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!! 

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!!