Picture Problems

This is our second go 'round with picture problems. It is amazing to me that kindergarten students are learning word problems, I don't think that I was introduced to this kind of math work until well into elementary school (which is probably why I struggled with this bit of math!)

Children were asked to sketch how they solved the problem then they were invited to share their thinking and explain how they reached the answer.

The skills involved in doing picture problems include:

* interpreting visual information

* counting quantities to 10

* reading and writing numerals to 10

* exploring basic operations

* learning to represent thinking with pictures and/or numbers

* sharing strategies and solutions with peers

Picture Problem 1

Sketch #1

Sketch #2

Picture Problem 2

One sketch

Picture problem 3

Ethan knows his 'math fact's, and "just knew" that the combination of 3 and 3 makes 6,  or if there are 6 altogether and 3 are shown, then you need 3 more to make six! Wowza!

It is SO interesting to observe how different children think about math, and how they take different avenues to solve these problems!