Cognitively Guided Instruction

CGI Training

Grade 1 Reflections

The problem I posed was:  Mrs. Deering's students had 100 balloons for red balloon day.  They put the balloons into bunches of 10.  How many bunches of 10 could they make?  Of 18 students attempting the problem, 9 answered it correctly.  All the students who answered it correctly used direct modeling in some way.  Five stduents drew 100 balloons (10 in each group).  One student used tally marks.  Four students drew 1 balloon to represent 1 group of ten and then counted by tens at the end.  My math class consists of mostly 1st graders and some 2nd graders.

December 17, 2009

Ann, Postville

I used base 10 blocks with my first graders. It did not take long for most of them to figure out how to show different numbers. I have enough blocks for each student to have their own set of 10 tens and 18 ones. Next I want to pose problems with 2 digit numbers to see if they can figure them out. Barb Smith, Turkey Valley

Use this page to post reflections/questions, responses to collegues questions and reflections, important learnings and other good information.

Is anyone else using base ten blocks with their students in first grade? --Kim Boos, Turkey Valley

My students are working through the problems much easier and with more confidence. --Kim Boos, Turkey Valley

I think CGI is a great way to assess kids! - Deb at Keystone

Deb-I have also found the data helpful that I have discovered while doing CGI-Angela Balk-Turkey Valley

My students are enjoying working through the problems together and sharing their responses. --Kim Boos, Turkey Valley

I was surprised at how my first graders could explain their work. --Barb Smith, Turkey Valley

Nice job Barb-keep up the good work!-Angela Balk-Turkey Valley

I have found that the more CGI type problems I do with my kids, the more they want them and the more confident they get with solving them. Many of my first graders still do direct modeling and think they have to use cubes/chips to answer problems. I'm not exactly sure how to get them to that next level of connecting the number sentences to the direct modeling? Will it just come to them, or should I take a students work and extend it by showing or asking how to put their information into a number sentence? -- Pam Havlicek, MFLMarMac

BASE TEN PROBLEM: Mrs.K has 6 packages of cookies. There are 10 cookies in each package. She also has 4 other cookies. How many cookies does she have?

Of the 18 students attempting the problem, 11 had it correct. 9 students used direct modeling, 5 used counting up strategies, and 4 used math facts. Of those that missed the problem, they counted only the numbers.

December 3, 2009     Base ten problem:  Matt has (36, 50) pennies.  He put 10 pennies into each box.  How many full boxes will he have?  All used direct modeling of some kind, either with just pictures or with manipulatives and illustrations.  I have 17 students.  7 seemed to get it right away.  Some tried to lay out all of the cubes or chips but didn't catch on to making groups or stacks of tens.  One student actually wrote 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 for the 50 pennies. A couple tried using tallies. Some got very frustrated and couldn't complete it.  We did not have time to share out yet.   A lot said 4 boxes and had to be reminded the question asked how many full boxes.  Linda Hughes Postville

12/17/09      I gave the same base ten problem as listed above.  All of the students that solved the problem used a kind of direct modeling.  Many of the students started by snapping 36 unifix cubes together.  A few had to count and recount to get 36. Most of them then put the cubes into bunches of ten.  When we shared out, one student showed that if you made a stack of ten, all of the other stacks would be the same size.  They realized this would be much faster than counting ten everytime. The class decided to leave the unifix cubes snapped together into bunches of ten so the next time, they could grab  sticks of ten.  I am anxious to see if the next time  we do a base ten problem, the students will be able to grab how many bunches of ten that they need and not make a long train.   Candis Postville