Students Can Write Their Own Problems

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For years, my class of third graders has written their own holiday problem, which I have typed and copied so all classmates could enjoy their friends' work. We had had the standard problems about Santa and Christmas trees, menorahs and dreidls. so this past year I decided to vary the format. I asked the children to do a little research on holiday customs in one of the countries of their ancestors and then to develop a mathematically related question about the custom. For many students the assignment involved a trip to the library. After it was completed, several parents commented, “I didn't know anything about holiday customs in Italy, Russia, ….” Then the problems came in; some were quite long and involved, but in almost all the child's own words were clear and needed little or no revising. Some children asked one question; several asked three!