How do you write an extended response?
A part of the ISAT math test in the spring will be on problem solving.  Your child will be given a problem to solve, and then he/she will have to explain what was done to solve it, and why it was done.  Usually, there is not just one strategy for finding the solution.  Your child is encouraged to use whatever method he/she can, in order to find an answer.  In fact, your child can still earn points even if an incorrect answer is found, as long as he/she finds a strategy and tries to work through the problem!

Sample problem:
You visit a barnyard where a farmer has chickens and rabbits.  You ask the farmer how many of each animal he has.  The only information he'll give you is that in his barnyard there are 18 heads and 58 legs.  How many chickens and rabbits does the farmer have?

The Answer:

The farmer has 11 rabbits and 7 chickens.

One Possible Explanation:
In this problem, I was supposed to find out how many chickens and rabbits a farmer had in his barnyard.  I knew he had 18 heads in the barnyard and 58 legs.  First, I drew 18 circles to represent the head of each animal.  Next, I drew two legs on each head because I knew that each animals, no matter if it was a chicken or a rabbit, had at least two legs.  When I counted the legs, I only had 36.  Then, I added two legs to each circle, counting as I drew, until I had a total of 58 legs.  I then counted the four legged creatures, which would be the rabbits, and there were 11.  I counted the circles with only two legs, and there were 7 which would be the chickens.  Therefore, the farmer had 11 rabbits and 7 chickens.