Predict: I predict that this might have to do with problem solving because when I looked at it, the problem was lengthy.

Read: When Tony has his birthday tomorrow, his age in months will be the same as his grandfather’s age in years. How old will Tony be if their combined ages will be 78?

Clarify: I have nothing to clarify about the problem.

Strategies/Mathematicians Toolbox: ‘Try all possibilities’, ‘Try a simpler problem’.  If you would like to look at the list of them here is the link:

http://amelia2012.global2.vic.edu.au/maths-tool-box/

What’s the BIG question? What age will Tony turn tomorrow?

Working out: I know that there is 12 months in a year and his grandpa’s age is in Tony’s months. Firstly I knew that I will have to try some numbers and times them by 12 then takeaway the number I times by 12  then add onto 78. Whatever the answer to that is should equal the amount of months Tony has lived for as this is the grandpa’s age. I firstly tried 12. I times that by 12 which equals 144 but the grandpa is not 144 because Tony’s and his grandpa’s combined ages are 78. Next I tried 5. So I did 5×12 which equals 60 so if this was the right answer the grandpa would be 60 and Tony would be 5 so I would add that together which is 65 but there combined ages are 78 but I was close. I tried 6. 6×12=72 so grandpa would be 72 and Tony would be 6 so 72+6 is 78 which is the combined total of their which that was it so that is the correct answer!

Summary: This question I found hard because it took me a lot of guess’s to work out. I finally got there and Tony’s that he will be turning tomorrow is 6.

Predict: I predict that this problem will be about weight and quantities of things.

Read: Which deal costs less per gram?

A] $5 for 500 grams

B] $3 for 250 grams

Clarify: I have nothing to clarify.

Strategies/Mathematicians Toolbox: ‘Prior knowledge’, ‘Work it out backwards’, ‘Try a simpler problem’. If you would like to look at the list of them here is the link:

http://amelia2012.global2.vic.edu.au/maths-tool-box/

What’s the BIG question? Which costs less: A or B.

Working out: Firstly I went well if it costs $5 for 500 grams then for every $1 you get 100 grams. With B I knew that A was cheaper because for every dollar in B you get less than 100 grams for $1  but in A you get 100 grams for $1.

Summary: The answer I got was A. I used strategies to help me work it out and with the prediction I did have to use some things to do with weight and quantities but also comparing numbers and weights together.

Predict: I think that this problem will be some sort of number problem and may involve division or division skills.

Read: Fill in the missing number 36 divided by ? equals 4.

Clarify: I have nothing to clarify.

What’s the BIG question? What is the missing number in the equation?

Strategies/Mathematicians Toolbox: ‘Write an equation’ and ‘Prior Knowledge’. If you would like to see some for strategies click on the link: http://amelia2012.global2.vic.edu.au/maths-tool-box/

Working out: The way I  worked this out was that I knew from my prior knowledge that 9×4=36 and if I changed it around to 36 divided by 9 it would equal 4!

Summary: The answer is 9 which fits into the equation perfectly. My prediction was correct and I used the strategies I said but not that much of the ‘write an equation’.