Anchor Charts - Problem Solving

In Ellen's Grade 2/3 class they have been creating math anchor charts to help them when they get stuck. One of the charts that the class made was on what to do when they come to a problem. They laid out their problem solving process into four steps: Read, Think, Talk, Write. Each part was detailed on the main anchor chart and the students can refer to it at anytime.

To help her students remember where to look in the class for help, she puts the "Read, Think, Talk, Write" phrase at the end of the problem. (See the first picture for an example of this). As the students solve their problem, they are encouraged to write down their thinking onto their work. In the second picture, you can see how the students used circles around their work in order to keep their ideas separate. They listed things that they knew and didn't know, and then worked together to come up with an answer.

Getting your students to communicate their thinking is a road block that we face year after year. It is not something that comes easy. We need to allow students time to not only comprehend the problem, but also talk about their ideas and strategies (congress) and make corrections when their thinking changes. Problem solving is a skill that takes years to improve upon. This is why the curriculum insists that children start at Kindergarten and continue on for their entire educational career. It's not easy to teach, in fact at times you'll want to pull your hair out - but - you really help students not only make sense of the math they are working on, but see how it applies to the world around them.

Using A K-W-C Chart

In Michelle's Junior HSP class they've begun to tackle problem solving in a way that makes a math / literacy connection: A K-W-C chart.

A K-W-C chart uses three different headings to help students make sense of the information in the problem that they are working on. Each heading has a specific purpose:

K - stands for "What do I know from the question?" This could be specific items such as "There were 4 cats and 3 birds" or "Each scarf was 100 cm long."

W - stands for "What is the question asking?" Basically, you have the students restate the question in their own words. Sometimes this is really a short sentence, sometimes it is a bit longer.

C - stands for "Are there any special considerations or conditions?" This section can be a little tricky to fill out because sometimes the conditions are also things that we know. When doing the chart with your students, feel free to go back and forth between the K and the C when you first start. Eventually, you can move onto the discussion of is that a K or is it a C? A condition would be something that must be remembered in order to complete the problem. For example, a condition could be "there were 20 pairs of shoes in total" or "You can not create the same shape more than once."

In using this tool when problem solving, it helps students to comprehend the problem better, and then solve it better. The first few times you complete a K-W-C chart with your students may be difficult, but in time they will really adapt to it and find it a useful tool in problem solving.

This idea was taken from Arthur Hyde's book called "Comprehending Math: Adapting Reading Strategies to Teach Mathematics, K-6" it is filled with other good teaching strategies and problems to use in your classroom. He has a second book called "Understanding Middle School Math" which focus' on Grades 6 and above.