Durng the past few weeks, I begin teaching double-digit addition with my second graders. With the Common Core Curriculum, teaching double-digit has become much more challenging. Students no longer have to just memorize the procedure (as I did in school) but they must understand the concept behind the procedure. Needless to say, I found this unit rewarding but challenging to teach in some ways. Before allowing the students to solve the problem procedurally, I required the students to solve the problem using base ten blocks. We used the following steps to complete our problems. 

1. Add your ones together

2. Ask yourself: Can I make a group of ten with my ones? If yes-regroup! If no-move on to the tens place. 

3. Regroup and make your ten ones into one group of ten! Make sure to cross out your ones in your picture!

4. Add your tens together.

5. Write your answer on the line below. 

We spent many days repeating the word "regroup" so that the students would understand what they were doing in their problem. In addition, I had the students verbalize what they were doing in the problem so that they would be able to write about their problem later in the unit. After playing many games with dominos and dice and completing some work with partners, I had the students work on writing "how" they would solve their double-digit addition problem usig words. I was pleasently surprised with the results I got on this particular activity. For the most part, I felt as if the students truly grasped what it is they were doing in the problem without much assistance from the teacher! It surely is always a wonderful feeling when you give your students an in-formal assessment and they perform exceptionally well!