Bill McCallum and the CCSSM

Bill McCallum, the leader of the Common Core writing team, spoke at our Council for Presidential Awardees of Mathematics leadership seminar at the NCTM National Convention in Philadelphia last week. His Illustrative math web site has many tools and tasks for the CCSSM. Check it out at this address  http://illustrativemathematics.org/standards/k8

Build a Turtle Pen

Let’s build a fence for our turtle. I’ve purchased 24 feet of fencing from Home Depot. My pen needs to be in the shape of a rectangle. How many different pens can I build? If I use all 24 feet for each option, will the perimeter remain the same? What happens the area when I go from a one foot wide pen to a two foot wide pen? See student work. I start the activity with flat toothpick. Students can concretely build the 1 x 11 pen and so on..

Blowing Hemispheres

Map and globe study in social studies gives me a unique opportunity to use bubbles to introduce the vocabulary. Placing bubble liquid on the desktop and blowing with a straw produces half of a sphere or a hemisphere. When the bubble pops you can measure the diameter of the circle left behind. Extensions include: How high is your bubble? What is the mean diameter of your first 5 bubbles? Can you compute the circumference of the circle left behind?

When you finish you have CLEAN desks! Enjoy!

Harring Patterns

Our class studied the work of Keith Harring.  He is famous for his simple drawings of people and animals.  In New York, he would do drawings in the subway.  The children made an "Harring-ish" drawing and then used in to make patterns.  You can see the transformations in their patterns.

Combinations of 15

Our class studied the artist Jasper Johns.  He is famous for his number paintings.  We did our version of his work by making combinations of 15.  They traced the number overlaying them in each frame.  Can you see 15?

Symmetrical Faces

The idea for symmetrical faces came from "mathwire.com".  I shared the book Let's Fly a Kite by Stuart J. Murphy.  The students looked for lines of symmetry on pattern blocks and in the classroom.  The final activity was making a symmetrical face.

Cathy Kuhns Visits Marrie and Cindy

Cathy Kuhns stopped by Marrie's while working in Tennessee.  It was great catching up with her and talking math!  Be sure to check out her books which contain fabulous math ideas and lessons.