Introduction to Mapping

We made maps of our bedrooms!
We read some books about mapping, and then made maps of our bedrooms.
We discussed birds eye view and then used some real doll house furniture on a grid to represent our furniture.

This really helped with the scale of furniture (and toys) in the rooms.

Life Cycles

The Grade 2's are observing life cycles of butterflies and the life cycles of frogs. Then they will compare them!

We were really lucky to see some butterflies while they were emerging from their chrysalis. It usually happens in the early morning (dawn), but we saw many of them.

We have also been watching our tadpoles grow legs. It is really cool!

 

Composing 2 Dimensional Shapes

We have been learning about 2 Dimensional Shapes.
Our Learning Goals for this Unit are:

 First we learned what a polygon is, and then we learned the properties of different polygons.

 

We added geometry words to our Math Word Wall as we went:

Then we did a warm up -- we had all spent lots of time using pattern blocks, so this wasn't too hard.

Then the problem was introduced.
First we had to talk about how the word "least" has a few different meanings!
And one student asked if the hexagon had to be a "regular" hexagon (excellent question!) No it does not have to be regular!

 

Then we worked in pairs to solve the problem:
We are really learning how to show our work clearly!

One group found a way to create a hexagon with only 3 pattern blocks! AMAZING!

What we learned:

DPA

DPA is "Daily Physical Activity"
It is recommended that each day we have at least 20 minutes of sustained exercise.
On days that we don't have gym or pool, we do some form of exercise in the classroom, in the hallway, downstairs in Room 35, or outside.

I have been reading this book about how exercise helps our brains learn other things better.

One day last week we had a tabata challenge with Mme. LaFlair's class. For 4 minutes we alternated squats with seal jacks.

Here is a fast motion video of us during one of our sets!

Mental Math

We have been learning many mental math strategies for addition (and subtraction).

When adding we can:

• Count all 
• Count on
• Use doubles or near douibles
• Make a ten, then add  - 8+9 is (7+1)+9  which is 7 + (1+9)
• Make a "friendly number" 23+48 is 23+50 then -2 (the friendly number is 50)
• Compensate - manipulatint the numbers to make friendly numbers -- remove from one addend ant then add the same amount to another (48+12 is 50+10)
• Breaking numbers into tens and ones -- then adding the ones, then the tens, and making new tens if necessary

When subtracting we can:

• Count back
• Add to subtract -- 14-7 What do you need to add to 7 to get to 14? then count on.

Let's see if we can put some of these strategies into practice and explain our thinking.

(click on the images to make them larger)

 

We are getting much better at using Mental Math Strategies AND showing our work -- and we can orally explain how we found solutions.!

Mathematical Mindsets

This year, our school is focusing on Growth Mindsets -- especially in math.

Our "mentor text" is Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler.

"With Math I Can…" was born from the sobering realization that more and more kids and adults believe that they aren’t good at math. It is a mentality that is all too common and accepted in our society. It's a mentality that can have a profound and lasting negative impact on an individual. Our mission is to change that mentality and provide support tools to help teachers, educators, and parents deliver the message "With Math I Can…"

Learn much, much more here.

  
The statements below are Jo Boaler's favourite messages to give students (her 7 Positive Norms). Through these, we are trying to help all students have a positive attitude towards math.

 Read more about them HERE.

This is how we are learning the norms in Room 15 :)
 

Math is Awesome!

(encouraging a growth mindset)

Everyone can learn math to the highest levels

Mistakes are valuable - they help our brains grow!

Questions are really important – they mean that you are thinking.

Math is about creativity and making sense – we should be creating solutions that other people can understand and talk about.

Math is about connections and communicating. We can show our thinking in many different ways!

Depth is more important than speed. It is more important to think deeply, make connections and to show your thinking, than to answer something quickly.

Math class is about learning, not about performing. It takes a lot of time to learn and we learn best when we are trying really hard.

Dance -a- Thon

 We danced!

We all danced!

We learned to limbo too!