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Math Is ELD and ELA

By April 18, 2025Uncategorized
As always, I hope this finds you happy, healthy, and loved.

Math is ELD
(English Language Development)

Last week, I had a wonderful collaborative and engaging conversation with a team of first-grade teachers.
We discussed how the teaching and learning of comparison word problems was going in their classrooms after our initial word problem training in February.

The teachers displayed graphs with two categories to their students. When the teachers asked, “How can we make these equal?” The students could successfully add or subtract to find the differences between the two categories.

However, when teachers gave students a word problem with the phrases ‘how many more’ or’ how many fewer’, the students could not identify the difference between the categories. They could only name which category had more or fewer.

The teachers were missing one key piece—building connections between known and unknown language when comparing two or more values and languages.
The tricky part about comparison problems is not the math; it’s the language. Students rarely use the phrases how many more or fewer in their daily lives.

I suggested they try the following:
Teacher: “Students, when we compare, if we subtract to find the difference, will we have less/fewer or more?”
Students: “We will have less/fewer.”
Teacher: “Notice the part of the graph that is changing. We subtracted five balloons from Mary to make her balloons equal to Sam’s. How many fewer balloons does Mary have now?”

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Teacher: “Students, when we compare, if we count up to find the difference, will we have fewer/less or more?”
Students: “We will have more.”
Teacher: “Notice the part of the graph that is changing. We added five balloons to Sam to make his balloons equal to Mary’s. How many more balloons does Sam have now?”

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

  • English Language Development includes applying instructional practices to improve the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills for students whose primary language is not English. Such as reading and writing different types of texts, using visual aids and graphic organizers, and practicing pronunciation and vocabulary.
Students must be exposed to comparative language to successfully make sense of and solve comparative word problem types.

Professional Development Opportunity

Math is ELA-
(English Language Arts)

Comparative Language—Beginning in kindergarten, students measure and compare objects, e.g., lighter, heavier, longer, and shorter. While these standards may not feel like heavy lifting, they are foundational skills for all future problems involving comparisons. Comparative language is used throughout the Smarter Balance and State test performance tasks.

Comparison problems are not necessarily challenging due to the calculations involved but because of their language. Therefore, students must have a strong grasp of comparative language, e.g., comparatives.
Than
Far, farther than, farthest
long, longer than, longest
heavy, heavier than, heaviest
few, fewer than, fewest
short, shorter than, shortest

The state tests for mathematics require an immense amount of reading- reading directions, word problems, noticing text features, e.g., models and labels, and deciphering what information is essential and what is not.

To be mathematically proficient, one must also be proficient in literacy.

 

Writing About Math

Can they create their own? Can your students use comparative language to describe or write their comparative word problems?
Once your students can identify and solve comparison problems, support them in crafting them. If they can write them, then you know they understand them.

First Grade Writing Sample

Translation: Trevor has 2 peanuts. Pig the Pug has 10 peanuts. How many more does Pig the Pug have?
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