Month: October 2018

Hello Everyone!

 

As we investigate the concept of STRUCTURE in numbers, I have provided a variety of independent and collaborative tasks to explore our math content and curricular competencies.

The tasks involve playing games and analyzing them, making visual representations of math concepts, creating a math rap, answering math questions online and in a book, and more.

Students have a lot of choice, and they can complete tasks in any order. Depending on how they feel, they can work with a partner at a large table, or choose to sit alone for a bit at a private desk. I hope it will provide everyone with the appropriate level of engagement they need to explore our math curriculum with depth and complexity. If anyone needs help with the questions, I am here to guide and to teach students one-on-one.

The task list is kept in the red binder. Red binders can be taken home as long as they come back to class each day. I will give time in class each day and all games and tools are available in class. Websites to explain the games, as well as more complex topics, are available under “Math” in the Articles of Interest.

The tasks allow us to investigate math content and curricular competencies across subject areas. As they work together or alone, students will be able to:

• Practice and discuss elements of good learning and work habits
• Use critical-thinking skills to obtain information and mathematical understandings
• Exchange ideas and build shared understandings about the math content.
• Integrate language arts and math, using language in creative ways to express math understandings.
• Answer critical-thinking questions, ask questions of their own, corroborate inferences, and draw conclusions using evidence.
• Collect simple data to provide evidence about their thinking
• Use graphs and venn diagrams to make comparisons and organize the data.
• Develop mental math strategies and abilities to make sense of quantities (Magic Number activities, Sumoku game, Quirkle).
• Visualize to explore mathematical concepts (Quirkle, Blokus, Venn Diagrams)
• Use technology to explore mathematics (iPad videos, Math is Fun website, Domain of Science YouTube Channel, and more.)
• Develop, demonstrate, and apply math understandings through play, inquiry, and problem solving.
• Communicate math understandings in many ways.
• Work with addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, and multiples and factors according to their abilities and grade level.
• Explore patterns found in numbers and how they can be represented both visually and numerically.
• Investigate number concepts such as types of numbers (irrational, rational, integers, etc.), number lines, prime and composite numbers, and more.

Enjoy our math tasks!

Ms. D

Hello Everyone!

In class, we have started working on a project related to social studies, applied design, science, and language arts curriculum content and competencies.

Each student is inventing their own world to show an understanding of the concept of STRUCTURE as it relates to how our own world is organized to support human life.

We are working in partner groups, and the creative thinking is going well!

As you create your own world, here are the things you need to think about to show a complete understanding of STRUCTURE as it relates to how we organize ourselves:

• Where is your world situated in the universe? What universe? What star/sun is supporting life with its radiant energy? Are there other planets around it?
• What is the name of your world?
• What is the topography like on your world? What kind of land features, continents, bodies of water, etc. will your world have?
• How does the world support human life? (It can have other life on there, but the world must support humanoids.)
• Focus on one city on one continent. What is its name?
• Who lives in the city? Why do they live in that location?
• How is the city organized? (Government, Police, Services, etc.)
• How do people get the resources they need?
• How does the city make money to create things and live? Do the people make something specific and sell it? Do they sell resources?
• Does the city have a specific currency or trade system?
• How do people communicate? What is their language?
• Is there anything else about culture you can tell us about to show the STRUCTURE of how people live?

Once you have thought of all these things, then you need to present the information to us. First, you will need writing to address everything in the list above. How and where you write it will depend on the format you use for showing us your world. Here are the options:

• Create a poster of your world with pictures and writing
• Create a 2D model of your world with a piece of cardboard, and then use clay to represent the land and features. Then do some writing to explain it.
• Use the Book Creator app to put both pictures and writing together to show us your world.
• Create a 3D model of your world, and then use writing and other items to explain and show features of your world.

Lots of choices, but the important thing is to talk about the bullet points above. Steps to getting this done are:

1. Brainstorm with a partner details of the world.
2. Decide who is going to write on what features. Split up the work so each person has three things of their own to write about. That way each of you has a role.
3. Decide what format you will use for showing information. Gather any materials you will need and talk to the teacher about materials available in class.
4. Do some writing independently and then come together to talk about what you have written. Edit the writing and add any details. Make final drafts after editing.
5. Decide who will build which features, so the work is split up. Then come together with your features to make the main project.
6. If you need help sorting out roles, please talk to Ms. D
7. Keep checking the lists above to ensure you are on track and have addressed all the important questions about your world somewhere, either in the model/pictures you are creating or the writing.

Have fun! We will be using lots of core competencies during this project, such as communication and personal awareness skills as you work with a partner and balance your work, creative thinking skills to create the world, and critical thinking skills as you make thoughtful decisions about where to place your world.

Ms. D