Problem-solving notebooks are used to help students reflect on how they received the correct answer. Students share problem-solving strategies with the class and learn there is more than one way to find correct answers. Ask students to use the following instructions in the problem-solving notebooks, as suggested by ABC Teach Online (abcteach.com): 1) Read the problem carefully. 2) Cross out unnecessary information. 3) Always show your work. 4) Don't erase mistakes; cross them out instead. 5) Draw pictures that illustrate the problem. 6) Reread the problem. Check the answer. 7) Write out in your own words your strategy for finding the answer.
Word walls are used to organize items students are learning. Students can place, say, specific dinosaur species classifications in one area and other classifications in another area, beneath the appropriate headings, by writing the item names on index cards and placing sticky tack to the back of the cards. This method allows students and teachers to easily move the cards from one position on the wall to the other. Word walls can be used to alphabetize, categorize and simplify, depending on the problem that is being solved. Word walls are used as classroom group activities. Words left on the word wall then become words that students must learn the definition of and become words of the week and part of other problem-solving activities.
Write each word definition on an index card. Write each word (these can come from the word wall) on an index card. Students can place definition cards with the corresponding word cards. Classes separated by teams can compete. The team with all of the cards matched up first, wins. Numerical sorts, scientific sorts, historical sorts and artistic sorts can also be done. For example, place a year on one card and the event the class has been studying on another card. You can also place numerical answers on a separate card than the equation. Any word sort will offer problem-solving practice.
WereBox Game can be played at Learn 4 Good Online (learn4good.com). This brain teaser challenges students to remove red objects from the screen and remove the other objects by transforming boxes into balls by causing them to travel along inclined planes. This game requires logic to solve problems in 20 physics-based puzzle levels. Fact Monster Online (factmonster.com) offers Cowboy Math. Cowboy Math, True Grid: Equations of Lines is a gum-slinging challenging game in which players can learn how to identify ordered pairs on a grid. Apples 4 the Teacher Online (apples4theteacher.com) features a simple Practice Counting Money Game. Choose the skill level and then drag and drop coins onto the table that your helping character asks for.