Growth Over Time Samples: Math

With the subtraction test, Kelly was able to cross out to solve for 6-1 and she was able to

solve for 7 + ___ = 13, 13 – 7 = _____ with her number line. She was also able to successfully

make 4 + 2 = 6 into a subtraction sentence by making it 6 – 4 = 2. She was able to solve for 4 out

of the 6 number line problems and she was able to solve 3 – 3 = 0 mentally, so she did not use

her number line. She was also able to solve 15 – ____ = 9 and 9 + ____ = 15. Then the problem

where the shapes represented different values of counting back is where she started to have some

trouble. She was unable to match the correct shape to the correct number sentence problem. She

was also unable to draw and an accurate model to solve for the word problem. She was able to

complete 2 of the four using the addition problem to solve the subtraction problem. Later she

was able to correct with my cooperating teacher. (Due to the fact I am only in the classroom for

the hour I teach math, corrections were done with my cooperating teacher). She again, also

struggled to draw and solve her the problem 14 – 5 = _____. She was able to convey to me

during the test what she wanted to write to explain her and I helped her with the spelling of her

answer. She may have struggled with the drawing because there was not a ten-frame set up to

help with the organization of her drawing. During the practice we did in class, there was usually

a ten-frame model to work with.

 With the subtraction test, Lucy did very well on it. She only missed one for using the

number line when she did not have to. With the problem 2 – 0 = ______, she still hopped

backward 2 on her number line but for the number sentence she was able to recognize that the

answer was 2. She might have thought she had to use her number line to solve but in order to

represent this problem she only needed to circle the number 2 on the number line. Besides that,

was able to successfully use the cross-out method to solve different subtraction problems, use her

addition problems to solve her subtraction problems and she was able to match the shapes that

represented counting back a certain amount with their corresponding number sentences.
 With the subtraction test, Bryce did very well. He was able to show understanding with

the counting back one, using the addition problem to solve the subtraction problem, using the

number lone to subtract and interpreting the shapes representing a certain number to count back

and matching them with their correct number sentence. The problem that he lost a couple of

points on was the last one. A draw and figure out the subtraction problem from the word

problem. Bryce was able to draw an accurate model of the problem and crossed out the accurate

number to get five but was off by one when creating a number sentence and writing down his

answer. That could have been a result of a miscount when setting up the number sentence.

Overall, Bryce was able to demonstrate a full understanding of subtraction strategies through this

test.