"Picture books about math are the perfect cross-curricular tool to introduce your kids to complicated concepts and mathematical thinking."

We Are Teachers

Marilyn Burns

NCTM

"Writing in mathematics can ..help students consolidate their thinking because it requires them to reflect on their work and clarify their thoughts about the ideas developed in the lesson.”

17 Prompts - How We Teach

#1. What do you know to be true about this situation? How do you know?

#2. Explain something that could not be true about this situation. How do you know?

#3. What is ___________? (insert math topic)

#4. Tell me everything you know about ___________. (insert math topic)

#5. Explain (in words) how you would solve the problem.

#6. Explain two different ways to solve the problem.

#7. What would be an efficient way to solve this problem? What makes it efficient?

#8. What would be an inefficient, but mathematically correct, way to solve this problem? What makes it inefficient?

#9. What mathematics did Aleia do well?

#10. What mistakes, if any, did Aleia make?

#11. How could this solution be improved?

#12. Write a word problem that could be solved using the mathematics we are learning about.

#13. Change one of the values in the problem. Explain how this would change the situation and the solution.

#14. How are these situations (or graphs or solutions, etc.) similar?

#15. How are these situations (or graphs or solutions, etc.) different?

#16. What mathematics did you learn today?

#17. How does today’s learning connect to something we have already learned?