Fourth grade continued its exploration of geometry today. Yesterday they were given the definitions of various geometric transformations and today they were asked to give them a try and to try to recognize the different types of transformations. Students started by working independently, but as they finished, they had to collaborate to determine whether they were right or wrong. In most cases, this was not a problem, but in a few instances students had to discuss why they believed their answer was correct and another student’s was incorrect. Being able to explain your mathematical thinking is a big part of what we do.

Third grade continued our discussion regarding effective research. We touched on Wikipedia – it has its uses, we talked (again) about bias and perspective, and touched on primary and secondary sources. It is unlikely that students will use primary sources during their research into ancient civilizations, but it will come in handy sooner rather than later.

Yesterday second grade was very, very sure they knew all there was to know about fractions. Today they are less sure about knowing all the things. They once again used cuisenaire rods to work with fractions. The first couple of problems they were asked to solve were pretty easy – Find the orange rod, figure out which rod is half of the orange rod (it’s the yellow one). There was some good-natured grumbling about how “easy” this assignment was right up until they turned their paper over. When told that the white rod was 1/5, they had to determine which rod was 2/5. This required more thinking than they realized. Mrs. Johnson stopped by to see what we were up to this morning and she remarked about how excited they all were as they tried to answer the questions they’d been given.

A Wrinkle in Time is up next for the fourth graders in reading. They were given the book and asked to determine how many chapters they would read a week, keeping mind that they are already reading books for their classroom teacher and in some instances another book with Mrs. Flowers. They decided on two chapters a week, with four chapters read during winter break. They are allowed to read ahead if they like, knowing that they cannot spoil anything that was not in that week’s reading and that they always have to know what’s in that week’s assigned chapters. Once they made that determination, they filled out calendars that would help them stay organized. Somehow, those calendars ended up laminated so they wouldn’t get messed up.

Third grade math continued to grapple with Torran numerals. The week before Thanksgiving students were asked to learn the difference between a number and a numeral. They were then asked to compare our numerals with those of a planet called Tor. This has caused some frustration, but also a lot of good conversation. Students are looking for patterns and trying to explain how the number systems are related. Today students were encouraged to use unit cubes to help show the number and to see if they saw a pattern. This was helpful for most groups. Students sometimes feel that math manipulatives are for kids who aren’t good at math. I have explained that manipulatives are good for everyone. I hope this activity reminds them of that lesson. On Wednesday, they will grapple with that idea a bit more (two groups are pretty close to being able to explain what is going on). Then I’m going to make them add and subtract using that number system which will definitely make some heads explode.