Student Work #3

In my 1st grade classroom, the students are currently working on mastering their knowledge and skills with completing “simple” addition problems.  Throughout the year they have been learning these problems and are now being assigned worksheets and pages in their math book with that are filled with addition problems that need to be solved. In the photo, Sarah, has discovered a way to help her solve the problems quicker and with more ease.

To complete this page in their math journals, the students were simply required to answer the addition problems accurately. Though this may seem simple, the students are 1^st graders who are still at the beginner level and struggle with completing their assignments accurately.  Though this is true, Sarah, a quiet student who never appeared to be proficient in math, has discovered a new way to complete her assignment.  In the picture, it is clear that Sarah has drawn a large arrow from one addition problem (9+8) to another problem across the page (8+9). While most of the students found it hard to remember their addition facts, Sarah found that finding what the class calls “turnaround facts” made it very easy to quickly solve her math problems. 

I was very surprised by Sarah displaying this in her math because she is generally so quiet with while working on math and is usually requesting help with her assignments.  The fact that she was able to recognize that she could quickly solve and finish this assignment by finding “turnaround facts” was very pleasing.  I was also glad because this was ultimately the mathematical objective of the lesson.  Students were to use this page in their math journal as heavy practice and repetition of what they have been learning all year.

 

If I were to encourage Sarah to move their thinking forward, I would have her try to tell me the answers to problems without drawing arrows from one “turnaround fact” to another.  If she were to do this, it would be clear that she truly did understand the math facts that she was completing instead of just memorizing the numbers.