Monday 7 November 2016

Representing Numbers - Problem Solving Strategies

On Friday, November 4th, students were involved with a problem solving question that was taken from the Guide to Effective Instruction, K-3. I also asked Nikki Roy, from Curriculum Services, to join us to support our math thinking and to explore pedagogical documentation with students and myself. 

Using the chart stand, we brainstormed things that come in 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's and 8's. Then, students were given the following problem to solve together: If a spider has 8 legs, how many legs would three spiders have?





The strategies that students choose to use were: counting on their fingers, mental math, pictures, number lines, number sentences, 100's chart and arrays. I was so impressed to see how they displayed and communicated their thinking! 



As part of our pedagogical documentation journey, students were given sticky notes to name which strategy (strategies) they used and how the strategy (strategies) helped them solve the problem! By encouraging student to explain and document their thinking, they are able to communicate their thinking and take ownership in their own learning.

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