Round 'Em Numbers

The third graders have been working on rounding this week....rodeo style.  We started with a lot of number line work and talking about what decades certain numbers fell between.  For instance, if given the number 57, students would say, "57 is between 50 and 60, it is closer to 60."  Soon the students understood the "rules" for rounding.  We made an anchor chart about when to round up and when to round down.  The rope and hats made it even more fun and memorable!



Students played a rounding game of top it.  Players had to pull two cards and make a two digit number.  Then, they rounded the number to the 10s place.  They compared their number to the opposing player and the greater number took all the cards.  The winner had the most cads at the end of the game. We also did some work in our math notebooks of whether numbers were to be rounded up or down.

Odd or Even

For second grade math, we are starting by developing number sense and exploring place value concepts.  This week we focused on determining if a number is odd or even.  We read a delightful story called Even Steven and Odd Todd.  From the story, we realized even numbers can be paired.  We found a pattern that even numbers end in 2, 4, 6, 8 or 0.  Odd numbers have 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 in the ones place.





    We played a couple of different dice and domino games where students found sums and sorted the sums by odd or even.  We also made an anchor chart to help us remember the rules we were discovering.
     Further, we have started to explore the last part of this objective "can write an equation to express an even number as a sum of two equal addends."  For instance, 6 (an even number) can be expressed as 3+3.  I gave the students a hand full of plastic circles.  They had to see if they could evenly divide the manipulatives into two equal piles.  Then they had to write the equation with dry erase marker on the desk.  They thought writing on their desks was pretty cool.  This activity proved to be a little more difficult and we will need to continue to practice this concept in the upcoming week. One of the students suggested we use M&Ms next time.  Smart kid!  What a tasty way to practice some more.

Constitution Day

Constitution Day is September 17th.  We celebrated in class by learning about this momentous document.  We had a preamble puzzle.  We listened to the school house rock song several times and decorated the puzzle like a flag.  Then, we cut out the pieces and had to put it back together.  Later, we learned that one of our students' great, great, great, great grandfather signed the constitution.  We found his signature and everything!  How amazing!  Here is something you might want to do at home.  It is a quiz called Which Founder Are You?  I bet the children would love to know!  I got George Washington.  Click here to take the quiz.

Place Value

 

Both the second graders and third graders are working on place value concepts.  While the objective above is a second grade objective, third graders have the same objective but are working with numbers to 10,000 (and with this group we just went ahead to the millions).  Here is a peak at some of the games and activities we are using in class to explore place value.

Here are some math magicians working with place value riddles.  I read the riddle and the students had to use their wands to find the number that matched the criteria.  For instance, one clue said to find a number with all odd digits.  Another clue asked the children to find the number that had 80 tens.  I had three different sets of cards for challenging all my math magicians.  In the next coming weeks we will be working with more riddles with more independence.




We have also been working a lot in our interactive notebooks.  Above, the boys are spinning a number to write in standard form.  Under the flap, they wrote the same number in expanded form.



Another favorite activity for practicing expanded form was "Number Grab Bag."  Inside the bag were 1s, 10s, 100s, 1000s, and 10000s.  Students would grab a handful and figure out the number in standard form.  Next, they recorded the number in expanded form.  We had a great discussion about the importance of zero as a place holder.



We have had lots of different matching activities so students are practicing seeing large numbers in word form, standard form, models, and expanded form.  The students are doing fantastic.

In class, the students loved a free app called Math Slides.  We have been playing the place value version, as well as, the numbers >1000.  Another great way to practice these important place value concepts at home.   

Another great app is called Mystery Number.  It is similar to this the number riddle games we have been playing.  The app contains four different games that give students lots of opportunities to explore concepts of number and place value. The games can be played with one player or two.  Check out Mystery Number ($1.99) on the app store. 

Here is a list of interactive web based games.  Each game works on place value concepts. Your child can click on the links for extra at home practice.

Build a Hundreds Chart
Skip Counting, 10, 5, 2
Base Ten Fun

Shark Pool

Scooter Quest. Play until level 3.

Fruit Splat.  Play the hard level.
Hockey Play level 2.

Australia and Asia

Our travels and research continues.  This week we went to our third and fourth continents: Australia and Asia.  The scholar above brought his globe from home that has a plethora of information to read to us.  So cool.


Our around the world unit is really helping us develop the common core standard illustrated above. At the beginning of the unit, the students came up with great questions to explore with each continent.  The students developed questions about location, size, landforms, landmarks, animal and plant life, and culture.  As I said in the Africa post, I was unable to keep up with the children as we charted the answers to their research questions.  With Australia, I didn't even try.  The students went about their research and added information to our chart independently.   They did amazing and were so proud to share all their learning.



With all this research, I thought I might check to see it the children were remembering the information that we are learning.  We played a game of headbands with important words for our study.  For instance, words like Sahara Desert, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Antartica were written on cards attached to one child's forehead.  The other students on their team had to describe the word in the headband without saying the word.  So much fun! The vocabulary of these second and third graders was pretty incredible.



Next, onto our largest continent!  Our travel to Asia brings an all new S.T.E.M. challenge.  Before we were introduced to the challenge, we learned about the Silk Road.  We learned that the Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes connecting Asia to Europe, East to West.  Our S.T.E.M. challenge was to design a cart to travel the Silk Route in a caravan.  The cart had to follow certain specifications.

The engineers got straight to work.  At the end, we had a mighty creative caravan.  Students shared their creations with the group and also posted their learning to SeeSaw.  In the next newsletter, look for the information on SeeSaw.  SeeSaw is a digital learning portfolio.  By downloading the free app and scanning in (your code will be in your child's envelope next week), you will be able to see and compliment your child's hard work.  So much of the learning and projects we do in class is not paper/pencil.  SeeSaw provides another great window into your child's learning.  Stay tuned!





Last note, it is RAINING!  So thankful.  However, the rain did mean indoor recess.  We use a website called GoNoodle.  It is fun, engaging, and gets those little bodies moving.  The students wanted to do this Zumba dance called Indian Moonlight because we were studying Asia.  Ha! Just look at those smiles! By the way, the sound effects are not in the song...that was totally kid created.

Soar With Us

This week in science we studied how hot air balloons fly.  Then, we used our knowledge to construct our own hot air balloons.  The students were shown an example and given the cut pieces they would need.  Each group was in charge of the order of construction and had to experiment how to get the smoothest and strongest seams.  Tissue paper and glue aren't the easiest materials to manipulate.  Each group worked with great cooperation and paitence. 



We let the balloons set for the night before launch the next day.  In the morning, we did some last checks for holes.  We found that some seams came unstuck during the night.  After careful investigation and repair, we headed out for launch. 




The balloons all took flight.  Success!  The joy and wonder in the children's eyes was magical!  We found our best flights were the third and fourth attempts.  What a fantastic day in the connected combo!  Thank you to Mrs. Gnerer for coming out to help and bringing our launchers.  Also thank you to Mrs. Shimamoto, Mrs. Carsten, and Ms. Frey for your help during construction and launch.