A cooler takes heat from a room (- +) the temperature goes down

Style #3
Similarly to the 'read the signs' example above,
Two people show up to get married, one says "I do", the other says "I do" - They agree - it's positive.
Two people show up to get married, one says "I do", the other says "I don't" - They disagree - it's a negative.
One person shows up...they can say what they like... :)

Trust this helps.

Angela Said:

lesson plan in problem solving involving addition, Subraction and multiplication?

We Answered:

Your students will laugh at you if you call it subraction, it is subtraction.

Anyways, just do some sample problems and then have them get into groups and give them more problems. Whichever group gets the most right (or quickest) gets a prize or points or something. You could also consider using some sort of model/blocks to illustrate the concepts.

Jane Said:

Feed back needed and Appreciated?

We Answered:

Interesting idea...reminds me a little of the Khmer Rouge re-education camps, under the notorious Pol Pot. (you can internet these names for some background.)

Alice Said:

In what grade do kids learn multiplication?

We Answered:

Normally students in the 2nd grade are still learning the basic skills of mathematics such as: advanced adding/subtracting, fractions, function rules,etc. Third grade would be an appropriate chose to start teaching multiplication. BTW, good luck with your interview.

Erika Said:

Help with homework, please?

We Answered:

1.c
2.b
3.a
4.c
5.c
6.a