Victoria L.

Coburn
March 1, 2015
Lincoln Unified Cohort
High Yield Routine Mystery Number
2nd Grade Visited Lisa Maldonado-Meekes class at TCK February 19th
Clue #1: I am less that 10 + 23
Clue #2: I am greater than 12 5
Clue #3: I am present when you count by three and by eights
WHO AM I?
Clue #1: Think of the number of months in a year.
Clue #2: Add the number of eggs in two dozen.
Clue #3: Subtract the number of legs on a dog.
Clue #4: Add the number of days in a week.
WHO AM I?
Reflection:
I wasnt sure what the second graders would think of a stranger coming in during their
math class and start doing a different routine than their teacher. Mrs. Maldonaldo-Meeke
told the class that a fifth grade teacher would be coming in, and I think they were a little
intimidated. They were barely whispering their ideas when it was time to turn and talk.
Their teacher told me she had never seen them so quiet!
I did tell them we were going to play a game called Mystery Numbers and they were
going to be given clues to see if they could figure out which number I was thinking of. I
tried not to make the list too long. I really wasnt sure, especially with the new Common
Core math standards what second graders would know by this time of year.
The kids thought each clue was a clue about one number. What I mean by that, the first
time I tried a mystery number, they were satisfied that 32 was less that 10 + 23. I didnt
hear a lot of other numbers that could also fit that clue. When I gave the next clue, I
should have been more clear about having them remember the first clue, but also add this
next clue to their ideas. They had a hard time with this concept and thought I was
thinking of a whole new mystery number.
In the second set of clues I gave, I made sure with their teacher that these concepts would
not be foreign to them. She affirmed that these were all things the second graders
should know. This particular set went on and on. It was like pulling teeth. They still
had a difficult time hanging on to their original idea and adding the next clue to it.
Their teacher told me the class was not used to multi-step problems. I was a little
confused by this, because a lot of what I have seen from Engage New York leads to
multi-step problems in math, at least of parts I have seen from the second grade modules.

If this was my second grade class, I would definitely use this routine more often,
probably keeping it to no more that three clues. This would be an excellent was to review
material just recently covered and spiraling too to hold on to information already covered.
I just thought for this late in the year, the class would be more comfortable turning and
talking to partners, but maybe this isnt a strategy the teacher in this class uses often.

5th Grade Visited Sara Brisbys class at TCK February 18th

Clue #1: Im thinking of a number. It is odd.
Clue #2: Its between 1 and 100.
Clue #3: Its higher than 20.
Clue #4: It is smaller than the answer to 6 x 6.
Clue #5: Its a multiple of 5.
Clue #6: The sum of the digits is 7.
WHO AM I?
Clue #1: I am > 5 x 10.
Clue #2: I am < 100.
Clue #3: I am an even number.
Clue #4: I am not 70 or less.
Clue #5: I am a multiple of 4.
Clue #6: I am a multiple of 3.
Clue #7: I am < 80.
WHO AM I?
Reflection:
The fifth graders were much more animated with their ideas and were very good about
sharing their ideas to their tablemates. The first set of clues seemed very easy for the
group, the second, a little more challenging. I felt they had a good grasp of number
sense. I wasnt able to listen in to all the tables, but I was happy to hear that they were all
engaged in mathematical conversation.
If I were their teacher, I would definitely challenge this group. I would put up a very
challenging one daily on the board for kids to think about. I would also use 205_01pdf
that I attached to have students create Mystery Numbers.

8th Grade Visited (substitute teacher) Maribel Vargass class at TCK

Clue #1: I am less that 11^2.
Clue #2: I am greater than 4 ^3.

Clue #3: I am a prime number.

Clue #4: The sum of the digits is 11.
WHO AM I?
Clue #1: I am two digit and prime.
Clue #2: The sum of my digits equals eight.
Clue #3: The tens digit is greater than the ones digit.
Clue#4: The product of the digits is one less than 4^2.
WHO AM I?
Reflection:
When I walked into the math class, they were in the middle of a math lecture. The room
was dark, they were sitting in rows and were writing down things from the ELMO. The
teacher knew I was going to be coming in and doing this activity with the students.
Again, not knowing ahead of time exactly where the students were left me at a bit of a
disadvantage. Even though the students were in 8th grade, I felt they were very
welcoming and made the transition well to the Mystery Number high yield routine.
Listening back to the recording, I dont think I used very challenging clues for them.
Occasionally some of the theories they were hatching were incorrect, but they were very
quick to self evaluate and think of a new number.
If this was my math class, I would put the students into cooperative groups rather than
straight rows to encourage more discourse during the think times.