Singapore Math
Model Drawing
By: Melody Banks
Photographer: Jimmy Cardosi
For more information
Jane had 264 erasers. She had 7/8 as many
sharpeners as erasers. She had 7 times as
many markers as sharpeners. How many
markers did Jane have?
7 Steps to Success
P
hoto Credits: http://tinyurl.com/mkovrzq
Instead they will.....
1. Read the problem
2. Rewrite the question as a statement while leaving a blank
for the answer
3. Determine the variables (who & what)
4. Draw a unit bar
5. Chunk the unit bar & place a question mark to indicate what
to solve for
6. Computation 7. Fill the answer in the blank
Model drawing gives students a concrete, reliable set of seven
steps that they can use to solve most word problems.
For example: adding, subtracting, LCM, GCF,
algebra, geometry
Kids will not have to memorize different strategies and
techniques and know when to use each one anymore.
We are going to solve an addition problem
together by using the seven steps.
Golden Rules of Addition:
Draw unit bars on the smaller side, so you can add to them.
You can use pattern blocks, cubes, etc. for younger students
to represent units.
Let's have
sum fun with addition problems.
Tim had 4 more cookies
than Jason. If Jason had
12 cookies, how many did
they have altogether?
1. Read Problem
2. Rewrite the question in sentence form and leave a blank for the
answer.
3. Determine the who or what
4. Draw the unit bars
5. Chunk the problem, adjust the unit bars, and fill in the question
mark.
6. Compute the problem.
7. Write the answer in the sentence and make sure it makes
sense.
Let's
Play.....
Let's
Make a Deal
Amanda has 6 more cookies
than Glenda.
If Glenda had 13, how many
did they have together?
Subtraction model drawing:
GOLDEN RULE
*Most subtraction problems require you to draw a longer unit
bar to begin with.
*It's really helpful to identify the segment of the unit you are
subtracting and draw a diagonal slash (sometimes called a
vertical slash even though it's not exactly vertical) through
the value.
Kim and Molly started out with an equal
amount of coins for the game room. Kim lost
12 coins, and Molly got another 23 coins from
her mom. How many more coins did Molly
have in the end?
1. Read the problem.
2. Rewrite the question in sentence form, leaving a space for
the answer.
3. Determine who and/or what is involved in the problem.
4. Draw the unit bar(s).
5. Chunk the problem, adjust the unit bars, and fill in the
question mark.
6. Correctly compute and solve the problem.
7. Write the answer in the sentence.
et's Play......
L
Le
t's Make a Deal
Carol and Jean started out with equal amounts songs on their
ipod. Carol lost 15 songs, and Jean downloaded another 45
songs. How many more songs did Jean have in the end?
Golden Rules of Multiplication
When a problem says, "There were 3 times as many," this is
where students will make a mistake. Students need to focus on
adding one unit to the unit bar at a time. This is called the
counting method.
When you have 3 times as many you would just add two more
units for that amount.
Students may try to add 3 times as many to the base unit.
Tina had 3 times as much money as Amber. Jason had 2
times as much money as Amber. If Jason had $98.00, how
much money did Tina have?
1. Read the problem.
2. Rewrite the question in sentence form, leaving a space for
the answer.
3. Determine who and/or what is involved in the problem.
4. Draw the unit bar(s).
5. Chunk the problem, adjust the unit bars, and fill in the
question mark.
6. Correctly compute and solve the problem.
7. Write the answer in the sentence.
et's Play......
L
Le
t's Make a Deal
Tim had 8 times as many face book friends as Henry. Henry
had 6 times as many face book friends as Sherry. If Sherry
had 98 face book friends, how many did Tim have?
et's Play......
L
Le
t's Make a Deal
Jane had 264 erasers. She had 7/8 as many
sharpeners as erasers. She had 7 times as
many markers as sharpeners. How many
markers did Jane have?
Singapore does something dramatically different when it comes
to wordproblems. It relies on model drawing, which uses units
to visually represent a word problem.
Students learn to visually represent what a wordproblem is
saying so they can understand the meaning and thus how to
solve a problem.
Singapore Math Progresses From.....
1. Concrete - Manipulatives
2. Solving Word Problems - Model Drawing
3. Abstract - Where Numbers Represent Symbolic Values
I hope you have some new tricks to put in your teacher bag!