[SeeSharp]

There is nothing wrong with the three questions I can see on that worksheet. And FYI I wasn’t taught multiplication or division until the third grade.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Are you assuming that all people have exactly ten fingers and two feet and all cars have four wheels?

What if Jonah has only nine fingers, and Emily has only one foot, and D’Shana has seven fingers on one hand and six on the other, and the principal, Herr Doktor Professor Mengle drives a three axle Mercedes, undt his wife, Frau Mengle the librarian, rides a BMW motorcycle with a sidecar?

[Little Pig]

It’s not the questions, it’s the way the kids are required to answer. Note that, on the answer sheet, the kids have to draw out the physical representation of the items present in order to “show their work”. So, for the “23 kids in the class” question, he can’t just write 23x10, the kid is expected to draw 23 sets of fingers. For the car question, the kid has to draw 6 sets of tires (what if one of the cars is a Morgan 3-wheeler or a Reliant Robin?).

[all the best]

I’ve seen a number of videos on Common Core that had students doing the math. Simple addition was so unnecessarily convoluted. So much more time than just simply adding. There was always something about the kids as they were doing it. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Just weird.

[mazda77]

Nothing wrong? It makes a lot of assumptions as to the variables. Six cars in the parking lot. Are they four wheeled cars?

Instead of drawing six circles with four wheels each and then counting the wheels, what is wring with 6 times 4?

There are 25 students in the class. How many have suffered a lost finger or hand due to an accident? Instead of what looks like binary counting, what is wrong with 25 times 10?

[BoomerBabe]

So, I don’t get it. What concept is being taught by drawing little circles with dots inside? Do you then count to get the answer? It seems to me that this has nothing to do with thinking critically.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I would have flunked 3rd grade for using the methods on that worksheet. Counting on your fingers was a strict no no.

[FES0844]

I’m assuming that all the kids have excellent reading & comprehension skills to start with.

[P.O.E.]

It’s the process they make them go through that’s grueling - g-forbid they should memorize the times tables.

Instead, they make them group and count - multiplication is supposed to be an easy way to find out how many, rather than counting each one.

[old and tired]

I wasn’t taught multiplication or division until the third grade.

Neither are these kids. That's the problem. The common core is trying so hard to teach the kids the why behind the how and some kids just aren't ready to wrap their brains around the why, although they're perfectly capable of the how. Teach them the how, i.e. have them memorize their math facts and then worry about the word problems.

Kids are supposed to do those problems with pictures. Draw four lines for each car and count up the total. It's a stupid waste of time.

[grania]

It actually seems to be a "skip counting" exercise, to prepare them for multiplication to follow. It's a good next step after the addition facts are known. The problem is calling it "grouping". That's because the grouping already exists, they're adding the total items.

It gets weird with some of the grouping exercises the kids do instead of just getting to the point.

[Mrs.Z]

And FYI I wasn’t taught multiplication or division until the third grade.

And therein lies the problem.

The math part of math questions is above the math level of the students.