Marie

Learning Activity - 2nd grade

Students will be presented with a very colorful, vibrant and interactive PowerPoint in which they are asked to name the number of objects in the picture presented. They will then be presented with a number story to go along with that picture and asked if they could find the equation in the number story. After we review examples of this in both addition and subtraction, the students will be presented with a picture and asked if they could come up with their own number story and equation for that picture. For example
 * Have each student write an equation such as 5+ 2= 7 on his or her paper. Since this is second grade I would only use small numbers.
 * Brainstorm with students ideas for stories that can go with their equations. If an equation is 5 + 2 = 7, for example, the story might be, "Marie had 5 crayons. She borrowed 2 more crayons from Teresa. She now has 7 crayons."
 * Review each story to ensure that students understand what they are supposed to do.
 * As each story is approved, have the student draw the story on his or her paper.
 * Review and approve each picture.
 * Invite each student to go to a computer and use the clip art in Power Point to represent the stories they have created.
 * Have the student click the Text tool and type the story ABOVE the drawing.
 * Save the students files and then insert the entire class’s number stories into one Power Point that would be shared with the entire class. Now the class can solve each others number stories.
 * For students who are more advanced I would present them with a challenging Web Quest in which they will each be assigned a mission to save a pet store from closing by creating a solving number stories.

//This is an interesting activity. Another way to challenge the students can be having them make multi-step problems, or using different method (ex, add, subtract, divide, multiply). This way they stay connected to the rest of the class and can offer a challenge to the classmates when solving them. -Amanda//

Sounds like a great idea. I think the students will enjoy getting to see and solve the stories their classmates came up with. -Erica