NASA - Spot The Station--next couple of nights will be great!

NASA - Spot The Station



Here is the hyperlink to get the time and position for viewing the International Space Station. Our weather, though super odd for winter, is great for tracking the ISS around the earth. It is very clearly visible. You can get reminded about it coming over by downloading the ISS app on your phone and set the alarm. It will give a five minute ring and that will give you time to go outside and look up! Be sure to wave to the astronauts! :) Notice the miles away it is over head. Sometimes it is just the distance from here to Seattle. So cool. go to the NASA website and view lots of info about the station. Remember every 90 minutes it is passing over the western U.S.

Keel Boat Model Project- Up the Missouri with Lewis and Clark

Field trip to Hell's Gate State Park and participating with the ranger at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center there is set! Feb. 27, 2015 We'll leave and have the whole day there!

These pictures are the start of the kids learning create the template pieces for their keel boat which is a model of the one Lewis and Clark used in the trip up the Missouri River in 1804. They are practicing reading the diagrams. Area measurements for each part of the keel boat are measured, cut and will be transferred to cereal boxes. The cereal boxes are the abundant resource over buying balsa wood. That might be the next Donor's Choose... The cut outs will be taped together. Will it float? We shall see...

Math Tag!

 This game is morphing nicely. The two Teacher's Assistants, Ayden and Caden led Morning Meeting. Their activity was a game we have played called Math Tag. We picked a factor to use and when you are tagged you freeze in the multiplication or division sign. To be freed another classmate runs up and gives you an equation. Once solved, everyone runs again. We circled up and chose 3 or 4 new "Its" and then run like the wind!!

In the circle we talked about doubling numbers. It was really cool to notice the patterns in that particular factor group. Good Educational Fun because it allows the kids to reflect on their accuracy with simple math facts.

Math is a verb!!!

Problem solving and getting kids to think is really what the whole school day is about. Though we break it into subjects and time slots, the process is all about doing those two things. It just so happens that math is often thought about as only procedures. It's like knowing the alphabet and being able to make words, but never putting words into anything more complex than a few sentences.
 Words are the things we recognize as the symbols for oral and written communication. In this same way, the symbols in the language of math communicate ideas and the ideas get more and more complex. And that is because the problems become more complex.

The idea is to remember that the real mathematical purpose behind symbols is to communicate tangible concepts (or intangible concepts as the math become theoretical).

For adults, think of how signs on the road are a part of driving. Driving is complicated by many variables and reasons, tasks, and material. Signs are essential, but more needs to be known to drive.




The pictures in this post were from last week as the kids moved through timed stations with an unknown dividend/product and to figure out the multiples. It was a way to assess their strategies. By the 3rd move, the partners were able to find the factors or non factors for the mound of "gold nuggets." They had 10 minutes per station. On Tuesday, we went over the numbers and wondered about the process. And, that just knowing the math facts is essential, and a tool.

Are there remainders, what does that mean?

This week using their thinking in solving real word problems has been hard and interesting. 4th graders are really learning that thinking is problem solving and the first step is figuring out the problem and what to solve for, whether you are doing some math thinking, writing a narrative, or driving a car. (These are just a few of the metaphors that are probably popping into your mind.)

How do you want to group? Why?

Prime or not? Why?

 
 Using any type of manipulative to make a number have real value is key.

 Cooperation of how to figure out the process was a large part of this activity. Checking and keeping record. Counting by multiples, noticing patterns and having a game atmosphere because of a time limit kept it lighthearted. There were no creepers though. Next time. :)

 If students were counting by ones, I stepped in to remind them to use a more efficient method. Often, the students rely on what is comfortable--just like us--so getting thinking to move is the support I provide.

Friday night and into late Saturday this past weekend, I got to do some great Professional Development in CDA working with other math teachers throughout the region. We work on what we attend to when working with students, crafting questions for interpretation, and helping to respond to needs. The goal is to have kids think deeply by helping them develop their number sense to apply, analyze, and communicate their thinking. We dissect video footage of kids doing math. It is fascinating and  a time of great reflection for what I get to do each day!

 Every pair was matched by how easily they worked together. These partners also share where they are as math thinkers. By partnering the kids in this way, this time, was to allow them to learn together and not have one person lead while the other listened. Participation is key to individual growth. When kids work cooperatively and then have time to go back over the work, as we did, they create connections and make analytical leaps in their problem solving and content knowledge.

Focused and Fun, Engaged and Interactive, Supportive and Logical Thinking

After reading 5 stories about Home...now it's time to write

The  three writing assignments will have different levels. The first one is a Personal Narrative  about Home-- the students started brainstorming yesterday in their Writers' Workshop notebooks. Then each one wanted to put an idea up on the board because it builds inclusion, inspires ideas, and helps the writing become much more focused and detailed. Today, the class will work through another activity to grow their one focus by breaking into sensory and anecdotal snippets.

Brainstorming about the theme of HOME was at first hard because the idea is so much inside them that they haven't ever thought about how to find it or explain it. Once specific examples are described today, each writing will be unique and interesting, personal and reflective.





 People set the tone. Animals are definitely a large part of the idea because the kids spend time one on one with them.

 

Companions of love

         Sights and sounds

The Web Graphic Organizer of the 4th grade brainstorm session--only 15 minutes--great start!

Annabelle has won 2nd place in the school district wide MLKJr. Art Contest!

             The Latah County Human Rights Task Force sponsors an essay and art contest for the whole school district and this year Annabelle won 2nd place for students in grades 3-5. The theme was around inclusion and diversity with the prompt to teach about The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 24th Amendment to make Poll Taxes against the law.
              The students learned about the era through music, did see the full speech that MLK, Jr. gave in Washington and discussed the importance of voting. We thought about the words in the Pledge of Allegiance--liberty and justice for all-- and how each day we must work to do that. They saw photos of President Johnson signing the bill into law with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr as his side.

Annabelle's drawing will be on display at the Human Rights Breakfast this Saturday. There are usually 400+ people from around the community that attend and Mayor Lambert will call all the winners up on stage to be presented with a certificate. If you would like to join in on the activities, go to the Moscow Middle School Multi Purpose Room at 9 a.m. The cost of the breakfast for adults is $8 and for kids $4. All profits go back into the schools for human rights education.

Here is an example of the art from our class. Traye did the essay which was a letter to Governor Otter. It is wonderful to be with such a conscientious group of young people who value each other and want a world where everyone is treated equally.

This 3D piece was done by Austin. 

Evaluating Math Games from App Store, then Division BINGO!

Working in partners, the students had to find 3 games, play them and give them either a thumbs up or down and explain why. On Monday, the class will share the games. Notes were kept in their math notebooks.

Explaining the game to each other and deciding if it has value.

Serious consideration about math games

                                            

Typing skills, analysis, and balancing their notebooks--they are great learners!!

 The goal is to find math games that support 4th grade math concepts for practice. It is hard to find good games that have some depth of content and fun to play. They kids noticed right off that creating games that are for lower grades is easier and there were more of these. Finding games for the intermediate group is harder because the levels are wider and the students have pretty high expectations of engagement.                                                              
          Last year when I did this with the class, the App Store had only a few games that the class really liked so it was good to see new games had been uploaded, and some that were pretty fresh and fun fueled with good content coverage.
Because the kids get to do math with Mr. Khan of Khan Academy and Ten Marks, they do know what feels right.

Each person had a chance to play the game and the talk was lively and completely focused!! 

                                             

Lots of choices; refining the search

  THE CONCENTRATION of BINGO-- Whether it is multiplication or division-- they love it. There are four students that help each round. Two call the letter and equation and two students scribe the equations so that when someone yells, 'BINGO!", the numbers can be checked.  It is fun and the class transitions so smoothly from Chromebooks to interactive game. It is also a good self assessment tool because they note how well they are keeping up with the basic facts. Doing games like this reinforces that they need to have recall of these facts-- just part of the math toolbox.

We had time for a half hour of Chromebooks and BINGO!!!

The thought bubbles above their heads you can actually see.:)

GO SEAHAWKS!!!!

Calling, Scribing, Checking, Concentrating

Math game at its simplest- and very effective -low technology still works great!