First grade students are learning about place value. This week we learned how to count by tens and ones, use a place value chart to record the number of tens and ones, and interpret two digit numbers as either some tens and some ones or all ones. For example, the number 34 can be 3 tens and 4 ones or 34 ones.
Students are encouraged to analyze and use relationships between numbers to develop a variety of simplifying strategies. Students also use arrow notation to record their mental math. First, they add a multiple of 100, and then count on by multiples of 10 to find the total (as shown at in the image).