Third graders at Laburnum Elementary have been learning about the contributions and the economy of the ancient Greeks in social studies (SOL3.1, 3.7), and they’ve been learning how to solve multiplication word problems in math (SOL3.6). So today students in Ms. Ford’s class wrote their own ancient Greece multiplication word problems for their classmates to solve. First I created an assignment in Google classroom and gave them a blank Google docs template. Since this was their first time using Google docs, I showed them how to change the font, size, and color of the text. They added a customized title, then we brainstormed ideas for the multiplication problem. We discussed what the land and architecture in ancient Greece were like, and we also considered the different jobs that people in ancient Greece had. I explained that multiplication involves groups of things, so I told them to think about situations in the lives of the ancient Greeks that would include groups (soldiers, Olympics, trading ships, olive and grape orchards, buildings, etc). They typed their questions, then I showed them how to add a picture using the built-in Google image search. We posted the problems to the Google classroom page so the students could solve each others’ problems. You can try solving some yourself here.
