To encourage math talk during math block, test out a few of these simple yet effective sentence stems for math.
It can be difficult for kids to explain how they arrived at a particular answer or to articulate why they chose to utilize a certain strategy.
That’s why it’s beneficial to support their instruction by providing sentence stems for math.
By using these sentence stems, students will “talk math” confidently and with comprehension.
Sentence Stems for Math
1. My answer is… I got this answer by…
2. While working on the problem, I noticed that…
3. This is how I can check my answer…
4. A math topic that I am still struggling to understand deeply is…
5. I believe the first step would be to…
6. Another way this problem could have been solved is…
7. Let me explain what I am thinking…
8. I think this way because…
9. To start with, I …
10. I believe my answer is correct because…
11. I noticed that…, so I…
12. Let me explain why I did this…
13. The problem is asking me to… I know this because…
14. A question I still have about (insert any math topic) is…
15. Here is how I started solving the problem…
16. I know the answer is reasonable because…
17. The first step I took was…, Then I…, Next…, Finally…
18. I discovered that…
19. The clues I used to arrive at a final solution…
20. To get my answer, I…
21. I would like to clarify…
22. Next time I solve a problem similar to this one, I will…
23. I infer that…
24. This makes sense because….
25. This does not make sense because…
26. Let me explain how…
27. Today in math class, I learned that…
28. I was thinking about…
29. This is different from how I solved another problem because…
30. I wonder what would happen if…
31. The strategy that guided me in solving the math problem was…
32. My answer is… I figured it out by…
33. I chose this method because…
34. Here is how I show my work…
35. This clue is important because…
36. I predict that…
37. The strategies I used to solve the problem…
38. I wonder…
39. One thing that is very important to remember…
40. This problem reminded me of …, so I …
41. My strategy is similar/different to…
42. I tried this method, but a better strategy would be…
43. The first thing I did to solve the problem was…
44. I proved my thinking by…
45. After solving, I still wonder…
46. This is how I knew how to solve the problem….
47. I agree with the solution because…
48. I disagree with the outcome because…
49. What I did is similar to…
50. I arrived at this solution by…
51. A math word I learned today is…
52. I chose to divide, subtract, add, or multiply because…
53. Three key things I learned in math today…
54. One math concept that I’m still struggling with after today is…
55. The answer is incorrect because…
56. In order to solve the problem, one has to already know that…
57. Key information needed to solve the problem includes…
58. Two sentence stems for math I think my teacher might like…
59. The main idea of the world problem is…
60. Here’s how I found my answer…
61. First I thought _____ . However, after reading more carefully, I see that…
Final Thoughts
Now you’re all set with this quality collection of sentence stems for math that is sure to prompt math discussion among students.
Explore more ideas and activities that spark important math discussions.
If you liked these sentence stems, you might also like … exit ticket ideas for math.