1st Grade Ms. Fritzie
First Grade students are to make sense out of their world, to see the mathematics all around them, and to be able to begin to talk about the math in informal terms, and to begin to translate those informal terms and ideas to formal mathematics. It is the teacher’s job to see that there are many experiences for students to grow in these critical areas.
1st Grade Sample Question
Students should work in partners to accomplish the tasks, but should have their own paper to create their own posters (I found this out the hard way when Ms Fritzie was beginning to find herself in primary classrooms. Havoc can ensue when it comes time to take the posters home if each does not have his/her own!)
Materials:
- Unifix cubes or other manipulative that come in multiple colors.
- Paper/pencil
The Problem:
Ms Fritzie is planting a pattern of flowers in her garden. She is planting 2 yellow, 2 red, and 2 purple flowers. “If the pattern continues,” she said,” the fifteenth flower will be yellow.”
Help the students read the problem, then given them the manipulatives to check to see whether Ms. Fritzie’s answer is reasonable or unreasonable. They should draw Ms. Fritzie’s face and put a thought bubble that describes what Ms. Fritzie is thinking.
They should then record
how they solved the problem using manipulatives.
Once posters are complete, student pairs should tell how they solved
the problems. The class should listen to each presentation. Ultimately
you
want them to be able to compare the presenting solution strategy
to their own strategies.
Sample 1st Grade Poster
This student was able to duplicate the pattern from the story problem, and was able to explain that the last flower would be purple. Since Ms. Fritzie thought the last flower would be yellow, Ms. Fritzie's answer is unreasonable.
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