I want to help them think mathematically, to manipulate numbers, and to apply number operations.
Puzzles make excellent class starters, but they can be used at other times as well.
I vary the kind of puzzle every few weeks. These are some favorites of my fourth grade class. Krypto Puzzles A student chooses a number from 0 to 30 that becomes the class target for the day, for example, 16. Using the selected numbers, students now try to see how many different expressions they can write that equal the target number. Sometimes I challenge the class to see how many different equations we can generate together.