This next Math Language Routine (MLR) post will focus on a problem solving strategy that we have emphasized for the past several years. For most of you, we hope this is simply a refresher on the steps that you can take to help your class solve word problems.
Read 1: Read for Context
Consider this word problem:
Ayriale and Natassja picked flowers from the community garden. Ayriale picked roses, daisies, and daffodils from the garden. Natassja picked daisies and lilies.
You will notice the problem includes no numbers. Without numbers, student can
focus on the meaning of the words rather than the quantities. This step focuses on what the problem is about.
Read 2: Read to Understand the Quantities and their Relationships
For the second read, the same problem is presented to the students, but this time it includes numbers.
As a whole class, read the problem a second time with the numbers. The questions you pose should now ask how the numbers are related. Ensure that students not only focus on the quantities, but what the quantities represent. For example, 10 daisies. Encourage students to recognize relationships in the problem. For this problem, a good relationship to notice is that Ayriale picked less daisies than Natassja. What other relationships would you expect students to notice and share?
Read 3: Read to Determine What Questions Could be Answered
For the third read, students are asked to generate questions that may be answered using the information in the problem. (Standards of Mathematical Practice 4: Modeling) Read the problem as a class for the third time. Record the different questions that students generate. this could include:
How many daisies did the girls pick?
How many flowers did Ayriale pick?
Which girl picked more flowers? How many more?
How many flowers did Ayriale and Natassja pick?
More times than not, the student generate the question that you are looking to be solved with the problem context. Students are now ready to solve the chosen question. You may challenge them to answer more than one.
By routinely solving problem using this MLR, students should achieve the goal of making 3 Reads a habit which they will naturally do each time they are presented with a word problem.
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