Teaching Math Through Problem Solving

My teaching partner and I have been talking about the first day of school.  This year, we're both going to be teaching Math through Problem Solving using the 3-part lesson.  So we've decided we are going to jump right in on the first day of school; what better way to establish our classroom climate?

We've chosen an open-ended problem so that we can see what our students know about Number Sense and Numeration.  But we will also be assessing what they know about working in groups and Problem Solving. 

We will begin building our :

• "Strategies" chart
• "How to Work in Groups" chart
• "Problem Solving Framework" chart 

Those bulletin boards won't be bare for very long!

Here is a link to great problem solving activities for grades 5-8 from the University of Waterloo:

http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/resources/potw.php

Here is a link to an excellent monograph on using the 3-part lesson in Math:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_Communication_Mathematics.pdf

Make sure to check back in next week, I'll post samples of my students' work, our anchor charts, and let you know what I've learned about my students!