Second graders at Trevvett Elementary have been learning how to add and subtract two-digit numbers (SOL2.6 & 2.7), so today students in Ms. Golden’s class used Sketchtoy to animate the steps. SketchToy is a cool website that replays anything you draw. The students could choose to show the steps in solving a 2-digit addition or subtraction problem. I encouraged them to use different colors for the ones and tens. When they finished, they clicked “Save” and pasted the link to Google classroom so they could watch each others’ animations. It’s great for teachers because they can observe the process the students’ go through to solve the problems. Plus, they can speed it up, slow it down, or pause it as they watch the replay (using the play bar at the bottom). The students really enjoy how you can also add different vibrations to the sketch. After the students solved their math problems, I wanted to show them different ways to use SketchToy, so we used it to illustrate a plant growing and a frog life cycle (SOL2.4a,b). You can see all their drawings here.
