Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Week of November 24-26

This week, 5a finalized their carnival games.  They played and reviewed another group's game, and now we are ready to invite our classes in to play!  Here's one example of a game created by Christie and Isabel.


HW: Finish carnival game (including poster with directions, name of game, goal/how to win, etc. and separate sheet with theoretical and experimental probability).
***Study mathematician's journal including glossary to prepare for unit test.***

5b created the rules of their games and figured out the probability of the player winning and losing.  Their hw is to finish #5-8 and complete p. 59.  Their games should be ready to be played by another group next week so it can be reviewed.


4a and 4b took their post-test on algebra this week.  Everyone made huge improvements!

4c finalized their mall ads and are ready to shop next week.  Don't forget to study for the unit test!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Week of November 17-21

This week, 5a continued to work on their probability games.  By next week, they should be ready to be played and evaluated by our G&T classmates so that we can make final adjustments before inviting our classes in to play our games.

HW: p. 59

*Due to the lockdown, 5b did not meet this week.  We will continue to work on our games next week.

Classes 4a and 4b worked to finalize our mall ads.  Next week, we will shop in one another's stores and find the values of the variables in the ads.

HW: study for unit test by reviewing mathematician's journal (including glossary)

*Class 4c did not meet this week because Mrs. Emmich chaperoned the 2nd grade field trip.  We will finalize our mall ads next week.


Classes 3a and 3b explored boxes by looking at their faces, edges, and vertices.  We also found the perimeter and area of each face and used our measurements to calculate the total surface area.

HW: finish box poster and complete p. 75 in mathematician's journal



Classes 3c learned about surface area today.  We figured out that you must find the area of each surface of a rectangular solid and then add those areas together to find the total surface area of the figure in square units.  We talked about how much frosting it would take to cover the 4 sides and the top of a whole cake compared to individual pieces of the cake once it is cut up.  We realized that it would take a lot more frosting to cover each individual piece's 5 sides.  After all, when the pieces are part of the whole cake, the pieces have only one, two, or three sides frosted.  The video below give an explanation of how to find surface area if anyone needs clarification:
https://learnzillion.com/student/lessons/1222-find-surface-area-of-rectangular-prisms
Use the picture below to help you with this week's homework.  You need to explain how to calculate the surface area of each individual piece of cake.




HW: p. 71

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Week of November 10-14

This week, the 5th graders were introduced to our final project: designing carnival games that are slightly unfair.  After all, we carnival owners have to make a profit!  Students must be able to calculate the theoretical and experimental probabilities of winning their games.  Once the games are designed, we will invite our classmates in to play the games.  Hopefully, they won't notice that the odds are stacked against them!  Check out the site below to play some carnival games that involve probability.
http://mrnussbaum.com/probfair/

HW: research probability games from around the world (directions are on a separate piece of paper, not in books)


In fourth grade, we continued to work on creating advertisements for our stores in the class mall.  Instead of listing the prices of the items we are selling, we turned the items into variables that our shoppers must solve for.  We tried to create equations and systems of equations that will be appropriately challenging for our shoppers (other 4th grade G&T students across the district).

HW: p. 59


Classes 3a and 3b learned about surface area today.  We figured out that you must find the area of each surface of a rectangular solid and then add those areas together to find the total surface area of the figure in square units.  We talked about how much frosting it would take to cover the 4 sides and the top of a whole cake compared to individual pieces of the cake once it is cut up.  We realized that it would take a lot more frosting to cover each individual piece's 5 sides.  After all, when the pieces are part of the whole cake, the pieces have only one, two, or three sides frosted.  The video below give an explanation of how to find surface area if anyone needs clarification:
https://learnzillion.com/student/lessons/1222-find-surface-area-of-rectangular-prisms

HW: p. 71

Class 3c learned about the volume of rectangular solids this week.  The volume is the amount of space occupied by a three-dimensional object often measured in cubic units.  We learned that, in addition to the dimensions of length and width, we also need to consider a 3rd dimension of height when figuring out volume.  We used connecting cubes to make pieces of cake and figured out how many pieces would fit into cake pans of varying sizes.  The video below gives a clear explanation of what we learned:




HW: p. 67

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Week of November 3-5

This week, the 5th graders played a game called "Spin for a Shape" and used experimental and theoretical probability to determine whether or not it was a fair game. We found that making a table was a good strategy to find all possible outcomes of the game.  We also learned that in order for a game to be fair, the theoretical probability of each player winning must be equal.

HW: Finish p. 51 and complete p. 53.

In fourth grade, we began discussing our final project.  We will turn our classroom into a mall!  Students will create advertisements showcasing 3-4 products, but instead of listing the prices, the store owners will create equations where the variables are the products.  Customers must solve equations and systems of equations in order to determine the prices of the products.

HW: p. 57 and find or draw pictures of your items