In class, we have been working on solving word problems that relate to measurement. Students had a chance to work with their math partner to try and solve the following question:
Cory reads for 30 minutes each night before bed. After 2 weeks, had read for more than 6 hours? Yes or No. Justify your answer.
Before attempting this problem, we went over a few things that might help students answer this question. We looked at how many seconds in a minute, how many minutes and in an hour, how many days in a year etc.
In class, we also talked about how it is important to read the question over a few times and think about what the question is really asking us. One strategy that I told students to do is to write down what they know from the question before starting to try and answer it. Once students had completed the math part of the question, I encouraged them to write a few sentences to explain how they solved the question in order to justify their answer.
Here are some of the answers that students came up with. Click on the image to make it larger:
After students completed the question, we posted all of the sheets on the board and talked about the different ways that you could solve this word problem. Some students used repeated addition, some students used multiplication and division, other students used pictures or a chart to organize their ideas and solve the problem.
There will be a similar word problem on the Measurement Quiz tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Ms. Argue 🙂
