Counting Grains of Sand and Painted Faces on Cubes

Over the last few classes you have engaged in individual and collective mathematical thinking as you worked with cubes and grains of sand. 

The following are some of the topics that came up:

• open-ended math problems and what that means
  
• math problems that make you think more than 2 seconds
  
• math problems that allow for multiple entry points - for the diversity of learners
  
• math tasks that don't tell you exactly what to do and how to do it, step by step
  
• math making sense
  
• students using mathematics to determine if an answer is correct
  
• problem solving
  
• working collaboratively rather than hoarding information
  

On Tuesday, Feb 10 we will continue this work. I mentioned how critical chapters 4, 5, and 6 are to your future growth as a primary/elementary teacher of mathematics. Please be ready to discuss chapters 3 and 4 as we look at what it means to think mathematically and teach for understanding.