Daily Word Problems for 3rd Grade

No one really reads my blog consistently I know, but if you did, you would know that I am a HUGE fan of word problems. A professional development from years ago, Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), literally changed the way I feel about math. Word problems are the foundation of CGI and once I was trained in CGI, my approach to teaching math completely changed.

That was over 15 years ago, and I've grown a lot as a math teacher over those years. But my love of word problems has not changed. It is the best part of my math instruction!

Word problems are a huge part of the Engage New York Modules that we use for math, but I also try to have at least a couple days a week some word problem time that is a little different from the Engage New York.

At least twice a week, I like to present one word problem to the students. It might be a type like we're working on in class, but sometimes I throw things in there that I know will challenge them because they haven't experienced it yet. We read the problem together and then students solve it. The students solve the problem however makes sense to them. Depending on what type it is, they will draw a picture, use a standard algorithm, use manipulatives- whatever they need to do to solve it. Once they've solved the problem one way, then I ask them to solve it a second way using a different strategy. This pushes their thinking out of their comfort zone and makes them think about another possible strategy for solving the problem. After some time, I choose 2 or 3 to share. When they share, I put their work under the document camera and they come to the front of the room. Sometimes I will have the student explain their strategy. Other times I will have the other students look at the solution and walk us through what that person did. We ask questions and share what we liked about the strategy. Then another person comes and shares their strategies. When I choose students to share, I do it purposely and with specific intent. Sometimes I want to show specific strategies. Other times, I want students to think about efficiency of the strategy. Other times I just want specific students to have a chance to talk and explain.

I love the depth of conversation we have when we do this! It makes students realize that math is not always about right or wrong answers. Sometimes I put incorrect solutions up for students to share, so we can talk about common misconceptions and why those misconceptions occur. But it's not an awful thing to get it wrong because we talk about all the things that were done right too.

August Word Problems

September Word Problems

October Word Problems

These three are the start of a new series for me: No Prep Word Problems for each month. I have them for Kindergarten already done, but only these three (and April) for 3rd grade so far. There are between 20-25 word problems in each and they are in two forms- a full sheet and a "label" sized one you can print and cut apart for students to glue into a notebooks. I generally begin with the full-sized sheets and over the year move to the labels to save paper.

Math Word Problems

Years ago, the district I worked for spent a lot of money training teachers on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI).  Ever heard of it?  Well, it's a "philosophy" of teaching math through which the children develop their own strategies for solving a myriad of problem types.  I put "philosophy" in quotes because this was drilled into our heads- that it is not a teaching strategy but a way of looking at how children solve mathematical problems.  They showed us basic problem types and taught us how to write word problems using these different types.  They showed us how to choose the number with a purpose to get the children to try out different strategies for solving the problem.  We weren't supposed to teach strategies like counting on, matching, etc... Instead, through the problems types we chose and the numbers we used, students would discover these strategies on their own.  From what I understand, teacher who truly embrace CGI did nothing but word problems in their math curriculum.  I just couldn't do that, but I have to say that CGI certainly changed the way I teach math and the way I approach word problems.  I am now very aware of the types of problems I give to my students and purposefully choose numbers that will help them use a specific strategy.  I won't tell them to use the strategy or even teach it specifically.  I let the students "discover" the strategy on their own and then we name it and talk about it.  Here's one of my little girls on the Smart Board showing me how she used the counting up strategy to solve a word problem. She's showing that she made a group of 6 and a group of 3.  She explained that she said "6" and counted up on the 3 more to get her answer of 9. The counting up strategy was "discovered" very early in the year- it was Connor who first did it in our class this year.  For the longest time, kids would say, "I used Connor's counting up strategy" to get my answer.

 

 

The  problem types you can find here

And, if you look at the Common Core, you will find these problem types listed but called slightly different names. 

In my classroom, I use strips of word problems that I cut apart.  Then the students stick them into their math journals.  Here's my freebie for you. JRU Valentine Word Problems It includes 2 Join Result Unknown word problems. 

Another thing I love about CGI is that they encourage you to differentiate your numbers for different students.  If a student is at a higher (or lower) level that the majority of the class, you can give them different numbers.  So, the freebie includes the numbers I chose, but also blank one where you can write in the numbers you want the students to use.