30 Minute Fridays!

Friday, January 24, 2014

On Friday's I only have 30 minutes with the grade 3's. We decided to consolidate the weeks learning with this problem solving opportunity (For the record: This was supposed to be the WORKING ON IT portion of Wednesday's lesson).

Students had geobards and came up with a variety of responses. They were excited to share their thoughts.

Along there way  there were some misconceptions, that we needed to clarify:

1 - This had 3 sides and 2 right angles, but was it a figure or shape?

2- Student could tell me that this was an octagon, but they couldn't point out the right angles - back to the drawing board.

3 - This shape had 3 sides, but where are the right angles?

4 - What a neat looking shape - again, right angles?





In the end we determined the following:

• All shapes, are closed figures.
• No 3-sided shape could have 2 right angles
• Once you figured out one shape, it was easier to create many more.

Attributes are today's focus!

Wednesday, January 21, 2014

Today, Joe and Linda; two guests from the board office, stopped in to see what was up in grade 3 at St. James the Greater!

Before getting into the activity of the day, we reviewed some of the ATTRIBUTES that we've been looking at over the last couple of days. We've discussed side length, parallel lines, and the different types of angles. In grade 3, they only need to know the right angle, and compare all other angles to it. In our class, we learned about obtuse and acute angles too!

This was their first task:

Here are some of the ways that we sorted our shapes:

The first group, sorted by REGULAR and WEIRD shapes. From this, in our consolidation, we talked about what makes a shape REGULAR and IRREGULAR. Other groups had similar sorting - some had "Shapes I know" and "Shapes that I don't know" or "Awkward and Non-Awkward"

This second solution, went in a bit different direction - Quadrilateral vs. Non-Quadrilateral. We then reviewed all the shapes that we know are quadrilaterals. This lead to a discussion on shapes with 4 sides. 

With the topic of side lengths, another group had 5 groups, all looking at different side lengths.

In the end we created an anchor chart of ways that we can sort our shapes. We determined that the many different ways we sorted the shapes was by the different attributes. This is what we came up with:

Ever have a day where you planned a three part lesson plan, but the first activity takes up the entire lesson! This was one of those days - but I guess that means there was some pretty great discussion!

What's your Angle?

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Today we investigated angles. We determined and learned that a RIGHT angle is exactly 90^o. One student asked, "What is an angle that is more than 90^o called?" Obtuse. "And what if it is less than 90^o?" Acute - I remember that it is acute because it is a cute little angle, it's small. 

Our MINDS ON! activity was sorting a variety of angles. Here are two different group solutions:

We had one group on the SmartBoard and three other groups on the iPads using the Smart Notebook App, and the remaining groups using laptops. 

The Notebook app is $6.99; here is what we liked about the app:

• It is better than having to sit and wait your turn
• It is way better than cutting and pasting things on to a paper because then if we glue something where it isn't supposed to go, we can move it without a big mess, or having to start over.

As a class we looked at the response on the left - we talked about how all the angles are CLOSE to 90^o but a couple students didn't think they were all right angles. 

We talked about somethings around the room that looks like a right angle. We determined that it looks like the letter "L" and we can see it in squares, on the corner of our Smart Board and even the corner of the table in the room. 

Spending TIME on Time!

Thursday January 16, 2014

For the past week, we have spent some TIME reviewing the parts of an analog clock. We were working on telling time to the nearest 5 minutes; which is expected of grade 3 students.

Here is today's problem-solving question:

Thank you to Marian Small, for another great question.

Some of the groups used iPads to work through the question. They were using EduCreations for the first time. They were told to record everything while solving the question, as I wanted to go back and hear the conversations. 

The link below will take you to a "video" created by two of my students using this app. Essentially, it is like a mini-interactive whiteboard. It allows students to write, type, insert pictures, and most importantly, allows them to record their conversations. 

Some how, i erased the oringinal video created by the pair. However, priot to its deletion, we talked about how they could improve their communication. Here were my orignal recommendations:    Next time, I would encourage students to TAKE a picture of the clock they were using, and allow them to annotate the photo, this would give a more accurate reading, and really allow them to zoom in on their discussion and the math talk; lesson learned! :) I would also likely encourage BOTH partners to talk. Zach normally is talkative, but maybe being recorded made him a bit shy?

Here is how one group went about solving the problem:

EduCreations video created by Ava and Zach

On a side note, I have just started a project looking at communicating effectively in mathematics with the use of technology. I plan to sit down with this group to review 2 stars and one WISH based on their communication in this problem-solving activity.

Again, partner conversations are essential, we will work on this.


This is what another group came up with:

They were prompted with the following questions:

Can you get the hands even closer together? 

What would the time be?

This is what they did! They impressed me, and figured it out on their own!

At the end of the lesson, we shared a number of results. It was the first time we used the adapter cable to connect the iPad to the projector. The students were impressed at the clear image, and thought it was neat to listen to their friends work through the problem. 

We showed some results that weren't very close. We talked about how being one number apart would fit the criteria of the problem. We reviewed how the clock looks as the minute hand goes around the clock. We noticed that the hour hand slowly moves as the minute hand goes around. We then consolidated our learning by revisiting their solutions they drew of their clocks originally, and adjusting the hands, to have a more accurate reading. 

Their ticket out the door for recess: They had to answer a time set on the teacher clock. This really indicated who knew the basics for telling time and who still mixed up the 
minute hand and the hour hand.

I hope you enjoyed my first BLOG entry. Until next time!!