Notice and Wonder

This week I'm going to link-up for "Book Talk Tuesday" with Mrs. Jump's Class and a new one - "Tried it Tuesday" with Fourth Grade Flipper.

I love teaching math!  I've mentioned this before, but I really do!  It's hands on, full of problem solving, and there are so many great pieces of literature that connect to math lessons!     Last year we had some professional development on using the "Notice and Wonder" strategy with our students.  I was immediately hooked and wanted to try run back to my classroom and use this with my students!   If you haven't heard of this strategy before it is a great way of getting your students to problem solve in math and have all students participate in the discussion.  Basically you do the following: 1. Pose the problem to your students. 2. Ask them to share what they notice. 3. Ask them to share what they wonder. 4. Have students solve the problem.  5. Share!    The biggest difference is that you are not really asking them a question in the problem.  I'll show you one that I plan to use with my students so you understand a little better...

If you notice, I don't actually ask them a question.  However, students can still solve this problem based on the information they are given.  The best part...there are SO MANY DIFFERENT ANSWERS!!  This alone is a great discussion point for your students when they are sharing and you discuss why two friends came up with different answers, but are both correct!     For this problem I would write the problem on chart paper for students to see and then have them share what they notice and record what they say.  Then I have them share what they wonder and record what they say.  The best part about using the word notice and wonder is that students are able to naturally notice and wonder about things.      The picture that I have shared above has two copies of the same problem.  A great way to differentiate is give some students the copy where they write what they notice and wonder and give some students the copy with just the jar.  My plan is to have students use candy corn candy and candy pumpkins as manipulatives to solve this problem, but you could also have students use orange and yellow unifix cubes.      If you have 5 minutes, this is a great video to watch for "Notice and Wonder."  

 

And since I'm also linking up for "Book Talk Tuesday...here is a book I like to use in math during October!  

 This is a cute counting book with pumpkins.  The numbers double throughout the book so it's great for teaching doubling numbers and counting.  The kids love it!

Hope I've been able to teach you something new!!