Thinking Blocks Junior!

Oct 23, 2014

Finally…..Model Drawings for the Little Guy! 


Are you looking for a new way to teach story problems?

When I work with children, I see the confusion on their face as they approach story problems.  They know to ‘underline the important information’ and ‘circle the numbers,’ but then they usually apply whatever “rule” we are learning that week (add the numbers, or subtract) but they often don’t  truly understand what they are doing or what is being asked.

After doing model drawings you will wish you  learned how to solve story problems this way because we would have actually UNDERSTOOD what we were doing. This helps give children a pictorial representation for their problem solving and helps them act out what the problem is asking. Using Cuisenaire Rods or Unifix cubes works great as a proportional manipulative, especially for comparison problems!

We all LOVE Thinking Blocks and NOW they have one for the little guys…Introducing…. “Thinking Block Junior” Check it Out!
Click here to see “Thinking Blocks Junior” for yourself!

The activities on the site provide BOTH guided instruction and independent practice and it also features a progress monitoring tool too! 
Guided Instruction – The Tutorials

  • Sections cover addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, and ratios
  • Videos show worked examples from each section
  • Progress tracking (limited to the current session a data saving option may be available at a later date)
  • Deselecting tracking activates practice mode which allows students to try various problems
  • Students may work on a specific skill or attempt randomized problems in each category.

Independent Practice – The Modeling Tool

  • Sections cover addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, ratios, decimals, percent, and algebra
  • Choose from hundreds of built in word problems or enter your own problems
  • Dynamically generated models enable students to check their work
  • Full screen option for use with interactive whiteboards. You have to take a look!

Thanks for checking out my blog!
Here is a FREEBIE of my Journal Template to use with your story problems and for journaling.
Happy Teaching!

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