Cultivating Minds Without Losing My Own

Join me on my Adventures in Elementary Education

Marshmallow Architects

June11

On Friday we experienced what it is like to be an Architect. Prior to designing and building our own structures, we watched a YouTube video on what exactly an architect does. Check out the link below to watch the clip!

So You Want to Be an Architect”

Once we learned that the first job of an architect is to design, we worked in groups of 4-5 to draw a design for our structure to be created out of only mini marshmallows and tooth picks. Each group had 15 minutes to sketch a design. After they had a sketch, they worked as a group to implement their design. They had 1 hour, 1 bag of mini marshmallows, and 150 tooth picks to complete this task. The competition requirements were to have the tallest sturdiest tower. All structures would be measured at the end of the hour for height and again at the end of the day to see which group’s was the sturdiest. Groups also had to measure the length and width of the base and use those measurements to calculate the perimeter and area of the base.

Our winning group had an original height of 12 inches and an ending height of 6 inches.

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Weekly Learning Objectives for October 22-26

October21

Happy Sunday!  After another not-quite-long-enough weekend it is back to the grindstone.  I hope you all were able to enjoy the weather and get outdoors with your families this weekend.  My family spent Saturday at soccer fields and visiting the new Amish Market in Bridgeton.  If you haven’t been out there, I highly recommend it.  AMAZING food, great prices and just some wonderful people to deal with.  All that out of doors activity has my allergies in an uproar so hopefully I make it through the week with a voice.  Right about now I sound like a cross between Marge Simpson and the mom on the Big Bang Theory :(. 

On to our objectives!

Reading: This week we will be working on summarizing.  A good summary answers the following questions:

Who was the story/article about?

What happened?

Where did it take place?

When did it take place?  (past, present, or future time)

Why did it turn out the way it dis?

How were the characters involved?

Grammar:  Students will be working to make sentences say more by adding descriptive words.

Vocabulary: Students will be working with more adjectives this week to make our writing more interesting and descriptive.

Writing: Students will be working to edit, revise, and publish their first portfolio piece about citizenship.

Math: Students will be using estimation and mental math to find sums and differences of 3 and 4 digit numbers. (addition and subtraction)

Social Studies:   Students will continue to learn about citizenship and the steps it takes to become an American citizen.

Science:   Students will wrap up their mock rock experiment.

Solving Pesky Word Problems Using Organized Lists

October17

Sometimes word problems are just that- Word Problems, meaning that their is no numbers to add or subtract, just words to organize.  These types of problems are the hardest for students to solve!  These types of problems are also the ones we face the most in life 🙁 .  We worked today to develop skills and strategies to solve this kind of problem.  We came up with 2 plans of attack when we are faced with these evil challenges.  The first attack plan works for problems with few choices like the picture on the top left.  This problem read:

Madison and Maren have 3 pets, a dog, cat and fish at home that they have to feed each day.  They like to feed them in a different order each day.  How many different combinations can they use to feed their pets? 

To solve this problem they wrote out an organized list like the one you see in the picture, then counted the number of groups they created to get their answer.

For problems that involve multiple variables (choices) they used our second pland of attack.  They created charts to help organize the information given like the one in the picture to the right.  This chart helped them solve the problem below:

The school spirit team is creating new shirts to sell.  The shirt colors they can choose from are blue, green, red, yellow, and white.  The designs  they can choose from are a bear, a picture of the school, or a thunderbolt.  How many different combinations can they create?

By creating the chart, they could easily organize and then count the many combinations they created. 

Students hate these types of word problems.  I know this.  I do not assign them as a form of torture, but rather as practice for life.  How many times have you as an adult had to look at different combinations for a sandwich or seating arrangements for an event?  Being able to take information and organize it in a way that makes combinations easily accounted for is a life skill.  So while they may moan and groan a bit doing homework tonight, encourage them to try their best and review the steps and pictures above.

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Assessment Two Ways

October3

OK, my secret it out…..I have been watching WAY too many episodes of Chopped on the Food Network when I start naming my academic posts the way chefs name their main courses!  We wrapped up topic 2 in our math series today.  While my students love taking their assessments on our Pearson Success Net website (though not nearly as much as I love them taking them on the web especially since it grades them for me 🙂 ) I really felt they needed to SHOW me they learned something this time too.  Hence a dish I like to call Assessment 2 Ways. 

Students took turns using our classroom computers to take the traditional math test with a technological twist recording answers on the web.  Other then the obvious benefits such as less wasted paper and the option to have parts of the test read aloud to students who struggle with reading, it also has a huge benefit for me the grading-challenged teacher!  Students get immediate feedback upon completion of the test.  Not only do they get their score, but they also learn which topic areas they did well in and which areas they need to revisit.  Students who do not do well on the initial test will have the opportunity to study those areas, revisit the on line lesson videos, and retake the test on Friday.

Creating Pattern Word Problems

The second, more performance-based, assessment they took today involved creating a word problem that can be solved using a pattern.  Once the problem was written they included a partially completed table and illustrated the problem.  All of our original word problems are displayed in our hallway with post it notes to encourage other 3rd, 4th, and 5th  grade students to solve them.  Students (and teachers) can take a stab at solving the problems on the post it and leave their best guess stuck to the paper.

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