This was a conversation in my class today...

Me: We live in Texas, but Texas is not the biggest state in the United States. Do you know which state IS the biggest?
Kid: The world!
Me: No, the biggest STATE.
Kid: The planet!
Me: No. The whole planet is not a state.
Kid: The earth!
Me: You can say it all the different ways that you want, but it's still wrong!

Last Friday, I gave a Fact vs. Opinion test, and in my ever so humble opinion, there are several kids who just don't get it -- and that's a fact!

Apparently, "Broccoli tastes nasty!" is a fact to some. As is, "John Cena is awesome!"

Conversely, it is merely one's opinion that "One yard equals three feet," or that "There are 50 states in the USA."

Any Language Arts teachers out there have a great way of teaching fact vs opinion?

Well, we gave a subtraction test this past Thursday, and MOST of my kids did pretty well. Which is a good thing, since we've been practicing subtraction pretty extensively for the past 2 weeks!!

The good news is that I started the year with about 4/5 of my kids thinking that 2-8=6 (not regrouping), and now I only have 4 or 5 kids that still do that on a regular basis. In fact, one of the questions on the test was "How do you know when you are supposed to regroup on a subtraction question?" I am pleased to say that all but about 3 of the kids answered something to the effect of "When you have a tiny top and a big bottom."

Of course, some of my kids who still don't regroup got that question correct, so they KNOW when they are supposed to regroup in theory, they just don't put it into practice...

What disappointed me was the other short answer question. Much like on our addition test, where I was looking for the word 'SUM,' I posed a similar question on this test:

What is the math word that means "the answer to a subtraction problem?"

The answer, of course, is "Difference." This is something that we have talked about repeatedly, used in word problems, and it was even up on the board on a Clue Word list. However, I only had 16 kids (out of 40) that got this question correct.

Wrong answers included the following:

Sum (I guess they missed it on the last test and hoped to jump on the bandwagon this time)

Check your work (Good advice, but does not answer the question)

How many more

Take away

Compare

Left (These words at least are subtraction clue words, but still don't answer my question)

Subtract (Too obvious, kid)

And my personal favorite (*SARCASM ALERT!!*):

Addition.

Yeah, the answer to a SUBTRACTION problem is called "The Addition."

Just when I thought we had mastered the concept of opposites...

I gave a math test today, and the subject was addition. There were several computation problems to allow the kids to show (or disprove) their mastery of basic facts and regrouping, a couple of word problems, and one short answer question.

The question was, "What is the math word that means 'the answer to an addition problem?'"

I even talked about this question for a bit before the kids got started on the test. I told them that I just wanted one word that is another name for the answer we get when we add. This is definitely something that we have discussed before.

Out of 40 kids that took the test, I believe I had 15 that got the correct answer, "sum."

Here are the wrong answers I got:

Add (so obvious, yet so wrong)

The sain (in the membrane?)

Math addition (as opposed to social studies addition?)

Equal (nope, it's different)

Altogether (the process, but not the answer)

Standard Form (the answer is IN standard form, but that's not what it's called)

Fourty thousand ninety three (only for a VERY specific addition problem)

Add saharats (????)

The plus sign (the ANSWER is not called the plus sign!!)

Shug you whorek (I found this somewhat offending when I first read it, but then I realized he meant Show your work)

Regroup (Another random math word that does not answer the question)


Ah, vocabulary, my old nemesis, you win again!

I was just looking at the Pre-inventory math test that my kids took last Wednesday. 20 questions that are supposed to be a review of 2nd grade skills that my kids (theoretically) learned last year. Realistically, there are 2 really hard questions on there, 2 others that are kind of tricky, and 16 that are practically no brainers.

I'm pleased to say that I DID have one student who scored a 90. He rocked the test. The next highest score was 60, and the average was around 40.

As if I didn't already know it, I really have my work cut out for me this year.

I never really expect much out of this test (which is why I'm so stoked about the one kid who scored a 90). Most of the kids are still shaking off the fuzz from the summer, they don't want to show any work or think about any of the problems, and so they tend to miss easy questions. But still... Some of the questions were just SO obvious that it still bugs me when they miss them.

For instance, one of the questions shows a picture of a rectangle (the question calls it an aquarium) and a square and asks how the two shapes are alike. I had 5 or 6 kids who picked, "They both have exactly 3 sides." THREE sides??!??

Another showed 4 fish and 3 birds and asked what fraction was birds. Only about 3 kids out of my 22 got this one right. Most of the others picked 3/4. Note to self, work extra hard on fractions this year...

One question showed a couple of base-10 block models and then asked which statement was true. The entire question could have been ignored, as the answers said 342>245, 342=245, 342<245,>342.

3 kids said these numbers are equal!!!!! What were they smoking????

Oh well. They are very well behaved this year, and there are not a whole lot of them, so that should make the intense work that is required that much easier.