You know what my favorite thing is about Fall? It’s when I feel like I finally get back in the swing of things! September is so busy and such a transitional period that October — especially late October feels like a wonderful respite. The cool night air, changing leaves, and all things pumpkin doesn’t hurt, either!
We’ve been hard at work in Room 108 on lots of things! Most notably we’ve been hard at work on problem solving using the 4.5 Step Plan.
For students, word problems can be extremely challenging, especially if they already struggle with vocabulary development as many emerging-bilinguals (ELLs) do — but this is probably not news to you! Most students are able to identify and apply strategies we teach them when given number sentences, and yet many still struggle in identify operations within word problems.
That’s where visualization comes in. I use the strategy of visualizing to assist students in determining what information in the problem is important, and what action (operation) is occurring. This is an addition to Polya’s original 4-step process for problem solving.
Students read, and then re-read the problem in order to make a mental picture. They then sketch the action in the problem and begin thinking about the information that’s important — which is when students move to the “understand” step.
As students learn to really visualize they may need some support and plenty of practice, which is why I’m developing themed 4.5 step word problem packs to give 1st and 2nd grade students differentiated and scaffolded practice throughout the year.
Each of these packs will have five word problems to use in mini-lessons that come with a visualization poster, scaffolded pages for guided practice, and completed examples. There will additionally be 15 problems for independent practice.
I like using the visualization poster for think-alouds, checking student understanding, and supporting students that are struggling to grasp concepts.
I also like to use completed examples in a variety of ways — including hiding various steps, and asking students to brainstorm or consider what would precede or follow a given step. It also helps my more visual learners to “see” my think-aloud.
I’d love for you to check out and enjoy one of these mini-lessons. Let me know what you think, and thanks for stopping by and enjoy a Festive Fall resource with this Virginia blogger! And before you leave, please enter my giveaway for a copy of my 4.5 Step Plan pack as well as an item of your choice from my store!
