Too often, kids know the "how" of mathematics instead of the "why." Today we got out the base ten blocks to find out exactly what happens when we add multi-digit numbers. Many of our kids were surprised to find out that you don't really "carry the one." You're actually regrouping ten ones together, and then moving the ten over with the other tens. They were really surprised to find out that you don't "carry a one" over to the hundreds. You're actually regrouping ten tens into a one hundred! I demonstrated this lesson with a really cool website you and your child can visit. Students then had the opportunity to use base ten blocks to connect what they know on paper (the traditional addition algorithm) to what was really happening with base ten blocks. I hope activities such as this one build solid conceptual understandings of math for our kids. I want our kids to know the "why" of math!
