Subtraction Math Star!

Nate has been hard at work on his time tests all semester. He's struggled with the time tests, not because the math is hard, but because he was finding it hard to work quickly.

For the time tests, the students are given a set amount of time to solve 100 math facts. They have 3 minutes to solve 100 addition facts, and 5 minutes for 100 subtraction facts.

A few months ago, I told him I knew he could do it by Christmas. And sure enough, yesterday he came home a subtraction "Math Star!" He was so proud of himself, and I am so proud of him.

Now to work on addition!

Math Whiz

Lately, we discovered that Nate can do simple math in his head. Addition and subtraction both! So we have been encouraging him by giving him simple problems to work out in his head, and he's been doing a great job.

This morning, Tom decided to try and write down the math problems and see how he did. Now, before this morning, I don't think I have ever seen Nate write a single number. It's not that he can't, it is more that he hasn't been interested in trying. This morning, it was totally different.

Here are the problems he was doing (the one with the circled 6 is the first example Tom did to show him what they look like).

Now, if I could just figure out how to make words and letters as interesting to him as math problems, he might actually start to write!