Decomposition - breaking it down!
Posted on 02/16/2020
The focus of our hallway math is now decomposition. Students are being challenged to think flexibly about breaking down a number beyond base 10. You might be surprised at how many ways we can do this. Feel free to try it at home!
For example:
Base 10: 43 = 40 + 3
Beyond base 10: 43 = 30 + 13
Consecutive numbers: 43 = 21 + 22
(or near doubles)
Near thirds: 43 = 15 + 14 + 14
Near quarters: 43 = 10 + 11 + 11 + 11
Near fifths: 43 = 8 + 8 + 9 + 9 + 9
Prime numbers: 43 = 17 + 13 + 11 + 2
This flexible thinking has many applications in math and develops our students' mental computation skills.
Stay tuned! We are working on some video clips to share our thinking with you.