Making Sense of Money

February 24, 2014

Well, the last two weeks have been pretty busy! Almost seem to go by in a blur. Now that report cards are done, and things have settled for the moment, it is time to update everyone on what has been happening in grade 3 math!

Over the last week or so, we have been working with money! We have been reviewing all the coins and dollar amounts up to $10. We've been doing quite well, all things considering. I have decided to continue to teach the penny; even though Canada recently decided to get rid of it. I had the debate, but decided that there would be teachable moments when we get the cost of something, then have to figure out the change. I am trying to keep things safe, just in case. Not to mention, the curriculum has not yet changed.

Here is a video that covers the penny situation in Canada; fun yet informative! (CLICK LINK BELOW)

Canada gets Rid of the Penny

So, here is today's MINDS ON question:

Students were asked to discuss and share their thinking with their partners. This created a lot of discussion. We had students draw pictures, some get into repeated addition, while others did some multiplication. Here is a video of today's overall lesson, but it highlights some key points from the above question.

So, this was supposed to get things started, and get them thinking about the math. So, once we figured out that Daniel spend $0.89 on a book and $2.67 on three, we moved on to the EXPLORE problem involving Jayden, Cassidy and Chloe:

So, for this problem solving adventure, we went back to using EduCreations. My students love this app. What I like about it, is that these primary students can quickly set things up, explain their thinking, show their work, and have fun all while being great communicators. If they forget to write something down, I can still hear their conversation (IF THEY REMEMBER TO PRESS RECORD).

Ryanna & Zach share on EduCreations

In the CONSOLIDATION portion of the lesson, we shared a few EduCreations with the class, and showed the many different ways that we can represent $1.75. We talked about how sometimes we can have pictures, numbers or just words to help us work through a problem. A few decided that using manipulatives was easier; to which I agreed!! All that writing is hard at times :)

All-in-all, I would say today was a great problem solving day. Stay tuned for more great fun in grade 3 math with Mrs. Lake!

Dividing Things Up!

Week of February 3rd - 7th

So, this week we decided to take a little break from geometry, and move towards some division. I wanted to see what they knew; I wanted to see where to start my division process.

For a few, they didn't know the division symbol: ÷. For others, they didn't look at it like division, but splitting into groups. Some didn't understand the equal groups, while others went straight to multiplication, they worked backwards.

We read the book "The Doorbell Rang" by Pat Hutchins

Summary from GOOD READS:

Ma has made a dozen delicious cookies. It should be plenty for her two children. But then the doorbell rings--and rings and rings. Each ring of the doorbell brings more friends to share the delicious cookies Ma has made. "Refreshing, enjoyable and unpredictable."

Before modeling, before any discussion, the students were sent off on their own division inquiry. They were asked to represent 24 cookies in as many ways as they can. They could share the cookies with many friends, but everyone needs to get an equal amount of cookies. 

Here is a little video that displays what they did, and some of the discussions we had. Students were prompted to see if they could share with 5 or 7 friends,it made for some good points to discuss. Thanks again to iMovie for letting me have fun in displaying what these students are capable of, ENJOY!

Grade 3 -- Discover Division

Jackson and Heather then worked with the iPad, and played with EduCreations. They were taking pictures and making annotations. Now, I think they rehearsed a bit. Although, we did miss some of their thinking, they showed a couple results and show how splitting 24 cookies into 7 groups wouldn't work. They ran out of time to complete their thought, but this will be in part of this weeks discussion. We are starting to focus on "Math Talk" so we might be able to get more out of this, only time will tell; enjoy!

Jackson & Heather Divide using EduCreations

In the end, we shared some of our responses, and some of the strategies we used. We then talked about the connection between multiplication and division. Overall, a successful lesson!

FOR MY CLASSROOM PARENTS -- Just a little note; by the end of grade 3, our students should know up to 49 ÷ 7. While we are learning many of the approaches and strategies for division, it is important to continue practicing with your children, to this comes quickly to them!

Symmetry in Grade 3

Last week in January

This week in Grade 3 math, we were exploring symmetry! We started off our week reviewing what we know about symmetry using a modified version of the Frayer Model:

Students seemed to know what symmetry is, so this was more of a review. 

There were a few minutes left in class, so we created symmetrical designs using rulers as our line of symmetry. I have been playing around with iMovie, so below is a video of some of our designs:

Later in the week, we had an investigation. Each group was given 3 headings :

HAS ONE LINE OF SYMMETRY

                 

HAS MULTIPLE LINES OF SYMMETRY

HAS NO LINES OF SYMMETRY

They also had capital letters of the alphabet and had to sort them into groups. Here is another video of the day in math:

***** The volume gets really loud around 1:20 -- by volume I mean my voice is loud. I had to turn it up so we could hear the students responses.*****

** The quality of these videos is much better on the iPad, but you get the idea!

All in all it was a great week. A couple of the KEY questions that we talked about was this week were: 

Can an object or shape have MORE than one line of symmetry? 

We determine that  shapes can definitely have more than one line of symmetry, but some will only have one or none.

Is there a maximum number of lines of symmetry?

 We also confirmed that there is no maximum, just look at a circle or the letter O!

I hope you enjoyed this entry - feel free to leave a comment!!