September 16, 2013

Problem Solving Practice

Updated: Sept.17/13 The link now works. My apologies to those who tried to download the pdf unsuccessfully. 

Everyone did a terrific job on their first partner Math activity today! 


We solved the attached problem by using our five step problem solving model. You'll recall this was originally called a "Four Step" model, but we soon realized we needed that fifth step, where you write your answer in a full sentence.  

One area where the boys and girls require a bit of support is when it comes to writing their sentences. There seems to be some confusion around what to write. Some children are under the impression that we write a "number sentence" (e.g.  four plus five equals nine) and that's not what we're looking for when we ask for a "full sentence" response.  Instead students should be writing something along the lines of "Susie has nine cookies"; a sentence that includes part of the question, just like we do on our POTW tests.  We'll continue to work on this, but it's important to share with you so it can be corrected during homework time.

As part of Step 1, "Think", students are asked to highlight important information in the problem. I was very pleased to see that students could find the information in the problem that was relevant.   

Here's the problem we worked on today. 
We'll try one more tomorrow and then we'll begin Unit 1 of Math on Wednesday.  

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