Math Thinking & Questioning

Whether you are helping your child with math homework, playing a board game, or driving down the highway on your next vacation destination questioning your child about their thinking will help them arrive at a solution and advance their problem solving skills. Here are some tried and true questioning techniques that will allow your child to do the thinking.

What do you understand in this problem? (What do you know?)
What are you trying to find out?
Have him tell what he did and why he did it. Did that help you find the solution?
What else could you try?
How can you prove that you are correct?
Can you create a new problem that is like this one?"

You needn't limit yourself to math when using these techniques. Ask your child to justify their thinking in any situation. For example; after having put jello up their nose don't ask why rather ask him/her to justify their thinking. You will be surprised by the responses you hear!

World Wide Research

Many thanks to all the fabulous parents who helped create such delicious and interesting foods from around the world. Each and every child delighted in telling the class all about their dish. I have never seen such brave taste testers.
The children worked very diligently on their individual books, gathering information about their chosen country, and writing the facts without simply copying from the website. Map making quickly became their favorite activity. We learned how to use an overhead projector as well as a bright sunny window to help trace the boundaries of a continent or country.
As the project drew to a close and we began organizing the pages it became apparent to them that a table of contents was in order. Quickly followed by the need for an "about the author" page, which was written in 3rd person because several children noticed that published books sounded as if someone else wrote about the author! Very perceptive, don't you agree!!