FIRST Class Blogger of the Week: KS

KS is our first blogger of the week for the 2014-2015 school year.  Here is her entry.

In Spanish we have been making paper book bags and writing in stuff that would be in them. Then we are writing what the word is in Spanish next to the word. Like lapiz is pencil but we would draw a picture. Then we colored the book bag in. In Spanish it is mochila.

In our classroom in math, we have been doing multiplication and skip counting problems.

Today we had the laser light show! It was cool! There were characters from shows and superheroes from movies in lasers!!! It was awesome! There were lasers all over the place.They played songs and showed laser pictures to go with the song! It was so fun! It was on Halloween, October 31, 2014. It was in the gym. We were sitting on the ground.The teachers were sitting on chairs. We saw the lasers on the board in the gym. It was amazing.

Solving Addition and Subtraction Word Problems- Check!

This week the class prepared for an end of the unit assessment of rounding, place value, and solving addition and subtraction problems.  Those word problems can be very tricky when you are trying to figure out which operation to use.  Today we worked in groups to underline key information in the problems written by 3-Langenmayr.

 Then, we found the numbers that represented parts or wholes for our formula P + P = W.  The group then sorted the problems into the two groups: addition or subtraction. Next, we solved the problems on our own in our notebook.

 

The last step was to check our answers using the ScanQR Chrome app.

This was a quick and easy way to check our work!

Summer Challenge

Congratulations CC for speaking at the Summer Challenge meeting held last night.  RCSD is asking that students create tutorials to explain Math concepts to be compiled as a resource in the coming years. 
Check out what you need to do on the District page.

She explained to the packed library of students and parents how she created tutorials to explain Math concepts using ShowMe and Lensoo.
To see the tutorials we already made go to our class site.  Stay tuned for our latest batch that use Google Slidses and Movenote to explain how to solve problems with perimeter and area.

Measuring Volume is Sweet Success

Measuring volume was never this tasty!  Today the class worked with milliliters to create a measuring cup that will later hold a strawberry banana smoothie.

First we learned how to use measuring cups. To create our own measuring cups, we poured 100 mL of water into our empty cups and marked the water level on the outside of the cup.  Then we poured another 100 mL of water into the cup and labeled that as 200 mL. We repeated this a third time and discovered that are cups could hold 300 mL.

When we were done creating our measurement tool, we moved on to smoothie making.

Fresh bananas, frozen strawberries, agave, and milk went in the blender to make a tasty treat (this was the rice milk batch).

A few moments of whirling and blending and you have one sweet Math lesson!  I don't think the class minded working with volume this afternoon after our first morning of the ELA test.

Cheers!

Art Imitates Math?

     The class is currently working on understanding how to calculate the area of rectangles.  So what better way to understand area of rectangles, than to connect it to real life.  Rather than focusing on pretending to measure floor coverings (carpet and tiles do not inspire most) we looked to Art.

From Wikipedia

Specifically, we were inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian and his Composition in Red, Yellow, and Blue.  You can learn more about him here.

From Wikipedia

Rectangles of various sizes and a splash of primary colors reveal hidden considerations of area.  After learning about Mondrian and his works, the students set to work creating their own compositions. First they put in the black outlines on 1 centimeter grid paper making sure that they used vertical and horizontal lines to make rectangles.




 After I photocopied their design, the class calculated the area of their rectangles.

On the second copy, they colored in some of the rectangles with red, yellow, and blue.

   When they were all done they cut out both paper and we mounted them on black paper.  Then they discussed the dimensions of their rectangles.  We talked about how rectangles can have the same area but different dimensions, relating it to our multiplication arrays.

Here's the result...