?  Question for the Answer  ?

•  Phoenix, Arizona  •

•  2/3  •

What IS question for the answer?  It’s a different way for them to think about things.  Instead of giving them a question to answer, I give them the ANSWER and they come up with the QUESTION!  This takes a fair amount of skill and practice.  We actively talk about the writing process and how complex it is.  Writing takes a lot of effort and practice.  These questions are no exception.  This week, we dissected the questions they had done and edited them, talking about what was missing (a lot of question marks) and how their question must lead the reader to the correct answer.  A lot of the time, I ask them to use a specific resource to write their question.  This week, the answer was Phoenix, Arizona.  They were asked to use their Southwest packet we are using in social studies to come up with the question.  I introduced a math version of Question for the Answer too, and it has been interesting working through the process of how best to write a math question.  This week, the answer was 2/3.  They write these questions in their Writer’s Notebooks (WN) and after break, we will go back to edit their previous questions in order to practice our editing skills.

Here are a few samples of what they came up with:

What is the 6^th largest city in the USA and is in the southwest region? 

What is the (12/2)th biggest city in the U.S. and is the capital of the farthest western state in the southwest region?

What is America’s hottest large city and its temperature can go up to 115˚F and is now the 6^th largest city in the US?

What is the sixth largest city in the United States and is in the southwest region and has part of the Grand Canyon in the state?

I bought 3 cookies and I ate 2 of them.  How many did I eat?

What fraction, in lowest terms, is equivalent to 4/6, 8/12, 16/24, and 32/48?