100th Day of School idea for Pre K:
Stop chanting 100. Start building it.
We:
• Built 10 towers of 10 cubes
• Stacked 100 cups
• Did 10 moves × 10
• Made snack mix with 10 groups of 10
Real number sense > cute worksheets.
Full blog here: www.brooke-powers.com/realtalk/100...
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Well this was too fun! Back to watching the Olympics for me but thank you so much for joining and helping me think about asking better questions!
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Q8: The questions we ask either reinforce that math belongs to a few or expand it to everyone in the room. If tomorrow we asked more questions that center Student thinking we would not just improve instruction. We would reshape who sees themselves as a mathematician.
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Q8 I would shift toward Qs that uncover how students are making sense of ideas
What are you seeing?
What are you trying?
Why does that work?
When questions are rooted in curiosity rather than correctness, they experience math as something they participate in not something they survive
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Q8:
I would stop using questions to evaluate students and start using them to understand them.
Too often our questions are subtle checkpoints. We ask to see who got it. Who is fast. Who is right. Even when we do not mean to, that communicates that math is about performance.
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Yes! I love this idea!
13.02.2026 02:52 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A7: When I ask students to explain, justify, connect, or represent, I am communicating that their thinking matters.
If my questions only reward quick answers, I am unintentionally signaling that math belongs to the fast.
Belonging is shaped by what we choose to value publicly.
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Yes! And it is their idea regardless - so if we label it "misconception" it sends the idea that it is just "wrong".
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I am currently visualizing you chasing actual squirrels! 🐿️
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Q6: Often the unexpected answer reveals an underlying structure or conception that is worth unpacking publicly. In a humanizing classrooms we talk about treating errors as contributions to the learning community. I also banned the word "misconception"
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A5: Instead of changing the task, I change the entry point through questions.
What is a number you know that is close to 25?
Can you represent your thinking visually?
This allows multiple pathways while keeping the math intact. Differentiation becomes about access, not simplification.
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Learning is a social construct ...❤️
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A4: I intentionally ask students to connect to one another.
Who solved it differently?
Who can restate what Jordan said in your own words?
In a humanizing clasroom I think we have to emphasize collective meaning making. Questions can signal that math is something we build together.
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And acutally listening! I am guilty sometimes of asking but then not really focusing on what they are saying! But their words are so valuable.
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Notice and Wonder Woman 🦹♀️!
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A3: “What made that make sense to you?”
It slows students down in a good way.
It also normalizes that sense making is the goal, not speed. That shift is a start of changing classroom culture.
Plus I usually learn a lot from their sense making!
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#ElemMathChat Q3
What is one question you ask regularly that consistently surfaces student thinking? Drop the exact wording.
Hello my live 30 miles apart and only see each other online and at conferences friend! I'll see you at KCM in a month!
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Yes! 100%!!!
13.02.2026 02:16 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Well I love when I am in any of your sessions and you ask me to tell you more!
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A2: If I already know the answer I want, I am probably funneling.
Inviting sounds like “How did you decide?”
Funneling sounds like “Did you double first?”
One preserves agency. The other narrows it.
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Yes!!! I love asking the patterns questions especially!
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IQ1: try to ask questions that name what I see instead of what I want.
“I notice you broke apart 16. Can you say more about why?”
That keeps ownership with the student. It positions them as a mathematician making decisions, not following my path.
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Yes! My mind went straight to doubling and halving and how we elicit that thinking from them!
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That question shifts students from calculating to structuring. It invites them to see 25 as a quarter of 100 or as 5 × 5. In Humanizing Mathematics we talk about honoring structure before procedure. This question opens that door.
13.02.2026 02:06 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
One thing I’d ask is, “What did you notice about 25 before you chose a strategy?”
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Warm-Up
A student says:
“I know 25 × 16 without using the standard algorithm.”
Reminder: Be sure to use #ElemMathChat in your responses and in our chat tonight so we can see your thinking!
How might they be thinking?
Hello hello all! Brooke Powers here from Lexington, KY! Just got home from seeing a University of Kentucky Women's basketball win and now ready to talk #elemmathchat!
13.02.2026 02:04 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Welcome to #ElemMathChat! We are so happy you are here! Thank you @lbrookepowers.bsky.social for leading our chat tonight!
13.02.2026 02:00 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Join #ElemMathChat TONIGHT at 8 pm CST 6 with Brooke Powers, @lbrookepowers.bsky.social, brooke.powers@openup.org
We will explore using questioning to build community and differentiate math learning, and how purposeful questions invite student voice, surface thinking, and support every learner.
