The goals of problem-solving activities in the elementary grades often include making sense of story problems, developing a range of strategies, and reaching accurate solutions. These are important mathematical aims, but they do not fully address the demands of modeling with mathematics as described in the fourth of the Common Core's eight…

Early elementary school students are expected to solve twelve distinct types of word problems. A math researcher and two teachers pose a structure for thinking about one problem type that has not been studied as closely as the other eleven. In this article, the authors share some of their discoveries with regard to the variety of…

Presents a scenario using an animal word problem and illustrates how kindergarten classrooms can become rich environments to develop students' mathematical power. Presents student solutions. (MKR)

The authors describe a hands-on program that they developed after their attendance at the NCTM Algebra Academy. The article explains how to use literature to capture youngsters' attention and engage them in interactive mathematical activities.

Describes a program to encourage students in grades one through three to draw illustrations for word problems and then use the pictures to help solve the problems. (MKR)

Presents activities that allow primary grade students to develop specific thinking strategies for basic facts such as counting on, using doubles, and making 10 in problem-solving settings. Discusses other topics such as probability, spatial sense, and money. Offers rich opportunities for reasoning and communication. (ASK)

Discusses and illustrates the difference between traditional and creative problem solving. (MKR)

Discusses Project MATH: Good Beginnings, a staff development project for teachers in grades K-3. The staff of the program models teaching strategies used in a problem-driven curriculum that encourages student engagement. (MKR)

Presents sample newspaper activities to help students find applications of classroom-taught skills and to give students practice in reading, thinking, discussing, and writing about mathematics. (MKR)

Describes a project implemented in a second-grade class that is based on a child-centered, problem-solving approach to connecting literature and writing with mathematics. Emphasizes data exploration by having students collect, record, interpret, and analyze data on eggs. Contains 11 references. (ASK)

Presents ideas and activities designed to integrate poetry into the third-grade mathematics curriculum. Topics discussed include estimating, formulating and solving, comparing, and extending. Lists 11 poems that can be used. (10 references) (MKR)

Presents educational games to promote mathematical reasoning and problem solving in the primary grades. Children take charge of their learning and create exciting challenges for one another. (ASK)

Explains how critical thinking, communication, and estimation can be incorporated into an exciting problem-solving unit for first-grade students. Presents four related activities. (ASK)

Describes a series of learning activities built around number cubes. Sample activities introduce elementary properties of the cube, the magic rule of seven, and basic concepts related to graphs in the plane coordinate system. (PVD)

Presents criteria for designing craft activities that foster meaningful use of mathematical thinking and problem solving. (MKR)