IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Exploring the pattern blocks

Today during math workshop, the kids were put into groups and set out to explore several materials that we have in our classroom. I challenged them to find as many different ways as they could for their manipulative. I noticed that Aidan arranged 12 little plastic bears in two neat rows. Upon asking him what he created, he replied, “It’s a rectangle.” That caused Hutton some confusion because he looked at it and said, “No, I see eleven!” Aidan and I looked to Hutton for some explanation about how the 12 bears arranged in a rectangle could mean eleven, but he showed us he was right too- the two rows Aidan had so neatly and carefully formed together looked like a one and a one next to one another- eleven. We talked in a group about how each of us had been correct- we had all seen the material in different ways and gave the bears different uses.

Aidan's bear formation

How many kids will it take?

As I walked to see what some of the other groups were doing, I saw Monica and another friend were working on a very long creation that stretched from one end of the classroom to the other. It was huge! Monica exclaimed excitedly, “Its even taller than Mrs. Argus!” I asked Monica if she was absolutley positive that it was bigger than me. How could she be sure? We decided to have me lay down on the floor next  to the creation to see for sure who was taller. Monica was right- “Way taller than Mrs. Argus!” But the interest didn’t stop there. Cameron wondered, “How many people tall is it?” Children began laying next to our creation to see how many would reach the other end of the room. We decided it was about five children long. Some children wondered about building another long creation tomorrow and trying to extend the length. I wonder what other ways of non-standard measurement the kids will come up with.

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