Story Problem Routine
Every time students solve story problems in class, I ask them to go through a series of steps:
1. Tell students the story problem. Encourage them to visualize the action in the story.
2. Ask several students to retell the story after they have heard it.
3. After retelling the story, ask whether the end result will be more or less than the amount you start with.
4. Ask students to share strategies for solving the problem.
While this may seem a lengthy process, it is enormously helpful in the long run when we begin to work with subtracting and missing part story problems. For example: 10-7=__ or 10 -__=3
Showing Your Thinking
Often, for student, showing their work is the most challenging part of solving story problems. "Teacher Gaja, I just know!" "Teacher Gaja, because it just is!" are responses I hear frequently in the beginning of the year.
Below is a photograph of a poster we created during math today. After solving a story problem independently, I asked several students to share the strategies they used for solving the story problem. I also asked them to walk me through the process of documenting their strategy on paper. Many students used these same or similar strategies.
Each different strategy is color coded and I am the one who named the strategy as counting all, counting on, etc. All strategies and methods for solving this story problem are acceptable at this point in the year.
I hope this helps with homework as students continue working on becoming critical mathematicians who can articulate their thinking!
Every time students solve story problems in class, I ask them to go through a series of steps:
1. Tell students the story problem. Encourage them to visualize the action in the story.
2. Ask several students to retell the story after they have heard it.
3. After retelling the story, ask whether the end result will be more or less than the amount you start with.
4. Ask students to share strategies for solving the problem.
While this may seem a lengthy process, it is enormously helpful in the long run when we begin to work with subtracting and missing part story problems. For example: 10-7=__ or 10 -__=3
Showing Your Thinking
Often, for student, showing their work is the most challenging part of solving story problems. "Teacher Gaja, I just know!" "Teacher Gaja, because it just is!" are responses I hear frequently in the beginning of the year.
Below is a photograph of a poster we created during math today. After solving a story problem independently, I asked several students to share the strategies they used for solving the story problem. I also asked them to walk me through the process of documenting their strategy on paper. Many students used these same or similar strategies.
Each different strategy is color coded and I am the one who named the strategy as counting all, counting on, etc. All strategies and methods for solving this story problem are acceptable at this point in the year.
I hope this helps with homework as students continue working on becoming critical mathematicians who can articulate their thinking!