Decomposing or Splitting?

I was watching a wonderful video on the Teaching Channel the other day.  In it, the teacher was asking the children to solve an addition equation using a strategy other than the traditional algorithm.  As I was watching, I noticed that she had "math talk" posters under her white board with scripts to encourage conversations using mathematical language.  I took particular notice of 2 of them; one about decomposing a number and one about splitting a number. As the kids shared a strategy, the teacher pointed out that whether  the numbers were being decomposed or split.  She made the distinction that when you decompose a number, you are breaking it apart into its expanded form and when you are splitting a number you are breaking it apart in any way that makes it easier to work with.  The following are some examples of the scripts I saw.  The kids would fill in the blanks with the appropriate info:
I think ___________________________ because _____________.
I agree/disagree with _______ because  ____________.
I got ________.  I used groups of ten.  I started with ______.  I knew that _____________.
I got ________.  I used decomposition.  I broke ____ into ____ and _____.  Then I  __________.
I got ________.  I used splitting.  I split ____ into ____ and ______.  Then I ______.
Be sure to check out the great videos on the Teaching Channel!

Who Knew?

Just read an article all about how important gestures are when teaching, especially in math.  Did you know kids learn better when you use gestures to illustrate a point that you are trying to make during a lesson?  I sure didn't!
I am a "hand talker".  When I am talking, I just can't keep my hands still.  I can't tell you how many times I have knocked over my drink or someone else's during a really exciting retelling of an event.  Now, I find out that all those gestures are good when you teach kids.  The article went on to say that kids who were taught a lesson on equality by a teacher who used gestures learned the lesson better and performed better on a test of the material that day and improved their performance on another test a day later.  As it turns out, we here in the states use fewer gestures when teaching our kids than do other teachers in other countries.  So, go ahead and talk with your hands.  It's a learning tool that's completely free, easy to carry around, and needs no electricity to power it!