stepping it up

Since we are finally finished with TAKS testing for the week, my class got back to (somewhat) normal routine today. Usually, during the few weeks after testing, we preview 4th grade for the kids by introducing them to some things that aren't on the 3rd grade curriculum, but which they'll need to know for the next year.

Today, we started 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication. And it actually went quite well. I introduced the "stair-step" method, which is the traditional method, and though there was some confusion, most kids started getting the hang of it rather quickly.

We'll practice this more tomorrow, then on Wednesday, I'll show them the Lattice method, which I've noticed most kids prefer.

We've also started division with remainders. I'm not quite ready to start long division -- that always throws them for a loop -- but we're using circles and tally marks, and they've done quite well with the remainders as well.