Every moment is an experience...an experience of observing, participating, learning, understanding, applying. This is true in math class as well. Join our math experience and be a part of the moments that shape our math learning.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Bivariate Data Survey Form
Please enter the data you collected using the form link below.
Each person will need to enter their data.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZMw69v6BLQn9MqBkSeG9J_kHUjacZh9wBRzF1rvkfLw/viewform
Each person will need to enter their data.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZMw69v6BLQn9MqBkSeG9J_kHUjacZh9wBRzF1rvkfLw/viewform
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Math Spirit Week...Shape Day
It's math spirit week!
We are celebrating the pi day of the century...
3.14.15.9.26.53
Saturday, 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 to be exact.
You can celebrate in the morning or evening...OR BOTH!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Two Divide or Not To Divide
This week in Algebra is not your typical week.
We set aside the textbook and notes,
And brought out the map and the list of league schools.
Two challenges were set before us and the kids divided themselves into groups based on their interest to the particular challenge they chose to focus on.
Challenge #1: If the league expands to 16 schools, how should they be divided? Mileage needs to be the considered in all cases.
Challenge #2: Instead of dividing the current 11 schools into two divisions, could a schedule be created that limited the miles for all schools, yet created a more of a round robin approach to scheduling games?
The discussions,
the questions,
the approaches,
the failures,
the restarts were all amazing to watch and listen to.
The justification,
the counter claims,
the communication,
the perseverance,
were evident as our math practices were put into real life action!
We set aside the textbook and notes,
And brought out the map and the list of league schools.
Two challenges were set before us and the kids divided themselves into groups based on their interest to the particular challenge they chose to focus on.
Challenge #1: If the league expands to 16 schools, how should they be divided? Mileage needs to be the considered in all cases.
Challenge #2: Instead of dividing the current 11 schools into two divisions, could a schedule be created that limited the miles for all schools, yet created a more of a round robin approach to scheduling games?
 |
| Challenge #1 |
The discussions,
the questions,
the approaches,
the failures,
the restarts were all amazing to watch and listen to.
The justification,
the counter claims,
the communication,
the perseverance,
were evident as our math practices were put into real life action!
 |
| Challenge #2 |
The math models,
the tools used, (paper/pencil, iPads)
the thought processes,
the various methods,
showcased the habits that problem solvers embrace.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Math Humor
At the beginning of the year, we talked about ways to interject fun.
Humor is always an easy way to do this.
Today we solved a proportion problem on a mole.
One student solved the problem using the multiplier method instead of cross products.
Which prompted another student to announce that she had use "mole"tipliers!
Lol!
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