Hello everyone, 

Even though this was a short week we still had lots of great learning opportunities. 

We participated in Ms. Sorya’s class service project to help save the bees. The students watched a video explaining why bees are so important and why they are endangered. We discussed how the bees vanishing would drastically affect what food we have available, the production of fabric, and how much these items would cost. The students were each given a flower bulb of a plant that attracts bees and a rock to paint and put in their garden with their plant. The students loved showing their creativity with their painted rocks!

We also did our part to help save the bees by writing letters to our state representative. We looked up who the representative is for Plato’s district and the students have started writing letters explaining why the bees are important and asking for restrictions in the use of bee killing pesticides. The students learned how to format a business letter, are using professional language, and are editing their work in the hopes that they can convince our representative to follow our request. We are going to continue working on our letters and hopefully mail them next week. 

For Mindset Math, we learned a new math game: Target 20. The students rolled dice to generate four numbers. They needed to use all of those numbers to make twenty using any combination of operations. The students used addition, subtraction, multiplication and division together in ways they hadn’t before. They took what they knew about each operation to decide which ones were going to be useful with each set of numbers. The goal of this game was to develop flexibility in the way students use operations to get different answers. 

To build off of the concepts practiced in Target 20, the students were also challenged with the four 4s task. Unlike Target 20 where students needed to get the same answer using four different numbers, this time the students needed to find equations to create each of the numbers one through ten using only four 4s. As the students developed their equations, we explored the use of parentheses. We realized that some equations only worked when they were written in a very specific order. The students discovered that parentheses are a great way to show that one part of the problem needs to be done first, even if it isn’t the first thing written in the problem. While the students worked as a class to find all of the solutions to find the numbers one through nine, we struggled finding a solution for ten. We took a moment to learn about square roots, which would be an easy way to turn a four into a two. The students were able to quickly apply this to their equations and came up with a solution for ten. 

We read a fascinating book about how the United States has grown over the years. We learned about various points in the country’s history- from the revolutionary war, the pioneer days, the civil war, the gold rush, and today. The students loved seeing when each of the states was added to the Union and were surprised that they weren’t added necessarily from east to west. The students were also interested in how the events going on in history contributed to which states were added when. 

In addition to all of this, we’ve added our Midwestern states to our map and our timeline of when the states were added to the Union. Next week we will be starting our final region: the West!

Have a great weekend!  

Hello everyone, 

We are continuing to add to our map of the US. This week, we are focusing on the midwest. Everyone is so excited to be researching the region of the country that we call home. The students are becoming more confident with the research process. They’re also noticing that our states are starting to get larger and need to be drawn on bigger paper. They’re having so much fun with these larger states and are creating beautiful products to add to the map. 

For the image of the week from the Multiplicity Lab, we examined a photo of dice. Students were asked the questions how many, how do you know, and how do you see it? At first, the students just noticed that there were thirty dots on all of the dice. However, as the students looked at the image, they discovered more and more patterns in how the dice were arranged and how they could be grouped together. We also noticed that when students made the choice to count each of the dots on the dice individually, they sometimes missed one or counted one twice. This led to a great discussion on breaking up the image or using equal groups as a shortcut to determine how much there is without counting one at a time. 

Since we have our praying mantis eggs, we took some time this week to talk about the life cycle of a praying mantis. We learned that it’s called a life cycle because it repeats with babies growing into adults and then having their own babies. The students were surprised that praying mantis lay about 400 eggs and that the mothers dies after laying her eggs. We discussed k-selected and r-selected animals: how k-selected animals have only a few babies and have to take really good care of them so they survive, but r-selected animals have hundreds of babies at a time who need to fend for themselves in the hopes that some survive. We also watched a video about praying mantis. We saw how praying mantis use mimicry to look like plants or other insects so that they can get close to their prey. The students were shocked at how aggressive praying mantises are, hunting birds, fish, and sometimes each other! 

For Mindset Math, we played a new math game called Cover the Field. Like other games we’ve played, the students rolled dice to create arrays to put on a grid. However, this time the students rolled four dice and were able to combine them in different ways to make different numbers to multiply. The students loved this added challenge to the game. After playing, we discussed the strategies that the students used to make their arrays. The class agreed that they tried to make larger arrays in the beginning of the game, but smaller arrays as they started to run out of space. We discussed how we knew which dice to pair together to get the largest and smallest possible arrays. After some exploration, we discovered that combining dice to make two factors close together on a number line makes the largest possible product. Combining the dice so the factors are as far apart as possible makes the smallest product. For example, if we roll a 1, 2, 3, and 4 we could make (1+4)x(2+3), which is the same as 5×5 and gives us a product of 25. Since 5 and 5 are in the same spot on the number line, we are getting the biggest product we could make with those numbers. On the other hand, if you combine them to make (1+2)x(3+4), which is the same as 3×7, you get a product of 21. Since 3 and 7 are further apart on the number line, the product of is smaller. 

For Earth Day, we helped with Mr. Chris’s class service project to clean up the neighborhood. The students were given gloves and plastic bags. We walked around the neighborhood, picking up any litter we could find. The students had so much fun gathering the trash. We ended up with enough to fill a full size garbage bag! 

Our dolphin has been coming along great, and we finally have all of the wire hangers wrapped in plastic. We have finally been able to start gluing our mosaic to the wooden frame. The students sorted through our collection of plastic to find caps and lids to use for this part of the project. We’ve been hard at work gluing each of these items to the frame in beautiful patterns. We can’t wait to see how it turns out. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Hello everyone, 

This week we spent a lot of time deep diving into some new topics. 

We started the week with a Zoom meeting with Rachel Simmons from Candor Health Education. We discussed the changes that happen to the body as people begin puberty. The students handled this topic with impressive maturity, asking thoughtful questions throughout the meeting. 

We read a story called The Math Curse, in which a child believes that their teacher placed a curse on them to see everything as a math problem. The students discussed how math is everywhere in our lives. While some students pointed out that not all of these problems are necessary to solve or that we could have adults do them for us, we talked about being self reliant so that we have the tools to solve these necessary problems without needing to depend on anyone else. We also noticed that as we got farther into the story, the child was coming up with increasingly crazy problem solving strategies that had nothing to do with what the problem was actually asking. We related this to how we feel sometimes when a problem seems overwhelming and aren’t able to think clearly. We talked about strategies that students can use when they feel this way, such as taking a deep breath, breaking the problem into smaller chunks, or talking through the problem with a classmate. After reading the story, the students worked in groups to answer some of the math problems in the book. One of the problems, how many minutes are in a year, was challenging at first because it required multiplying numbers that had more than one digit. By working through what we knew about place value, we were able to break up these problems into more manageable ones to find our solution. Once some of the students discovered how to solve the problem, they went off to help their classmates, helping them through the steps. The students took so much pride in solving such a challenging problem. 

We also practiced multiplying two digit by one digit numbers. We discussed various methods the students could use to solve these problems, including creative and nontraditional methods. Most of the students preferred either the traditional algorithm or the partial product method of breaking up the numbers by place value. The students went around the room solving multiplication problems, discussing the math together, and finding for themselves where they may have made errors in their work. 

Students also moved around the room for a gallery walk, viewing primary documents from the Spanish flu. The students wrote down their observations of these photos and documents, noticing how similar they were to what we are currently experiencing and practicing how to observe, analyze, and make connections. We also watched a video showing how this pandemic affected the United States. In this video, we learned that President Woodrow Wilson actively worked to restrict information about the Spanish flu in the media to protect the war effort for World War I. Because of this, many Americans did things to put themselves further at risk of infection, causing many deaths. The students connected this to today and how hard it is to find accurate information about the pandemic and how important it is for public officials to tell the truth. 

On top of all this, we’ve continued working on our dolphin, utilizing as much plastic as possible. We’ve also continued reading Moon Over Manifest, working on forming inferences, connecting to characters’ points of view, and using evidence from the text to back up our theories about this complex story. 

Have a great weekend! 

Hello everyone, 

This week we had lots of engaging math challenges. 

We started the week with the question, “what is the biggest item in the classroom? How do you know?” First, the students needed to decide what it means for one item to be bigger than another- was it taller, wider, heavier, or all three? The students quickly decided that weight wasn’t going to be a factor for them since items can be small and heavy or big and light. The students went around the room measuring items that they thought had a chance to be the biggest in the room. Some of the students discovered that some items were really tall, but they weren’t very wide or deep. Other items were big in all three dimensions, but weren’t as tall. We discussed how we could compare all three dimensions at once. We learned about volume and how to calculate it. The class ultimately decided together that the desk that we have under the dolphin is the largest item because it has the biggest volume. 

We continued working with volume later in the week. The students were given a variety of cubes and rectangular prisms. They were challenged to figure out which of these shapes has a volume of 64 cubic centimeters. The students measured the shapes to figure out the dimensions, then calculated the volume. They also used their problem solving skills to see which shape they should measure next. For example, if they just found a shape with a volume greater than 64 cubic centimeters, they figured out that the next shape they should measure needed to be smaller. 

We also analyzed patterns through a picture of dominos from the Multiplicity Lab. The students collaborated with each other to see what patterns they noticed and if they could continue the pattern with more dominos. We then discussed as a class what patterns we found. Students took turns coming up to the board to explain what they noticed. 

We spent a lot of time this week learning how to solve multiplication problems that use numbers in the double digits. We did this with a Mindset Math activity over the course of several days. We started by using creative problem solving strategies to solve the problem 24×5. The students applied what they already knew about multiplication to solve this larger problem. Once the students each had an answer, we discussed what strategies we used. We then analyzed visual proofs showing different ways this problem could be solved by breaking the problem into more manageable parts or working with more friendly numbers. 

We then practiced creating our own visual proofs and breaking apart numbers. The students worked in groups to solve their own unique multiplication problems, then created visual proofs based on the methods they used. Some students chose to break the numbers up based on place value, while others chose to create friendly numbers that are easier to work with. Once the students created their visual proofs, we placed them on the wall and had a gallery walk where people could see how others solved their problems. The students discussed with their groups what they noticed about each visual proof. They also left sticky notes with feedback about what they thought the groups did well and what could be more clear. 

Once the students had their feedback they reviewed their proofs to see how they could incorporate the feedback to make their proofs easier to understand. The groups then started making their final drafts of their proofs. We discussed what qualities should be included in a final draft and created a checklist of all the things they thought they needed for these to be considered their best work. As they finished their proofs, they went over each part of the checklist to make sure they included everything. The class made sure to pay close attention to detail and created final products that they were proud of. 

We are continuing to read Moon Over Manifest. The students have continued to develop their inference skills while working through this complex text. Since part of the book is set in 1918, some of the characters have caught the Spanish Flu. We noticed that some of the characters in the book were saying how the flu virus wasn’t serious and that the people shouldn’t be worried. Upon closer analysis, we realized that the characters saying this were people who worked for the coal mine who didn’t want to lose money or have the mine close. The students made connections to what they noticed about how different businesses and politicians have handled COVID-19. We will continue to learn about the Spanish Flu next week. 

We continued learning about the US this week through geography bingo. The students were shown a map of the United States and given clues for each state they needed to find on their bingo sheet. The students used their map reading skills to figure out which state the clues were referring to. The students practiced reading cardinal directions on a map, identifying which states bordered each other, and how to identify which city is the capital. The students had a blast solving these puzzles. 

We ended the week with an art project. We are currently planning to use some of our leftover plastic to create a mosaic on the wooden part of our dolphin. To introduce the concept of mosaics, we looked at examples and noticed what their defining characteristics are- using small shapes to make bigger pictures, not leaving any empty space, and using a variety of sizes and colors. We also looked at stained glass windows, comparing and contrasting them to mosaics. The students noticed that while they were made out of different materials, a lot of the same features were in both pieces of art. The class then practiced creating their own mosaics out of tissue paper, cutting out small shapes to put together to create a larger picture. They glued their pieces onto wax paper so that we can use these mosaics to create stained glass windows for the classroom. The students are so proud of how their artwork turned out and can’t wait to see how they look on the windows. 

Have a wonderful weekend!