Clip 12/16: Adding and Subtracting Fractions Using a Line Plot Lesson Part 2D
Overview
Mallory’s 5th-grade students orient themselves to problem three of the task, as the students discuss and debate their ideas about how to solve the problem. They clarify their terms: “I think we’re adding.” “Adding what? All the amounts together?” “I think so, that’s what it says.” They also check and revise their thinking as needed: “Eight over one? That didn’t work.” “I think we messed up.” “That didn’t work. All right, now I’m stuck, I thought that would work, but it did not at all.” “Hey, it’s worth trying.” Mallory circulates among the groups but refrains from giving students the answers: “That’s a conversation that you guys can have together. I’m not going to say yes or no.”
Teacher Commentary
Teacher Commentary
The other thing that was really awesome that came out was if the total was changed, what fractional amounts could you add to the line plot? That was a struggle for them. There's all these open-ended questions. There's a lot of opportunities for several right answers, and they were looking for one. A lot of great questions that accumulated from that. So that was a depth-of-knowledge three question that just really blew their minds as well.