This week in math the students listened to a math story about different combinations for ice cream sundaes. They then were given a challenge problem involving decorating sugar cookies for a party. They have never worked through this kind of problem before. They were apprehensive but smiled and tried anyways. We talked in great detail about the struggles they would encounter, and how if they were OPTIMISTIC, PERSISTENT, and FLEXIBLE they could work through this. These are words we have being using to grow our minds this year in first grade. They help us to remember that we have a brain that can keep growing and isn't fixed. The students worked on this problem at two separate points this week. We had a few conversations about their work and what was hard. We came up with suggestions on what the work could look like, but not once did I teach them how to do it, rather gave them tools that might aid them in their exploration of how to solve it. In the end, many of the students had found some of the ways. I was so proud of them. Together we solved it and came up with all the ways, using a very systematic way that none of the students had thought about. We talked about their strategies, what worked, what did not work, and what new strategies they might try in the future. They were proud of themselves for sticking with it, even when it seemed hard.