Multiply????Divide????

Hello ALL - long time no blog!!!

 I have to share a graphic organizer that my students have had great success with. In 3rd grade in our district we are teaching multiplication and division at the same time - for example one day we teach multiply by 7 and the next is divide by 7. This is new for us, in the past we would teach all multiplication and then all division. And of course when they get the test they knew they must multiply because it is a multiplication test without really knowing why they are multiplying. So now are test is a combination of multiplication and division word problems. So how do they know if they need to multiply or divide??????

My students us a GET chart - it is actually a part-part-whole chart. In the top whole box they write a T for total. The bottom box is split in 2 and on the left they write G for groups and on the right they write E for how many in each group.

My students are very good at reading a word problem and filling in the chart, they know if the total is there they must divide and if it is not there they must multiply to find the total. It is amazing how much this chart helps them figure out if they need to multiply or divide - they love it (and so do I!!!)