Beginning Readers CAN Work Independently

Again, today, the first grade crew worked independently on combining story problems, while the second graders worked with me on missing addend combining stories. 

The first graders have done pretty well working independently.  They have been focused and diligent in their work and for the most part, successful in solving the problems they've been given.  This is a big improvement over years past, and I credit that to the fact that the worksheets they're working on are ones they can actually read.  In the past, I've given them worksheets from the Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley math curriculum.  These are perfectly fine worksheets to do together with students, but are difficult for students to do independently because beginning of the year first-graders often can't read the stories.  They are also often confused or distracted by the decorative edgings and little characters featured on the pages.  Last year I tried using problems from the Read It! Draw It! Solve It! series which are geared specifically for beginning readers and I had a much better expereience with student independence.  Since the kids clearly did better work when they knew exactly what the stories said, I wrote up my own set of worksheets with very simple stories and text using a very simple format.  If I could figure out how to attach these documents here, I would, but I don't know a way to do that.  If you'd like to have copies, email me at doingdifferentiatedmath@gmail.com and I will send them to you.