9-20-06

Another story problem from a story told by a student:

First, tell it without numbers: “There are some frogs sitting on Lilly pads in a river. A hungry crocodile comes along and eats some of them. How many frogs are left? Remember, you can’t find an answer to this question. You need to think about how you would solve it. Would you add more frogs or take some away?”

Use the words “addition” and “subtraction” in conjunction with “add some” and “take some away.”

Repeat the question a few times to different students. Then tell it with numbers.

“There are 9 frogs in a river, sitting on Lilly pads. A hungry crocodile comes along and eats 4 of them. How many frogs are left?”

Get the answer on their fingers. Then organize the frogs on the Lilly pads so there are 2 groups of 2 and one left over. Be sure the say, “Oh, this one doesn’t fit in a group because there aren’t two of them! He has to stay in the water.”

“How many groups of frogs are there? How many Lilly pads with frogs on them? How many frogs are there?” Repeat questions to different children.

Centers: Making sets of one more for some Staircases (skip counting) for more advanced 7 work on combinations of 8 apples with a teacher

After Centers: Find numbers hiding inside 6 and show them on your fingers (i.e. 4 on one hand, 2 on the other). Make a class chart of all the ways to make 6.