Exploring Fractions on a Number Line We love using Cuisenaire Rods! They are a great tool to use to compare fractions and find equivalent fractions. During this exploration, students used different rods to partition number lines into different fractional parts. Then we compared the number lines to find equivalent fractions. This was actually an activity from the previous week. Writing Back to Our Pen Pals from Sweden We were SO excited to receive letters from our pen pals! We noticed they have different paper then ours and that they write the date differently. Everyone enjoyed reading their letters and writing back. What a great way to write for an authentic purpose! Drawing Representations of Multiplication and Playing a Multiplication Game Learning About Supply and Demand Do you see all of the colored tiles on each desk? That was their income that they could use to bid on a piece of gum during a supply and demand game. I assigned a dollar amount to each different color tile. I told the kiddos I had a very low supply of gum-one piece. They could use their income to bid on the gum. Almost everyone bid most or all of their income, (they really wanted that gum). The gum went to the highest bidder. Someone suggested I "sell" something else, so I suddenly discovered 5 more pieces of gum, (this was pre-planned, but I love that a student came up with the idea so it looked unplanned). For this next round of bidding, most of the students increased their bid because they knew they had a better chance of winning the gum even though there was still low supply. So the demand was high and so was the price. After the highest bidders "bought" the five pieces of gum, I suddenly found more gum-a whole pack. A few kiddos figured out they could lower their bid to $1 since their was ample supply of gum. After explaining this idea, most of class realized they could reduce their bid. And in the end, there was enough gum for everyone, but we all had a greater understanding of supply and demand. And...it was lots of fun! Field Trip to Westcave Preserve was also a highlight from the week. I wrote another post about it, so be sure to check it out. Coming up Week of February 13-17Writing: This week we will be starting public service announcements for our PBL. Students will use a storyboard format to plan and write a script for their psa. They will have choices such as a Powtoons, a video, or slideshow for their format. This is one of my favorite writing activities. It's hard work, but worth it in the end. We'll watch several quality public service announcements and a few that aren't so good to determine the features that make a good psa.
Reading: We'll continue reading, discussing, and responding to informational texts this week. As we read, we'll learn more about making inferences, using our prior knowledge, and synthesizing our learning. Math: More multiplication and division! We'll work on the last facts this week and represent these facts in various ways such as arrays, equal groups, area models, and pictorial models. We'll solve problems involving multiplication and division within 100. Also, we'll describe a multiplication expressions as a comparison such as 3 x 24 represents 3 times as much as 24. Science: Our focus will be on weather tools and observing weather which will wrap up our unit. Students will observe, measure, record, and compare day to day weather. We'll take the test on Thursday. Social Studies: Last week we had a great time learning about supply and demand through an activity where students had to bid on a piece of gum. I gave each student a handful of tiles which was their income and they used their income to bid on the piece of gum. Most students were willing to bid all their money when the supply was low. After the first bids, I discovered more gum-five pieces. Then I found even more gum at which point a few kiddos realized they no longer needed a high bid since there was ample supply. We'll continue learning more about economics and our free enterprise system this week. Upcoming Events Tuesday February 14th-Valentine's Day Party at 1:30.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |