math

Sometimes I get asked if students are missing out on valuable learning in the core subjects since the arts get equal time at our school. This week in math class provided yet another answer to this question.

I have a job in this class that the students created last year: the job of Math Wizard. A few weeks ago, Harrison had the job of Math Wizard. This is what he wrote on the board: 100+200+300+400+500+600+700.

Once we have the problem written on the board, students take a few minutes to determine the solution, and the Math Wizard gets to call on students who think they know the answer to the problem. Harrison called on some students and one had the correct answer and then students shared their strategies for finding the solution. We were out of time, so I asked the students to clean up and go to snack. Harrison asked if he could stay and explain how he found the solution to the problem as his strategy was different from the ones already shared. Harrison drew the pyramid marks on the board and explained that he knew due to circus arts. I was puzzled and asked several questions. Then I understood that, thanks to the human pyramids students create in their circus performance, Harrison knew that 4+3+2+1=10, because it takes 10 students to create the human pyramid. Thus if those first numbers equal 1000, all he had to do was add the other three numbers to 1000 and he would have the answer. Yet another reason the arts are invaluable!

Some activities from this time: wheatgrass investigations, fraction waffles, planting manzanitas, game of rectangles, fractions, wrap ups, task cards, Math Wizard!