Students use the
circle mats to find the partners for their number family
and then they record these findings with the corresponding
addition and subtraction problems on mini recording papers.
After the students have had many opportunities to find all
of the partners for a given number family begin helping
the students learn how to develop a strategy to make the
task more time efficient and also to ensure that no partner
has been omitted. Ask probing questions: "How can we
make sure that we haven't left out any partners? Can anyone
think of a strategy that we can use to find all of the partners?
Lead the students
to using this strategy: The student places all of the counters
for his/her new number family on one side of the mat. The
student records the partners and writes the 2 addition and
2 subtraction problems to go with the partner. Then the
s/he moves 1 counter over to the other side. Record again.
Move one over. Record. The student knows that s/he has found
all of the partners when s/he arrives at a duplicate or
has found a "Flip-flop." Remember, 2 and 3 is
the same as 3 and 2. You can easily demonstrate this on
the overhead projector by using a clear circle mat and flipping
the circle over. You can also use the large
dominoes included on this website. Demonstrate the "Flip-flop"
by turning the domino.