Challenge 3

At the beginning of first grade, several students in the class were interviewed about their understandings of number concepts and addition and subtraction of numbers up to 20 prior to the teaching of these concepts. What are your impressions of each student? What do they understand about number concepts and addition and subtraction of numbers up to 20?

Derek: Derek seemed to understand pretty well the concept of addition and subtraction. I was surprised at how well he could add and subtract the harder numbers. He counted on his fingers and used an interesting strategy that it seemed he came up with himself and I was very impressed with that, such as when he subtracted down from 11 to 7 and got 4.

Elizabeth: Elizabeth could add and subtract the really easy numbers such as 3 plus 3 and 5 minus 2. But the numbers that got a little more difficult, she would mix up a bit. The strategy she used was all counting in her head. She didn't use her hands at all, she just tried doing all the math in her head.

Jim: Jim could solve the really easy addition and subtraction. He didn't necessarily have a strategy it seemed. He just kept saying that he thought about it in his head. Some of his thought processes when he would give his answers wouldn't make sense at all, if the answer wasn't close, so I could tell that he definitely didn't grasp addition/subtraction in the higher numbers. But he did understand the number concepts between about numbers 1-6.

Lauren: Lauren definitely understood number concepts. She was very quick to answer addition and subtraction problems, a lot quicker than the others, even the bigger problems. The easier problems she did in her head and the harder ones, she counted out loud or on her hands. I was very impressed with how good she was at math.