Tag Archive 'arithmetic'
Jan
19
2012
Mrs. Argus
Miss Robinson helps Ruth try a new technique for her trading card.
- Regan experiments with the ruler.
This week during math, we have practiced measuring things in many different ways. We began measuring items around our room with our own hands and then compared results with our friends. We’ve had several conversations about why the results were sometimes different. After investigating the different techniques of measurement, items measured, and then eventually one another’s hands, our friends decided that results were not consistent because people’s hands are different sizes, thus, different results! After our discovery that non-standard measurement can be inconsistent, we worked with a manipulative called the inch worms (you might remember we measured our 24 foot airplane with these) and measured different items around the room with inches in this way. Today, Miss Schmidt and I introduced the ruler to our group. We began by letting the kids investigate and experiment with the ruler. What did they notice? What markings are on the ruler? Is it the same size as anything around you? Tajanaye noticed something very powerful- “It matches the inch worms. I can line then up like this!” Tajanaye then lined up 12 inch worms next to the 12 inch ruler. The kids all looked in amazement- the ruler is made up of inches, 12 inches to be in fact! Ruth then brought up the fact that the other side of the ruler had different markings than the inch side (which had the numbers 1-12 to indicate each inch) and Ruth observed that these numbers went up to 30. She suggested that they looked awfully close to half inches. She also noted that, “No matter which way you look at it, both sides are still equal to 12 inches!” What a fabulous observation.
- Tajanaye explains her find.
After our excitement with math, the kids were reminded that tomorrow, we will have our first official trading card event in our classroom. After morning meeting, we will review our trading agreements and take time to share our self-created cards with one another. Many friends have been working on cards hard all week and are anxious to get trading! I know I am excited for some new cards from my friends. Today during Big Studio time, Mrs. Grotojan and her student teacher, Miss Robinson, introduced our friends to a new technique for their trading cards- embroidering them. The cards look beautiful when done this way. What a fabulous new technique for us to experiment with. We look forward to introducing the kids to other mediums as well for their cards.
Tags: arithmetic, friendship, problem solving, think
Dec
08
2011
Mrs. Argus
Aidan explains his thinking.
- Our class created hundreds chart.
One of the things the kids like to do in the morning is read the morning message and count our positive points. It has become a ritual for many friends in our room once they have gotten unpacked and settled in. Today, Aidan did something really special. He counted our positive points, and counted 74. Then, without prompting, he walked right over to our hundreds chart, found the number74 and proceeded to count up to 100. He then announced to me, “Mrs. Argus, we only need 26 more positive points until 100!” I asked him how he discovered his conclusion. He then articulately talked me through his thinking process and how he came to use our hundreds chart. Aidan’s discovery was so special that he then shared it during the sharing portion of our morning meeting. The class brainstormed other ways we could use the hundreds chart to problem solve. What a neat discovery, Aidan!
Friends present, "How Bella Lost Her Moo!"
For the past couple weeks, some of our friends have been reading a story called How Bella Lost Her Moo. It has lots of different animal parts that are fun to read and the kids decided they each wanted to read a seprate part when we would read in a group. One day, a friend suggested, “We should do this as a play!” The rest of the friends loved the idea and we began to prepare to present it to our class. We made puppets out of paper bags and practiced reciting our lines clearly and with emotion. Today, our friends presented the play to the rest of the class. Everyone was so proud and impressed with our performers! We will have to do more reader’s theater in the future- we have some wonderful actors!
Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration, creativity, curious, image of the child, problem solving
Dec
01
2011
Mrs. Argus
- Aidan’s contageous smile and laughter draws attention from our friends.
As you may have heard, the children have learned a doubles addition song that we love to song everyday during math workshop. The kids love it so much that they often request to hear it over and over again! Today during studio and explore, some of the kids asked if I could project the song up on the big screen and they could dance to it. They sang and laughed and clapped to the song and once it was over, they demanded, “Play it again!” So of course, I played the awesome doubles song again and this time, the kids were drawn to Aidan as he sang and danced this time to the music. Several other kids tried out some of Aidan’s dance moves and they danced together in harmony. After the second time the song played, the kids asked, “Can we play it again!?” More kids joined in Aidan’s dancing and I noticed many of the kids dancing were holding hands and dancing together in a line. During one part of the song, some of those kids did the same dance move insync with one another. After the song ended, we talked about how neat it had looked and I suggested creating another dance move for another part of the song. More friends joined into the conversation and by this point, we had the whole class suggesting moves for different parts. Needless to say, I think we played the doubles song about 15 times (no exaggeration) at the end of the day and we almost have a full dance routine to this song. We will have to present it for you at some point- so much fun!
The entire class is joined in dance!
We also have started a canned food drive here at the Lab School. Miss Schmidt led a discussion today with the class about why our school is doing a food drive and how some people in the world are hungry and in need of help. The kids were so thoughtful during the discussion. We decided we wanted to keep track of how many cans we have brought in and created a graph to track our progress. The cans will be counted each Thursday and added to the graph. Please bring in any canned goods your family is able and willing to donate!
Miss Schmidt talks with us about needy families and giving back to the community.Friends post our canned foods graph.
Tags: arithmetic, collaboration, creativity
Nov
30
2011
Mrs. Argus
Carriea- "Five, ten, fifteen, twenty..."
Today we had goldfish for snack. Lately, the kids have been very interested in the concept of equity and making sure everyone has the same amount or about the same amount. After each child is distributed snack each day, they started lining up and counting their snack to check how many they have. Today, Carriea did something really interesting. She called me over to look at her snack and it was lined up in six rows of five goldfish each. She said, “Look Mrs. Argus! I can count by fives and find out how many!” She then proceeded to count her rows, “Five, ten fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty! I have thirty goldfish today!” What neat a real life application of the importance of counting by 5’s and using multiplecation. With all this counting and eating, I think we are running a little low on snack. If your family is able, any donations of animal crackers, goldfish, or pretzels would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
I also want to remind you that tomorrow is our Family Math Night from 6-7 here at the Lab School! Bring your family to play!
Tags: arithmetic
Oct
25
2011
Mrs. Argus
Yesterday, the kids were excited to jump right back into creating our large, 24 foot airplane. Many friends helped one another construct walls for the plane’s fuselage, the body, out of cardboard and taped them together. We then moved to covering the remaining exposed roof of the plane on the cockpit and the tail. Lucas, Hutton, Monica, and Ruth worked together to make sure that before they fixed it on the top, the roof piece was centered and visually appealing. They enjoyed taking turns standing back and letting friends know whether to move the piece more to the left, more to the right, towards Mrs. Argus, and so on. Once we had the pieces covering the cockpit and tail, Hutton said, “So now what?” Messi heard our conversation and excitedly shouted, “Our airplane needs wings!”
Friends measure the length of the box.
More children joined us as we started our discussion on wings. Would they be small or large? Would they need to stand out straight from the plane or should they hang down? Where on the plane would we place the wings? Ruth suggested we look at some of the different sizes of collected boxes in our room. After looking at different shapes and sizes, we decided on two large boxes, because we wanted large wings. I asked, “How do we know which is longer?” Monica suggested we measure them on the class number line on the floor. Messi and Hutton carried the first box over to the number line. Ruth explained that the box needed to start by where it said 1 so we knew how long the box was. After measuring both large boxes in this way, we discovered that they were both exactly the same size! We decided on using the nicer looking one that had less wear and tear. Lucas came up with the idea to draw where the adult could cut out for the wings. He carefully drew the wing with a pencil, and then traced it over with a black marker. After the wing was cut out, we tested to see how it looked on the plane. The kids were pleased, and so was I! A great fit. Tomorrow, we will see if we can creat a symmetrical wing to match our first.
Very carefully drawing where the wing should be cut out.
Tags: arithmetic, capable, project
