Georgia 2.MP.1
The Standard
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Georgia's K-12 Mathematics Standards · Display perseverance and patience in problem-solving. Demonstrate skills and strategies needed to succeed in mathematics, including critical thinking, reasoning, and effective collaboration and expression. Seek help and apply feedback. Set and monitor goals.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify the given information and the question before choosing a plan. They use drawings, objects, or equations, keep working after a false start, and check their answer.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can state what is known and what must be found, then choose a useful model or operation. When a plan stalls, the student revises it and checks that the answer fits.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may grab numbers and calculate without identifying the question. They may assume one failed strategy means there is no solution, erase their attempts, or accept an answer without checking it.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: “Split 20 counters into two groups whose sizes differ by 6.” Students record each attempt, circle a solution, and explain how they checked it.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs 30 connecting cubes and ask them to build two towers with a difference of 8, recording each attempt.
After a word problem, students complete: “I knew..., I tried..., and I checked...” then compare plans with a partner.
Play a relay where teams draw a problem card, name the unknown, choose a strategy, solve, and earn points for checking.
A class needs pencils for 23 students, and packs hold 10; students decide how many packs to buy and justify their answer.
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Printable 2.MP.1 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 2.MP.1, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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