Math S.O.L.V.E. tubs

Hello Everyone!
You probably can tell by the majority of my posts and units that I am definitely more passionate about Language Arts.  Math has, for some reason, never been something that I wanted to spend much time researching, fine tuning. I just did what ever came next. That is until I picked up John Van de Walle's book, Teaching Student Centered Mathematics.  This book along with Debbie Diller's books has gotten me excited about letting my kids learn through more number sense and problem solving. Kids learn so much from each other and we need to give them the opportunity and confidence to express their thinking in many different ways. We can tell so much about their development and progress from how they go about solving problems.
I am so happy that my school district is supporting the increase in time spent on number sense, stretching math thinking and less time on rote memorization. 
For the past couple of years we have gotten into implementing "math tubs" but I wanted to give them a little more meat and make sure the kids had ample time to work together, talk, explore ideas, and express in many ways.  Van de Walle encourages teachers to let kids take the lead through problem solving, so I've decided to call my tubs "S.O.L.V.E." After math minilessons, kids will explore more thoroughly some of the different things we are working on using our S.O.L.V.E Tubs.  They will choose which strand they want to work on and working with other kids gain a deeper understanding of mathematical thinking. 
S- Strategy thinking
O- Organize and Think about Data
L- Logic Thinking
V- Visual Thinking
E- Extend and Explore Thinking

I've got my tubs set for the first (or probably second) week of school.

Stay tuned for a post on what I put in them for our first go! 

For your copy of SOLVE description, tub tags and student documentation chart, click here

19 pages

I made some jungle themed tub tags as well.  They are included in the unit! :)

I'm really excited about implementing my new tubs and discovering how far kids will take this new opportunity!

I'll let you know how it goes.  If you have any suggestions or comments, let me know!!  I'm catching that math bug!!

Joyfully!

Nancy