Break Apart Strategy

Last week in my fourth grade class I observed a math lesson in my host teachers classroom in Appleby Elementary school. Mrs. Mack introduced the lesson by talking about what they'd gone over last week in class. They were working on adding and subtracting with different ways of rounding. The Break Apart Strategy is a way for students to add or subtract numbers in a simple manner. She started off by telling each student to get a small chalkboard from the back of the class, and a small piece of chalk. She displayed a problem up on the SMARTboard. For example she put the problem 48+23=?

She then broke up the problem on the SMARTboard like this:

48+23 =      40 +2= 42
                      8+3= 11
                            = 53

She broke up the problem by adding the ones column, and then adding the tens columns. It simplifies the addition or subtraction necessary to solve the problem. Therefore, it is an effective way for children to break apart problems and solve them with simple math. The students seemed to enjoy this lesson because after they found their answer, the teacher would tell the children to raise their hands when they were done. This created a sense of slight competition in the classroom, which actually motivated the students to work quickly and effectively. Most of the students seemed to understand the concept. She gave them a quick quiz at the end of the class, which was only one problem, that formally assessed to make sure they were understanding the concept. The students handed in the quiz and then moved onto their science block. I found this lesson to be a good way to introduce the concept of the Break Apart Strategy.