Week of October 24-28

This week, the 3rd graders explored the concept of volume and capacity by learning about the English measurements: fluid ounces, cups, pints, quarts, pottles (half-gallons), and gallons. We learned a cool way to remember how to convert from one measurement to another.

Then we tried to figure out what types of lemonade we would buy for a class party based on the size and cost of each brand of lemonade. We want to be smart consumers and make sure we are getting the most for our money!

Hands-on exploration of liquid measurement!

in 4th grade, we learned about compound events and explored all the possible combinations when you roll two dice and find the sums or products. We learned that not all sums and products are equally likely. By making a tree diagram, list, or table, we were able to prove that some sums and products were more likely than others. For example, the only way to get a sum of 2 is to roll 1 + 1, so P(2) = 1/36. To get a sum of 7, you can roll 1 + 6, 2 + 5, 3 + 4, 4 + 3, 5 + 2, or 6 + 1, so P(7) = 6/36 or 1/6.

Students learn that making a table is a really efficient way to find all possible sums and products when you roll two dice.

In 5th grade, we continued to use the design recipe to define functions. We learned a new function called "put-image" that allows us to place one image on top of another in a specific location using x,y coordinates. I challenged the students to use this new function to create a flag of their choice. The image below shows how by using definitions and ratios, we are easily able to change the values for width and height and still get the red circle in the center of the flag.

Week of October 17-21

This week, we continued to work on finding the area of irregular shapes. We watched THIS video on how to cut off pieces of irregular shapes and reattach them to form a regular shape like a rectangle. Then we can use the formula for finding area (a = l x w) to calculate the area of an irregular figure. For more practice on this concept, try some of the activities in THIS slideshow.

In 4th grade, we learned systematic ways to find all possible combinations or outcomes of a situation. We made tree diagrams, systematic lists, and used multiplication to find the number of total combinations. Can you figure out this challenging problem?

Four different coins are tossed one at a time. How many different combinations of heads and tails are possible? List them. (Hint: use a tree diagram). Check out THIS video if you need help.

The 5th graders learned how to define values and functions in their programming language. We talked about how defining values and functions allows us to write code that is more efficient. We also learned how to use variables when defining functions (like if we want to make green triangles of different sizes or to make circles of different colors). Ask your child to show you what he/she can do in wescheme!

Week of October 10-14

This week, the 3rd graders continued to explore ways to find irregular area. We learned a method that involves decomposing a figure into rectangles, finding the area of each one using the length times width formula, and adding the areas together to find the total square units. We also learned to count whole and partial squares and add them together.

In 4th grade, we solidified our understanding of the difference between theoretical and experimental probability. We now know that theoretical probability is the number of favorable outcomes over the number of possible outcomes. It is not dependent on the number of trials. For example, on a dice, p(1)= 1/6 because there is one favorable outcome out of 6 possible outcomes. Experimental probability is the number of times an event occurs over the total number of trials. According to the Law of Large Numbers, the more trials we do, the closer experimental probability will get to theoretical probability. 4d also explored systematic ways to find all possible outcomes of a situation.

The 5th graders continued to learn new functions to create images and to combine images. Ask your child to show you how to use overlay to make a picture! 5d started to learn how to define functions in order to be more efficient. I am so impressed with how quickly the students are picking up on all of this new info. We have lots of future programmers on our hands!

Week of October 5-7

This week, 3b figured out the most efficient ways to find the area of an irregular shape (a fried egg). Instead of just counting each cm square inside the figure, the students figured out that drawing large rectangles inside the egg and finding their area by multiplying length times width saved us a lot of time. We still had to account for the whole and partial pieces that didn't fit inside one of our rectangles, so we also discussed how to put the partial pieces together to make wholes and add everything up.

4c and 4d learned how to use theoretical probability to make good predictions about what SHOULD happen in an experiment. Then they conducted experiments, compared their predictions to what ACTUALLY happened (experimental probability) and realized that even though our results won't come out exactly as we predicted, using theoretical probability is much more reliable than randomly guessing!

5c and 5d learned how to make and manipulate images using racket code. We learned new functions like rotate, flip-horizontal, flip-vertical, scale, overlay, and we used these functions to do lots of cool things to images.

A student uses the overlay function to combine images.