Thinking Thursday: Make a Million

Writing to Learn Math: Number play doesn’t have to follow school math methods.

Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?

Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Notice: Look carefully at the details of the numbers, shapes, or patterns you see. What are their attributes? How do they relate to each other? Also notice the details of your own mathematical thinking. How do you respond to a tough problem? Which responses are most helpful? Where did you get confused, or what makes you feel discouraged?

Wonder: Ask the journalist’s questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how? Who might need to know about this topic? Where might we see it in the real world? When would things happen this way? What other way might they happen? Why? What if we changed the situation? How might we change it? What would happen then? How might we figure it out?

Create: Create a description, summary, or explanation of what you learned. Make your own related math puzzle, problem, art, poetry, story, game, etc. Or create something totally unrelated, whatever idea may have sparked in your mind.

Math journaling may seem to focus on this third tool, creation. But even with artistic design prompts, we need the first two tools because they lay a solid groundwork to support the child’s imagination.

How To Use a Number Play Prompt

Number play doesn’t have to follow school math methods. Remember the Math Rebel rule: A student may write anything that is true or that makes sense.

Most number play prompts offer nearly infinite variation. Change the numbers in the description, and wherever there is a blank you may put in any number you like. Each time you revisit the puzzle, it’s new again.

Older students may experiment with fractions, decimals, or exponential notation. Or try numbers in another base — do the patterns they found hold up when they change the way they count? Can they express these patterns with algebra?

Journaling Prompt 59: Make a Million

Draw six boxes in a row, each big enough to write a digit from 0 to 9. Below that, draw six more boxes:

[_] [_] [_], [_] [_] [_]
[_] [_] [_], [_] [_] [_]

Draw cards or roll dice to get random numbers. Write each number into one of the boxes. (For 10s and face cards, write a zero.) Once a number is written, you can’t move it. When all the boxes are full, add your two six-digit numbers.

How close did you get to making one million? Compete with a friend to see who can get closest.