FISH!, Dots, and the Big Bang

This week in math has been stuffed with preparations for our new year.

FISH!
Students learned about the FISH! philosophy used in Pike's Place Fish Market in Seattle, WA.
Pike's Place Fish market is World Famous because of their philosophy of
     1) Choosing Your Attitude
     2) Having Fun
     3) Being There for Others
     4) Being in the Moment

The student's challenge was to take the 4 points of the philosophy and identify ways those would look like in our math classroom.

Pre-Diagnostic Tests
In the middle of the week we buckled down to take the pre-diagnostic test.
This necessary "evil" allows me a glimpse into their math world so I can get a head start of understanding their strengths and weaknesses as I plan my lessons.
It also gives them a benchmark score to compare to at the end of the year so they can see how far they have come in their math learning!

Dots
Students had to tell me how many dots were in the shape without counting them.  As students began to justify their thinking in how they saw the dots, it quickly became apparent that although there was just one correct answer, there were a lot of ways to get there.  Our math class is structured in this exact way.  We encourage multiple methods of solving a problem to help everyone learn and move their thinking.

Perseverance
Math is necessary.  Math is fun.  But math can also be challenging.  When those stumbling blocks get in our way, it is necessary to persevere through to make sense of the problem.  This short clip from the "Big Bang Theory" demonstrates what perseverance looks like in action.  It also brought in our four FISH! philosophy components: 1) They had positive attitudes about the process.  If they had had a bad attitude, they would have given up.  2) The video was fun to watch and the music added to the message.  3) When Raj had a headache, Sheldon not only told him where the aspirin was but asked if he was all right.  Serving Others.  4) They were in the moment.  For a long long time.