When I first started using math warm-ups a couple of years ago, I had no idea how useful they would end up being in my classroom.  They are quick, easy and definitely give me a bank for the buck.  So of course I am using them again now that my mathematicians are second graders!  Here is how we got started this year:

Wednesday

I waited until the second day of second grade to start, and since we spent all last year doing this, most of my friends knew exactly what to do.  I just had to introduce my new friends (there are 4 of them) to this routine.  I started with a question everyone could answer (and if I remember correctly, it’s one of the first problems we did last year, too).

Friday

As I think about how we’re getting started in Math this year, our focus will be on making sure we have a firm foundation of basic skills and facts before we move on to other things.  That means we’re going to review combinations that make 10, doubles, doubles +/- 1 and basic addition/subtraction facts.  Hence the next question:

Note that I had to revise my question, since kiddos wrote 1 combination and thought they were finished.  I drew the visual of the 10s “rainbow” as we discussed the problem, and it was good to hear a couple of friends say, “Oh, now I get it!”  Like me (who is a visual learner), seeing how those numbers connect is important to their understanding.  This is definitely become an anchor chart in our classroom!