Demo · Grade 1 word problems

See a SmartyPants Math lesson

Two short recordings of a real Grade 1 word-problem lesson. The child’s taps are scripted; everything else is the app as it runs: Barnaby’s words, the checks and the clues. The text under each video describes what is on screen.

Three modes, and every step checked (3:32)

One Grade 1 lesson from Learn to Together to Solo, showing the six kinds of checking.

What’s on screen

  1. 0:00Title: “SmartyPants Math. Three modes. Every step checked.”
  2. 0:08Mode 1, Learn: Barnaby solves one problem and shows his thinking. The story card, Barnaby’s explanation, and the bar model (the story drawn as parts and a total) are pointed out.
  3. 0:35Mode 2, Together: the child solves and Barnaby checks every step. A panel lists six kinds of checking, lit one by one.
  4. 0:48Check 1, every number as it’s typed: the child starts with 3. Barnaby: “3 and 2 make the same total! But the story starts with the balloons Pia had, so we start with 2.”
  5. 1:06Check 2, the answer: three wrong tries climb the clue ladder. First where to look (the question mark glows), then “Start at 3 and count on 2 more”, then “2 and 3 together make 5” with its reason.
  6. 1:44Check 3, the bar model: the child builds the bar and swaps the numbers. Both misplaced blocks are marked before any arithmetic. Barnaby: “Let’s read the story again. Which number do we start with?”
  7. 2:04Check 4, the operation: the child picks “take away”. Barnaby: “Look at the bar. Do the start and the added part go together to make the total?”
  8. 2:27Check 5, common mistakes named: the child types 1. Barnaby: “If we take away, we get 1. But here the groups go together, so we add.”
  9. 2:42Mode 3, Solo: the child works alone on an empty bar with no role names. The checks stay; the help steps back.
  10. 2:49Check 6: the child copies a number from the story. Barnaby: “That number is already in the story: it tells us the flowers Sam picked first. The question mark is a new number.” On the second try he gives a strategy, and only now does the question mark glow.
  11. 3:22Closing: “Learn · Together · Solo. Every number, the bar, the operation and the answer are checked. Every mistake gets a clue, never just “wrong”.”

Math clues that teach (1:43)

A child gets stuck on a Grade 1 word problem, and Barnaby answers each wrong try with a new clue.

What’s on screen

  1. 0:00Title: “Math clues that teach. A wrong answer is information. Barnaby never just says “wrong”: each try gets a new clue.”
  2. 0:12Together mode. The story: “Pia has 2 balloons. A friend gives her 3 more balloons. How many balloons does Pia have now?” The child has typed 2 + 3 and needs the total.
  3. 0:19A panel shows Barnaby’s clue ladder: 1, where to look; 2, how to work it out; 3, the answer with its reason.
  4. 0:33The child types 7. Barnaby: “The story doesn’t tell us all of Pia’s balloons now. We work it out from the bar!” The question mark on the bar glows.
  5. 0:51The child types 8. Barnaby: “Start at 3 and count on 2 more. Use your fingers!”
  6. 1:07The child types 9. Barnaby: “2 and 3 together make 5. Enter 5 to continue!”
  7. 1:22The child types 5. The problem is solved.
  8. 1:32Closing: “Never just “wrong”. Where to look, how to work it out, then the answer with its reason.”
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