Charlotte Morgan and the Great Big Math Problem--Chapter 18--Good Job Gavin

  This is my next book.  

It is currently being copy edited, (so there will be the occasional typo in this version) and I am having a few illustrations done.

I am including the tag #steemiteducation because I wrote this thinking like a teacher.  The characters use math and describe their math thinking as they work through problems.  I am a former 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade teacher, so I used my experience and background from those years as I wrote this.

Update: The book is now available for preorder on Amazon.  Click here to get it on Kindle.

Click here for chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17

Summary: Charlotte finally works with Gavin.

Chapter 18 Good Job Gavin

There were now seven days until the Turing Elementary Math Bee.  I changed the numbers on my wall, I took the eight down and put up the seven, seven days or 168 hours, or 10,080 minutes, give or take a few seconds.

Later that morning during math, Gavin and I sat next to each other as we waited to work on the problems that Mrs. King put on the smartboard.  The day before, he didn’t do any work, I did all of it.  I was ready to do all the work again.

“Okay class, your first problem is eight times eight.  What is eight times eight?” asked Mrs. King, she stood by the smartboard.

I looked at Gavin, “Do you know the answer?”

He squished up his face and guessed, “Seventy-two?”

 “No, the answer is sixty-four.  Nine times eight is seventy-two.”.

“Marcus what did you and your partner get?” Mrs. King asked.

“Sixty-four,” Marcus replied.

“I was close,” whined Gavin.

“Close in math, and in the Math Bee, is still wrong,” I informed him.

“You sound like Mrs. King.”

Mrs. King switched the problem on the smartboard.  “Your next problem is 100 minus 34.”

I handed our work paper to Gavin.  “Okay, what do you do first?” I asked.

Gavin wrote down the problem on the paper.  “I line up the place values.  The ones with the ones, the tens with the tens, and the hundreds with the hundreds.”

He handed the paper back to me.  He had written the problem correctly.  “Good job.  So next subtract across the zeros,”

Gavin took his pencil, he crossed the one.  He crossed out the zero and turned it into a ten.  “I need to turn that ten into a nine, so it can loan out to the zero.”  

He slid the paper back to me.  “Is that right?” he asked.

“It is, now subtract.”  I handed the paper back to him.  He finished the problem.

“I got sixty-six,” he showed me his work.

“That’s correct!  Good job.”

“Charlotte, do you want to share your and Gavin’s work?” Mrs. King said from the front of the room, with a pencil stuck behind her ear.

I nodded my head, and I raised Gavin’s work into the air.  “Yes, we—he showed that it was sixty-six.”

Mrs. King smiled and nodded her head at Gavin, “Nicely done, Gavin.”  Mrs. King turned back to the rest of the class, “Our last problem this morning is our word problem.”  The problem appeared on the board, “Treyvon had twenty-five new pencils, he sharpened three of them.  He gave four to his classmate Kevin.  How many new pencils does Treyvon have now?”

Gavin took the paper from me, “You say draw a picture.”  He made twenty-five marks on the paper.  “These are the twenty-five pencils.  The he sharpens three of them.”  Gavin crossed out three of the marks.  “He then gives four to Kevin,” Gavin marked through four more lines.  “I then count the lines that are left over, and I get eighteen.”

I smiled.  “That’s correct.”

“Does anyone want to share how they got their answer?” Mrs. King asked.

Gavin raised his hand, “I can do it.”

“Okay, Gavin go ahead.”

“The final answer is eighteen.  I got that by making 25 lines that represent the pencils.  I then crossed out three pencils for the ones he sharpened, and then I crossed out four more for the pencils that he gave to Kevin.  And then I count the remaining pencils and I get eighteen.”

Mrs. King’s smile stretched across her face and it showed her teeth.  “Excellent job, Gavin.  That is correct.  I am very proud of you.” Mrs. King turned to the rest of the class, “Does everyone understand what Gavin did?”

Several people nodded their heads.  “Yes, Mrs. King,” came the response.

“Okay, everyone let’s head back to our seats,” instructed Mrs. King.

And I went back to my seat, that was the easiest time I had ever had with Gavin.

But I still needed to apologize to him.