Student Work: Week 5

This is an example from my unit plan pre-assessment. The student that answered this question answered the question to the "fewest pieces rule" by looking at the number of pieces each has and answering the question based upon what he/she sees.

This question requires for the student to know what the "fewest pieces rule" is, as well as understanding that when you see more than 10 cubes and skinnies, you have to re-group or re-bundle. It is evident that this student simply looked at the number of flats, skinnies, and bits and counted each to find the fewest. This may be a misconception with understanding what the fewest pieces rule is and knowing how to re-group flats, skinnies, and bits.  There may also be a misconception about how many each manipulative is worth. If the student understood that a flat is worth one hundred, each skinny is worth ten, and each cube is worth one, he/she may have been able to add up and re-bundle. Although this student work makes sense, this is not what the question is asking.

In the future, I may ask: what happens when you have to re-bundle during an addition problem? ask this child to write out this problem in long hand first to understand how to re-bundle. For example, the student could write: 400+90+14. Then, the student may be able to understand and see the transition from 4914 to 504. I could also ask the student, how many tens can you have before you have to re-bundle? The next step I may take with this student is doing small, re-grouping addition problems. This will help start the discussion about re-bundling 10 and over.