Yesterday, I wrote a quick post as I was trying to decide which of two number talks I should do with a 1st grade class. I got some great feedback and went with the first one in the post! It was amazing and completely evident that the teacher, Ms. Williams, does a great job asking students to share their thinking regularly. The students were so clear in explaining their reasoning and asking questions of one another.

The first problem drew out exactly what I was hoping and more. One student shared counting on and a few students shared how they decomposed the 4 and added 2 and then 2 more. I was not expecting the use of a double, but two students used 8+8 in their reasoning. The use of their “double fact” reminded me of the solving equations conversations I have with Michael Pershan but in a much more sense-making way than I personally think about it. The students said they “knew 4 and 4 made 8 so they took 4 away and that changed the answer.” I tried to get out of them that they subtracted the 4 from the 16 as well, but it just made sense to them the 16 changed to 12 because he subtracted 4 from the 8. I am so glad I videoed this talk because I want to talk more about it after I re-watch it!

The second problem was as tricky, as I anticipated, and split the class between the answers 1 and 9. The students seemed very used to having the difference on the lefthand side of the equal sign which is great, but some still wanted to add 1 to the 4 instead of subtract the 4 from the missing number. I moved on to the final question because we were at a bit of a standstill at this point. Hindsight, I wish I did that problem last, but I had them journal about it after the talk.

The final problem, which I wish was my first problem – what was I thinking in this order? – was great! They decomposed the 5, made 10 and talked their way through the two incorrect responses.

I asked them to journal about the second problem when we finished. The prompt was to explain which answer, 9 or 1, they thought it was and why. Here are few examples:

I think I would love to post the following string (all at once) on the board to start tomorrow’s lesson:

? – 4 = 5

5 = ? – 4

? + 4 = 5

5 = ? + 4

Ask what the question mark is in each one and which equations seem most similar.

Such a great day in 1st grade!