Skip to content
Spark & Whetstonethe grown-up commons

← Learn

Drawing a Problem

The bar model for grown-ups, in four lessons: parts and a whole, more and less, equal units, and how a bar becomes an equation. Then let the child at your table teach you.

For grown-ups, from what BarPals teaches children at Spark & Anvil.

  1. Lesson 1Parts and a whole
  2. Lesson 2More and less
  3. Lesson 3Equal units
  4. Lesson 4From a bar to x
At the table · a grown-up and a child, 7 or older

The paper-strip table: the child teaches

You'll need: strips of paper, a pencil, scissors and one word problem from homework.

  1. The child reads the problem aloud. The grown-up does not solve it.
  2. The grown-up asks the three questions, in this order: what is the whole? What do we not know? What stays the same?
  3. The child draws the bar on a strip and cuts it into its parts. The grown-up copies the drawing, and gets corrected.
  4. Only then does anyone write a sum. Swap roles with the next problem.

Print the guidebook (all lessons + the table activity) →