The number of the day seems like a very pointless math problem. This problem tells the students what they have to do and what types of numbers they must multiply. I would like to know how to make this more challenging for the students. I could find this out by referring to our 5 Practices book and by looking back at my class notes. I would also like to know when this book was written, because all of the daily activities seem repetitive and out of date. I could find that out by speaking with my mentor teacher and looking at the book that she gets these from. I would also ask her if it is possible for her to purchase new materials, or if finances factors into out of date materials. I want to see how effective the lesson quiz aspect of this worksheet is. I could figure this out by looking at a large collection of students work and see how much practice and instruction they receive. We have talked a lot about how things like this can be very repetitive and ineffective, so I want to see if all of the daily practice with these types of problems really does help. I would also speak with my teacher and ask her her reasoning for including this portion of the warm up.
Another thing to consider is asking your cooperating teacher why she gives the problems that she does? E.g., "How do you choose which problems to give at the start of class?" or "Why do you choose these problems to give?"...This would be asking in a non-judgmental way (asking, "Why don't you ever engage the students?" would be an example of what not to say). You might find that such problems give your CT an opportunity to do other necessarily classroom tasks, e.g., take attendance, etc. I agree with your analysis here, but it is always worth peeling back the surface and trying to understand the teacher's (your CT's) thinking...as it is most likely that she is weighing a number of trade-offs throughout the lesson.
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