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Back to Math Language Routines

Math Language Routine 5

Co-Craft Questions & Problems

Purpose: To allow students to get inside of a context before feeling pressure to produce answers, to create space for students to produce the language of mathematical questions themselves, and to provide opportunities for students to analyze how different mathematical forms can represent different situations. (Zwiers et al., 2017, p.14)

Find the match and create the missing entry.

Four the Win

Give students a 2×2 game board containing two matching elements, one unmatched element and a blank space. Students identify the matching pair and then create a new math for the unmatched element.

Animated Explainer Video

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A preview of the "Four the Win" Elementary Implementation Guide.

Implementation Guides

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Download for Elementary
Download for Secondary

Exemplar Video

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A preview of the "Four the Win" MLR facilitation guide.

Facilitation Guide

Go deeper with key questions, tips and guidance for effective implementation.

Download the Facilitation Guide

Problems don’t always have to be straight forward.

Reversal

Ask students to reverse a problem by creating a new problem with that solution. Their new problem should focus on the same mathematics as the original and include a context or story problem.

Animated Explainer Video

Get the gist fast. Watch a quick overview of what the instructional resource is and why it matters.

View Transcript
A preview of the "Reversal" Elementary Implementation Guide.

Implementation Guides

Download a one-page guide tailored to your grade brand with practical classroom applications.

Download for Elementary
Download for Secondary

Exemplar Video

See it in action. Watch real teachers using the instructional resources with students.

View Transcript
A preview of the "Reversal" MLR facilitation guide.

Facilitation Guide

Go deeper with key questions, tips and guidance for effective implementation.

Download the Facilitation Guide

Find the match and create the missing entry.

Four the Win

Give students a 2×2 game board containing two matching elements, one unmatched element and a blank space. Students identify the matching pair and then create a new math for the unmatched element.

Animated Explainer Video

Get the gist fast. Watch a quick overview of what the instructional resource is and why it matters.

View Transcript
A preview of the "Four the Win" Elementary Implementation Guide.

Implementation Guides

Download a one-page guide tailored to your grade brand with practical classroom applications.

Download for Elementary
Download for Secondary

Exemplar Video

See it in action. Watch real teachers using the instructional resources with students.

View Transcript
A preview of the "Four the Win" MLR facilitation guide.

Facilitation Guide

Go deeper with key questions, tips and guidance for effective implementation.

Download the Facilitation Guide

Problems don’t always have to be straight forward.

Reversal

Ask students to reverse a problem by creating a new problem with that solution. Their new problem should focus on the same mathematics as the original and include a context or story problem.

Animated Explainer Video

Get the gist fast. Watch a quick overview of what the instructional resource is and why it matters.

View Transcript
A preview of the "Reversal" Elementary Implementation Guide.

Implementation Guides

Download a one-page guide tailored to your grade brand with practical classroom applications.

Download for Elementary
Download for Secondary

Exemplar Video

See it in action. Watch real teachers using the instructional resources with students.

View Transcript
A preview of the "Reversal" MLR facilitation guide.

Facilitation Guide

Go deeper with key questions, tips and guidance for effective implementation.

Download the Facilitation Guide

Zwiers, J., Dieckmann, J., Rutherford-Quach, S., Daro, V., Skarin, R., Weiss, S., & Malamut, J. (2017). Principles for the design of mathematics curricula: Promoting language and content development. https://ul.stanford.edu/resource/principles-design-mathematics-curricula-and-mlrs

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