Principal Problem of the Week

 Dear Barrows Families,

I hope you are enjoying this week with your families! I wanted to let you know about a fun way for our Barrows Students to stretch their thinking and show some of their perseverance and problem-solving skills. When students return to school after vacation they can participate in a weekly challenge called the Principal’s Problem of the Week. The problem type will vary each week— They could be math/science/literacy/history/arts/other based, problems could have one correct answer or multiple solutions, and I may have one school-wide problems, and other weeks that it is differentiated by levels. The commonality between all of the problems is that they will demand students use their problem solving skills, perseverance, risk-taking, research, creative thinking, and "proving" that their answer is correct. I hope this is a fun way for us all to try stretching our brains a bit! I will share the problems of the week on the blog, they will be posted in the school, and I may occasionally share them in the Starburst too! If your child decides to take on the Principal’s Problem of the Week challenge and you want to help them consider how to support the learning and problem-solving strategies of your child;

• Ask you child what information they can learn from the question 
• Ask your child where they think they could go to get more information
• If your child thinks they have it right tell them to prove it to you or give them a non-answer and make them prove you wrong
• If your child gets stuck, ask them what information they would need that would make it easier to solve…then see if they can identify where to get that information!

Get a sneak peek of our first Principal Problem of the Week below! I hope these fun problems will help encourage our students to ‘stick-to-it’ and do their best in an unknown situation! I look forward to seeing the creative thinking of our Barrows Shining Stars!

~Heather Leonard, Principal

 

 

 

Student Name: 

Grade:

Teacher’s Name:

Principal’s Problem of the Week

1. Draw a picture of a puddle

2. Clearly show or write how you would measure it

3. What tools will you use for measuring?