Problem Solving

In grade 1 today, we worked on some problem solving.  Although we've solved a few problems together, this was a special activity for learning how to be problem solvers.  First, we listened to this funny song that explains some problem solving steps to follow.  We reviewed what we learned and outlined the steps our interactive whiteboard.  Then, we also added some problem solving strategies that we could plan to use. 

Problem Solving

Understand
What do I know?

Plan
use math like adding
use counters
draw a picture
guess and check

Solve

Check

Next, we tried solving a problem about apples together as a class.  Some of us guessed answers and we checked them together.  Someone drew a picture for us.  Another person took real apples and put them into a shopping bag to find an answer.  We came up with 3 different correct solutions, which we decided was okay since problems can have different solutions as long as they make sense with what we know about the problem. 

Finally, it was time to try some problem solving on our own.  I read the problem with students and they made their own plans to solve it.  Some students drew pictures, some knew an addition fact that could help them and some used counters.   After we had all solved the problem, we met at the carpet to share the different answers we found.  Here's the problem we solved and all of the different answers we found: