The Troll and the Apples
A prince went to the Enchanted Orchard to pick apples. After filling his basket with apples, he started to walk home. On his way home, the prince came to a troll who was blocking the gate. The troll said to the prince, “You must give me 2 apples to go through the gate.” The prince gave the troll 2 apples and went home. When the prince got home, he only had 3 apples left in his basket. How many apples did the prince pick?
Source: This first grade adaptation of the Golden Apples task was written and shared by Tara Washburn from Brookline Public Schools, MA
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Since my 2nd-grade ELL students had learned about trolls last year and are also at the developing and expanding stages in English language acquisition, the only tricky vocabulary was “enchanted,” which they understood after I defined the word. The math for these 2nd-graders was a review, but I chose this task because two of the students sometimes struggle with math. I was pleased to see that two of my students were able to show on their papers that they could either use subtraction or addition to solve for the unknown amount of apples that the prince picked at the beginning. I believe that the time built into the 3 Reads Routine allows students to feel more at ease and better able to comprehend the reading. The guiding questions of 3 Reads are very clear, and I like the progression of the questions.