September 8^th, 2008

Today to keep their thinking going about big numbers and place value we did an activity where they (in pairs) had different number cards (made from construction paper) with the numbers 0-9 on them. I gave students a condition, such as to make the greatest or smallest number that is found between 1 billion and 5 billion. They then had to decide how to make the number, and from here, I got them to practice how to read the number. I then asked one of the students in each groups to say the number aloud, while to other students had to write the number on the board. Once all 5 numbers were successfully written, we then compared all the numbers and decided who made the greatest (smallest) number, where I introduced math language involving place value and other concepts. They LOVED this.

I noticed that two particular students had a little trouble with getting the smallest number between 5 and 6 billion - they did not, at first, recognize that by placing a zero in the 100 millions place, that it would created a smaller number than what they had. I asked them to look at the numbers they had left in their pile and see if this (pointing to the number in the 100, 000 place) was the smallest number they could have gotten, which put them back on track. Again, this is making me question to whole notion of questioning.

Here are some other anecdotal notes taken from that day: Adam* amazes me each day and even Marge* is starting to come out of her shell and offer suggestions and her own thinking. So much can be gained by this approach, such as assessing student’s reasoning skills and communication skills - two things I struggled with each day last year. I am thinking that I will continue to have them verbally communicate for another few weeks, getting them into the swing of things and then begin having them write?

· *Names changed