Math Tutoring Project

Bridget Delaney

December 9, 2018
 Introduction

For the purpose of this tutoring project, I was paired with a seven-year-old 2nd grade

student named Chance at Wells Academy. Chance is a very quick-witted and bright student who

has a positive attitude towards his schoolwork. Chance particularly seems to be interested in

math. He often adds and subtracts mentally and quickly, but other times he uses his fingers and

does not always check his work. He seems to be performing at grade level, or at least seems to be

meeting the level of his class instruction. Chance is always very eager to join me for tutoring

sessions, which naturally makes it an enjoyable experience for us both.

 Diagnostic Screening Test Outcomes, Goals, and Strategies

Before the diagnostic test, I explained to Chance that over the next couple weeks I would

be working on math with him. From the beginning, Chance was eager and happy to work with

me. I then asked for basic information such as his grade, his age, and who his teacher was.

Before we began the assessment, I told him I was going to show him a few math problems. I

explained that some of them he would probably know, and that others he may not know. I said

that it was alright if he came across problems he did not know because that most likely meant he

simply had not been taught them yet. I did not anticipate for Chance to answer the multiplication

or division problems correctly since he was only in 2nd grade, however, I was curious to see how

he would perform on the addition and subtraction problems.

On the procedures section of the test, Chance answered the addition and subtraction

problems correctly. It was at first difficult for me to decide if I should also consider his answer to

the multiplication question to be correct. This is because the question asked that if three boys had

2 pencils each, how many they would each have in all. Technically, Chance answered that this

problem would be solved through addition since he worked through the problem using addition

and came to the correct answer. However, I decided that because this was intended to be a

multiplication question, I should mark it as wrong.

On the sequences portion, again, Chance answered the addition and subtraction questions

correctly but could not answer the multiplication question. He did, however, answer the division

question correctly since he was able to reason that the numbers were being cut in half (e.g. 80,

40, 20). Therefore, he was able to predict that the next number in the pattern was 10. He did not
necessarily realize that it was division that could be used to answer this problem, but I marked

this problem as correct since his reasoning was accurate.

On the simple portion of the test, Chance answered all questions correctly except for the

division question. I was somewhat surprised he was able to answer the multiplication question

correctly and explain that “4 two times equals 8”, because it appeared that he had not been

introduced to multiplication yet. On the division question, however, he said that he had not

learned that yet.

On the complex, manipulation, zero, decimals, simple fractions, and manipulation of

fractions sections, Chance received a score of 0. On many of the problems he approached, he

would simply tell me he was not sure how to solve the problem and I told him that was alright if

he really did not know, and to move on. On the problems he did attempt to solve in these

sections, he solved part or none of them correctly. Although he seemed to realize he was not able

to solve many of the problems, his demeanor was still eager and positive.

Overall, Chance answered 8/36 problems correctly on the test, receiving a total basic of

2.5. Although this score seemed low at first, after reviewing the test again, I realized this actually

seemed to be quite average for a 2nd grader. In reviewing his answers, I noticed that his

strengths were addition and subtraction as opposed to multiplication and division. Again,

however, this seems to be quite typical for a student in 2nd grade. In considering the ways in

which he solved the problems, Chance was able to perform mental math on several of the

problems, rather than using his fingers. Some weaknesses that I targeted was that he seemed to

show confusion with double and triple digit addition and subtraction (i.e., 23 + 18, 657 + 242). I

knew that these were areas I wanted to focus on in our tutoring sessions. I also wanted to make it
a goal for Chance to employ mental math when possible. He had already demonstrated this a

decent amount, but one of my goals was to help him progress towards replacing counting with

his fingers with mental math whenever possible. He also seemed to grasp the concept of

recognizing and counting by tens quite well. Therefore, I thought the break apart strategy would

benefit him when it came to adding and subtracting larger digits. Because he is in 2nd grade, he

has mastered the concept of addition and subtraction in general, but has yet to learn how to apply

methods he already knows to larger numbers. As shared by Dineen (2014), being able to

decompose numbers by their place value and then recompose them by adding them to other

numbers helps “children develop generalized part-whole relations, one of the most important

accomplishments in arithmetic” (p. 70). This is why I predicted the break apart strategy to be

beneficial to my student. Additionally, when implementing the break apart strategy, a student

must understand place value so that he or she knows how to decompose the numbers they are

adding. By understanding place value, a student knows that the 4 in 482 represents 400. This is

crucial in order to break apart and add numbers (Masalsky, 2016).

 Session 1 Reflection

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.B.6: ​Represent whole numbers

as lengths from 0 on a number line diagram with equally spaced points corresponding to the

numbers 0, 1, 2, ..., and represent whole-number sums and differences within 100 on a number

line diagram.

For our first session, I wanted to get to know Chance and his math abilities better, as well

as what he was working on in class. I also wanted to practice simple addition and subtraction

before moving onto double digit addition. Because the only time I was able to work with Chance

was during his math period, his teacher expressed to me that she was afraid if he missed a whole

math period six times in a row, he would fall behind. She asked if I would help him with his

daily math worksheet before I gave him my own tutoring lesson, to which I agreed. In fact, I

found that by helping him with his math worksheet at the beginning of my lesson, it helped me to

better understand what he was learning in class and what specifics he needed to work on, since

the diagnostic test only provided so much information.

During our lesson, we focused on adding and subtracting numbers on a number line

using paper and pencil. At first Chance did not seem to have a need for using the number line to

add or subtract. He would read the problem, solve it, and then mark the answer to the problem on

the number line. However, I reminded him to show his work and mark his adding or subtracting

of the numbers on the number line to show how they create the total number. Chance was just as

eager and positive as he had been during the last session, so it was no surprise that he was very

receptive when I corrected him. After my explanation of how the number line was to be used, he

worked through the rest of the number line problems with much more ease. We also focused on
simple addition and subtraction problems with single digits or double digits adding or subtracting

single digits. Chance seemed to have hardly any trouble with these problems, however, he used

his hands to count for several of them. I decided to focus on more double digit addition and

subtraction in our next lesson.

 Session 2 Reflection

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.B.5: Fluently add and subtract

within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship

between addition and subtraction.

For our second session, I decided to focus on adding and subtracting double digits with

double digits. In the daily math worksheet Chance brought from class, there were several

problems which required the addition and subtraction of double digits. Chance only became

confused with these problems a small amount, either with regrouping or miscounting. Otherwise,

he seemed to know how to add and subtract double digits quite well. As he talked through

solving his problems, he would sometimes add the numbers in the tens place first and then add

the number in the ones place. This confused me since he was not able to answer double digit

addition/subtraction problems correctly on the diagnostic test. I asked him if he felt comfortable

with adding and subtracting double digits with double digits to which he said he did.

For our lesson, we continued to practice adding and subtracting double digits, particularly

focusing on regrouping since that was the main aspect that seemed to confuse him. We used

notebook paper and pencil to do this. After practicing several different problems I wrote for him,

he appeared to have understood regrouping much clearer and made very little mistakes.

At the end of our lesson I handed him a worksheet of a puzzle that resembled Scrabble.

The puzzle contained addition and subtraction problems with both single and double digits, each

problem containing one blank spot that the student must fill in with the correct number to

complete the problem. Chance seemed to enjoy this worksheet more than the problems I had

written out for him and completed it with ease. I was very pleased with the lesson and to know
that Chance understood double digit addition/subtraction much better than I had thought. I

decided to keep practicing double digit problems, but also planned to work on place value for our

next lesson, as that is the introduction to being able to add triple digit numbers.
 Session 3 Reflection

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.A.1: Understand that the three

digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7

hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones.

For our third session, I decided to focus on continuing to add and subtract double digit

numbers with double digit numbers, as well as place value, at least up to one hundred. In his

daily worksheet, I helped Chance complete several problems that involved looking at a shape

with a few different double digit numbers in them, and then deciding which two equaled a given

sum. All that we had practiced in the previous session seemed to help with his understanding of

how to complete these problems since he did so almost perfectly. While completing them, he

even told me that he was having fun.

During our lesson, I asked Chance to explain what place value was to see how well he

understood it. He showed that he was already familiar with ones, tens, and hundreds, so I decided

to practice creating ones, tens, and hundreds cubes with him using paper and pencil. He

explained to me that he had learned how to do this in class, but enjoyed drawing the cubes. I then

provided him with many different problems that involved adding and subtracting double digit

numbers, but asked him to show me how to solve the problems by drawing out ones, tens, and

hundreds cubes. He did so happily and worked through each problem correctly with only a small

amount of help. It pleased me to see how well he was working with double digits and place

value, as I had not originally expected him to know as much as he did.

To end our lesson, I provided him with a worksheet of double digit addition and

subtraction problems for more practice. For this worksheet, I challenged Chance to try and solve
each problem mentally or by writing it out, to avoid counting on his fingers. According to Morin

(2018), mental math is important to emphasize among young children as it is an ability that

people must use on a daily basis well into their adult years. It is something I noticed his teacher

emphasizing in class, and it was something I wanted to challenge him on as well. He was happy

to accept the challenge and was able to perform most of them mentally, which impressed me. I

decided for our next lesson I wanted to challenge Chance a bit more and have him add and

subtract trying a different strategy that would reinforce his understanding of place value more.
 Session 4 Reflection

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.B.5: Fluently add and subtract

within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship

between addition and subtraction.

For our fourth session I decided to focus on the break apart strategy on the addition and

subtraction of double digit numbers. The break apart strategy involves decomposing a number by

place value, and then adding the ones with each other, the tens with each other, and so on. For

example, on the problem 54 + 81, the student would break the numbers into 5 tens, 4 ones, 8

tens, and one 1. The student would then add the tens together and then add the ones together to

produce their sum.

Chance had a test to complete during this session, so I was not able to assist him as much

as I normally would during the first portion. However, the test focused on addition and

subtraction of double digits through visuals, word problems, and number lines, which he had

been working on the past few days, so it turned out that he did not need much assistance anyway.

Once he completed his test, I introduced him to the break apart strategy on addition, asking if he

had ever used it before. He said he had done it before, but appeared to need some more practice.

He would sometimes forget to regroup while using the break apart strategy with addition, so we

practiced that several times until he seemed to understand it much better. I also reviewed place

value with him, and introduced the thousands place. He said he had heard about the thousands

place, but had never used a number that big in math before. However, I wanted to make sure he

understood that the thousands place came after the hundreds place since it was my plan to
introduce him to using the break apart strategy on triple digit addition in our next lesson using

Desmos, and triple digit sums have the potential to reach over 1,000.
 Session 5 Reflection

Common Core State Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.B.7: Add and subtract within

1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of

operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a

written method. Understand that in adding or subtracting three-digit numbers, one adds or

subtracts hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to

compose or decompose tens or hundreds.

Before I began my Desmos lesson with Chance, I asked his teacher if it was alright if I

had the full hour for the Desmos lesson rather than using part of the hour to assist him with his

daily worksheet, to which she said yes. The goal of my lesson was to introduce addition between

two three digit numbers using the break apart strategy on the online platform Desmos. I knew

that Chance’s class had not been taught three digit addition yet, however, I had felt over the

course of the past few sessions, that Chance had essentially mastered double digit addition and

had a good understanding of place value. I was confident that Chance would be able to

understand the basics of three digit addition. Therefore, this session was intended to be an

introductory lesson to three digit addition.

I began the lesson explaining a bit about what we were going to learn and Chance seemed

to be excited for the challenge. We began with reviewing place value, which was no trouble for

Chance. We then reviewed addition of double digit numbers, which also came easy to him. I then

dove into reviewing the break apart strategy again with Chance, to which he responded

positively. Then I introduced how to apply the break apart strategy to triple digit addition

problems. I modeled how to do this a few times with Chance first, then walked through it a few
times with him, guiding him through each step. He then began to show that he was more

comfortable with it, and told me he was having fun, especially since he was able to use the laptop

screen over his pencil and paper. At the end of the lesson, Chance was given four triple digit

problems and produced correct answers to three of them. Once the lesson was finished, Chance

asked if he would could work on some more triple digit addition problems for fun, which we did

on notebook paper.
 Math Tutoring Desmos Lesson Plan

Lesson Title:___________​Three Digit Addition​_____________ Grade:__​2nd​__

Learning Target/Student Learning Outcome​:

The student will be able to distinguish the place value of numbers in the ones, tens, hundreds,
and thousands place.
The student will be able to perform addition of double digits.
The student will be able to break a number between 100 and 1000 into hundreds, tens, and ones.
The student will be able to apply the break apart strategy to a three digit addition problem,
adding numbers by place value, and then adding three sums together to produce a total sum.

Grade Level Guide: Content Standards

Content Curriculum Focal
Points (ie: NCTM, IRA,…)
NCTM Number and
Operations: Developing an
understanding of the
base-ten numeration system
and place-value concepts:
Children develop an
understanding of the
base-ten numeration system
and place-value concepts (at
least to 1000). eir
understanding of base-ten
numeration includes ideas of
counting in units and
multiples of hundreds, tens,
and ones, as well as a grasp
of number relationships,
which they demonstrate in a
variety of ways, including
comparing and ordering
numbers. ey understand
multidigit numbers in terms
of place value, recognizing
that place-value notation is a
Common Core State Interdisciplinary Connections
Standards
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2 N/A
.NBT.A.1
Understand that the three
digits of a three-digit
number represent amounts
of hundreds, tens, and ones;
e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds,
0 tens, and 6 ones.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2
.NBT.B.7: Add and subtract
within 1000, using concrete
models or drawings and
strategies based on place
value, properties of
operations, and/or the
relationship between
addition and subtraction;
relate the strategy to a
written method. Understand
that in adding or subtracting
three-digit numbers, one
adds or subtracts hundreds
shorthand for the sums of
multiples of powers of 10
(e.g., 853 as 8 hundreds + 5
tens + 3 ones).
and hundreds, tens and tens,
ones and ones; and
sometimes it is necessary to
compose or decompose tens
or hundreds.

Academic Language:​ place value, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, triple digit, break apart
strategy

Student Needs: ​Prior to this lesson, the student should have an understanding of place value up
to 1,000, addition of double digits, and have been introduced to the concept of the break apart
strategy.

English Language Learners Special Needs (can be a group

such as “struggling readers” or
In order to accommodate
ELL students, the teacher
will provide translations of
any new vocabulary word
in the native language of
the ELL. If continued
confusion arises, the
teacher will provide a sheet
with steps to the new
strategy in the ELL’s
individuals)
Students with dysgraphia or
low motor skills may struggle
to write out full problems on
the laptop since it requires a
more controlled hand that the
student may not be used to.
Thus, in order to accommodate
these students, the teacher will
allow them to either use a
tablet, pencil and paper,
native language alongside whiteboard, etc., that will make
the English translation. writing and producing addition
problems easier.

Materials​:
Student: ​Laptop or tablet
Teacher:​ Laptop, Desmos online platform, course code for student, whiteboard or notebook and
pencil (optional)

Language Function​:
Lesson Plan (step by step sequence of the lesson)

Before​:
● The teacher will begin the lesson by providing the student with a laptop and the
course code to log on to the online lesson on Desmos.com
● The teacher will then briefly describe to the student what he will be learning in the
lesson.
● As the lesson begins, the student will first be asked questions to distinguish place
value of ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands in the number 1,528 as a review
● Next, the student will review adding two addition problems of double digits, using
the laptop mouse to sketch out the problem on the whiteboard screen.
● Then the teacher will reintroduce the break apart strategy to the student, modeling
how it may be applied to a three digit addition problem. Before providing the student
with the answer to the problem, she will ask the student to select what he believes the
answer to the problem is on a multiple choice question.

During​:
● Now, the teacher will gradually allow the student to try applying the break apart
strategy to triple digit addition problems for himself. However, before this, the
teacher and the student will play two games of tic-tac-toe on the laptop. The three
winning numbers of each game will be the numbers used in the addition problem the
student is to try next.
● Once the numbers have been determined, the student will practice using the break
apart strategy on the addition problem he has created, the teacher assisting him if
necessary.

After​:
 ● At the end of the lesson, the teacher will provide the student with a short summative
assessment. The student will be asked to look at a three digit addition problem and,
through multiple choice question answers, determine which option is the best
example of a break apart strategy
● Finally, the student will complete 4 three digit addition problems on his own, using
the break apart strategy

Assessment​:
Type of Description of Modifications​ to the Evaluation Criteria​-
assessment assessment assessment so that all How good is good
(formal or What will students do students may enough to meet
informal; to show what they demonstrate learning standards?
formative or have learned? (related to the learning
summative) objectives) Include
scoring guide, rubric or
other criteria
informal, For a formative For students who have For this lesson, the
formative and assessment, the difficulty drawing out students are expected to
summative teacher will observe problems on the laptop, answer all questions
the ways in which the a tablet and/or a before the summative
student answers notebook and pencil portion correctly as
questions and may be provided on most of it is review or is
produces problems which to work out the able to be guided by the
along the course of the problems. For students teacher. For the
lesson. For a who are below or above summative portion (the
summative the level of adding three last five questions) the
assessment, the digit numbers, the students are expected to
student will complete teacher may modify the answer the multiple
a 5 question test that lesson as a separate link choice question
involves a multiple for them to log on to. correctly and ¾ of the
choice question and 4 Their version of the addition problems
three digit addition lesson would either correctly, as it is an
problems contain smaller numbers introductory lesson.
or larger numbers to
add.

Desmos lesson: ​https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5c089944b3f063786632a5c3

 References

Dineen, A. (2014). Use of grouping strategies to solve addition tasks in the range one to twenty

by students in their first year of school: A teaching experiment. ​Southern Cross

University​, 1-639.

Masalsky, E. (2016). Why place value is so important. Retrieved from:

https://www.matific.com/us/en-us/blog/2016/04/11/why-place-value-is-so-important/

Morin, A. (2018). How mental math skills benefit your school-aged child. Retrieved from

https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-is-mental-math-620915