Math
Three things are standing out for me in regards to this class right now: 100s projects, friendship, and the 4 Triangle Investigation.
100s projects have been so creative this year and we had wonderful participation. I loved seeing the different ways students presented 100 legos and certain projects could be counted in more than one way: by tens and fifties for example.
The 100s projects and celebrating 100th day of school also led to some other explorations, the most fascinating one (to the students) seemed to be counting and sorting 100 raisins. The most active investigation involved estimating and then collecting data on how many laps around the dome students could complete in 100 seconds, I think it was 10 as estimated by Jacen.
In terms of friendship, this class is so harmonious. They have embraced Indy and Indy also feels comfortable joining in activities or extending invitations to play or connect with his peers. The members of this class are also comfortable expressing their individuality without clashing with each other right now.
4 Triangle investigation.
In this investigation, students formed partnerships and tried to combine two green triangles and two blue triangles in as many ways possible following these guidelines: use all triangles, and edges of the same length must be touching. This activity requires fine motor control by practicing cutting and manipulating and flying the triangles. Also, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. We created a graph for their creations, together classifying them by number of sides and name of shape. Students feel more comfortable identifying regular polygons and have more difficulty identifying a hexagon which has sides that are not all the same length. As you go through your daily routines, point out shapes and identify them by attributes and number of sides: parallelogram, trapezoid, hexagon, pentagon, rhombus, etc
Since then, we have begun examining coins and working with pennies and nickels. And today, students played the Penny Nickel Exchange game from our Everyday Math curriculum.
We also completed a graphing activity called Grid and Bear It, creating a Scotty Dog. Emma, Jacen, and Zola enjoyed it so much they asked to do another one during free choice.
As always, enjoy math in your daily lives.