These guys and gal will begin a new unit on exploring dimensions, 1-,2- and 3- dimensional shapes, eventually leading into geometry. Always up for the challenge, these students will work their way through a progression of activities, culminating in 3 dimensional shapes.
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Today will be our last lesson on relational attributes. The boys in this house have excelled in making a series drawings that show 1,2,3 or even 4 changes to shapes! They are quite good at seeing exactly how many changes are going on in the series. We will use this work in our next unit on "Set Theory," beginning next week.
Our group of boys are replicating the water wheel experiment that Newton did in his youth. Each student has built their own wheel with either 4,6, or 8 fins on it. They will be going through the scientific procedure to predict and then test their wheels to determine which design works better. They will then draw conclusions about what they learned and keep those in their experiment journal that they have started.
Also, our Minute to Win It On Stage begins this week, since all students have had time to practice. We heard a couple of students last week who wanted to try and boy were the others impressed. Hopefully this will spur all students to want to work on math facts. The boys just finished unit one and two with a very difficult Einstein page. Tomorrow, they will do benchmark testing on the Star Math test. You will be able to see how they did next week at conferences.
This Friday is the Leadership Muffin Morning. If your child comes home with a ticket tomorrow, they are invited to our session at 7:30. A student will be at the back door- Kinder rooms, to let them in with their ticket. Carson and Elijah keep each other going! Because they are so competitive with each other, they push each other to know the most. Currently we are using the Ed Zacarro Book Primary Grade Challenge Math, for Grades 1-4. This material offers activities that go beyond calculation skills for children who already know the basic concepts. Each chapter is broken down into level 1 (easy,) level 2 (somewhat challenging,) level 3 (challenging,) and finally Einstein (very challenging.) It is amazing how quickly they are getting the concepts- even those at 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade level. So far they've done "What's the Next Number?" and " Don't Let it Break." Tomorrow they will do the Einstein level of the "Don't let it Break" chapter.
This week our House of Newton group did a STEM Activity based on the work of Newton. They completed balloon experiment that proved his Third Law of Motion. Students taped a balloon to a partial straw and then put it on a stationary string. When they let it go, they saw that the air went out in one direction and the balloon flew in the other. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action." We also completed the observation sheet for this experiment.
This next week we will begin our math unit on sequencing/patterning. While both are very skilled at patterning, this will take into account patterning with fractions. Look for their activities coming home! |
Blog Author, Mrs. Albrecht
Mrs. Albrecht is a 30+ year educator. Having taught in both Texas and here in Eagle County, Colorado, she brings years of teaching expertise and technology to her classrooms. Archives
December 2017
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House of Newton
House of Newton is named for Sir Isaac Newton. This math/science group will work on both higher level math concepts and in STEM projects based on Newton's life.