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My Crew of Problem Solvers!

When planning our word problem unit I knew that it was time to get creative. My kiddos have been solving word problems since the beginning of the year, but we are in the midst of a two-week unit to really dig deep into word problems. We are focusing on locating important details, finding unnecessary info, and completing multi-step problems. These pesky word problems can get the best of my kiddos if we aren’t careful!

I decided to do a bit of a “Crew” theme to kick our week off. My class became a crew of problem solvers that had to work together to conquer difficult tasks! I went to Amazon and bought a few construction-themed items to turn up the excitement level. I bought hats, cones, caution tape, a road, and decor.

When my kiddos walked into the room they saw this…

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Sidenote— we love those number charts to 1,000 from Really Good Stuff! My teammate bought them over the summer and I had to do he same!

I used posters from my Workin’ On Word Problem unit and taped them onto our caution cones! This really helped my kiddos to implement the steps to solving their problems.

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We started each day solving a word problem together. I displayed one on our projector/white-board and my kiddos either used math spirals or white-boards to show their work.

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I mean, seriously, how cute are they??!!

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Something about those hats really helped up the level of concentration!

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After about three days of working together, I sent my students on a word problem hunt. These problems are from my word problem unit... I just taped them to a cone for a little more fun! I used the addition and subtraction word problems here… just used a mix of 4 and 4 🙂

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And, my little crew went around to each problem to solve!

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We still have a ways to go, but for the most part my students are starting to focus a little more, pay closer attention to the question being asked, and don’t dread doing word problems each day! I’d say that is a success!!!

Hi, I'm Amy

Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.

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8 Responses

Katie Lawson says:

October 25, 2014 at 4:01 pm

Love it! I am using your word problem pack right now. Thank you so much! It has problems they can understand and a variety that applies to the standards! 🙂
Shelley- TheWriteStuffTeaching says:

October 25, 2014 at 4:13 pm

This method for improving concentration looks fun! Thanks for sharing Amy!

Shelley
Ashley Smith ~ The Primary Source says:

October 25, 2014 at 8:00 pm

This is a timely post for me! My kiddos are struggling with word problems.
Lory's Page says:

October 25, 2014 at 8:15 pm

Such a cute idea for a 'not-so-fun' topic!!! Love the hats and cones!!
Ms.M says:

October 25, 2014 at 9:37 pm

Oh Amy I love this. So cute, creative and what a great way to suck those students in. <3
Mels
Ms. K/1 ELL
A Teacher's Plan
Elementary AMC says:

October 25, 2014 at 11:39 pm

I love this idea – thanks for sharing! I am now on the hunt for construction hats!!
Breanna Davey says:

October 26, 2014 at 1:27 pm

This is such a phenomenal and needed post! My 4th graders are struggling through multiplication/division word problems right now. My classroom of 29 that has 20 BOYS will love this! Thanks for the Amazon links!
Cupcake says:

October 26, 2014 at 10:41 pm

What a great way to make word problems FUN! You rock!
❤Teri
A Cupcake for the Teacher