Week 6: Student Work

         This week in mathematics, my third grade class is working on the foundations of multiplication We have been listing items that come in certain numbers. For example, there are three corners in a triangle, 10 fingers on a person, eight legs on an octopus, etc. From these, the students were asked to make their own multiplication word problem. This was the first week the my third grade students were introduced to multiplication. I wrote open-ended word problems for my students and they solved them with a partner. At the end of the day, my mentor teacher and I asked our students to write their own multiplication word problem. After checking their work, we found that many students wrote an addition problem. 

          I believe many students wrote the multiplication problem as an addition problem because they know how to solve the problems but they do not know how to write them. As an extension, I may ask my students to examine addition and multiplication problems. Although multiplication is similar to addition, it is important our students know the difference between each problem. I may ask my students: What is the difference between addition and multiplication problems? What are the key words that help you know what the problem is asking? In what ways are addition and multiplication similar? How are they different? These questions are key in helping my students understand how to understand and write multiplication problems.