I hope you all had a great week off - I know it was much needed around our house! Mornings have been difficult the past few days though as we are all getting used to hearing our alarm clocks again ...
For a variety of reasons, I chose not to announce the Math Champs for Challenge #11 during the MMM. The teachers were asked to make the announcements in class and I visited each of the Champs and winning classrooms on Monday. Because there was a lower participation rate with the last challenge, AND because there was a higher than normal amount of students who did not put very much effort into their work ... I decided to choose 2 Champs for each level (Primary and Intermediate). These Champs, and the other students who did a great job of showing their thinking and effort, really made me proud!
And the recognition goes to ...
Primary Math Champs: Roland in Ms. Thibault's class & Charlie in Ms. Eakin's class
Intermediate Math Champs: Lucca in Mr. Liner's class & Luka in Ms. Goldman's class
The Primary Classroom winner is: Ms. Thibault!
The Intermediate Classroom winner is: Ms. Goldman!
The "onlies" for Challenge #11 were:
Briar and Jocelyn (her 1st time) in Ms. Brown's class
Nina (she did 2!) in Ms. Smith's class
Charlie in Ms. Eakin's class
Skylar and Lucca in Mr. Liner's class
Nikkia (her 1st time) in Mr. Bing's class
CONGRATULATIONS ALL!
Math Challenge #12 is posted and ready to go ... who's ready to TAKE THE CHALLENGE?!
For a variety of reasons, I chose not to announce the Math Champs for Challenge #11 during the MMM. The teachers were asked to make the announcements in class and I visited each of the Champs and winning classrooms on Monday. Because there was a lower participation rate with the last challenge, AND because there was a higher than normal amount of students who did not put very much effort into their work ... I decided to choose 2 Champs for each level (Primary and Intermediate). These Champs, and the other students who did a great job of showing their thinking and effort, really made me proud!
And the recognition goes to ...
Primary Math Champs: Roland in Ms. Thibault's class & Charlie in Ms. Eakin's class
Intermediate Math Champs: Lucca in Mr. Liner's class & Luka in Ms. Goldman's class
The Primary Classroom winner is: Ms. Thibault!
The Intermediate Classroom winner is: Ms. Goldman!
The "onlies" for Challenge #11 were:
Briar and Jocelyn (her 1st time) in Ms. Brown's class
Nina (she did 2!) in Ms. Smith's class
Charlie in Ms. Eakin's class
Skylar and Lucca in Mr. Liner's class
Nikkia (her 1st time) in Mr. Bing's class
CONGRATULATIONS ALL!
Math Challenge #12 is posted and ready to go ... who's ready to TAKE THE CHALLENGE?!
As I was looking through the students' work on Challenge #11, a few of them really stood out to me. First off, this wasn't a challenge that you could easily do without using some physical models ... getting your hands involved, not just your mind. So hats off to every student who did that! It showed in your work and helped guide you to finding the correct solution.
Here are some of the highlights:
Marina - 2nd grade: I first used this cube (the picture on the challenge) to help then my Rubics Cube. Real life cubes: Rubics Cube, dice, box, 2 by 2 Lego brick, salt crystal, sugar cube
Nina - 1st grade: "How did you do?" Awesome! Real life cube: MineCraft night light, alarm clock, dice, Kleenex box
Briar - 1st grade: Real life cube: microwave
Roland - 2nd grade: Real life cube: tissue box, wood block
Lucca - 3rd grade: I made a magnet 3d cube and dissected it. I carefully evaluated 7 times because I saw my sister break a cube down into 7 different parts.
Ava - 4th grade: "How do you know you are correct?" I checked with a teacher (not from this school) **Ava also had a fantastic diagram of her dissected cube that clearly showed the 7 cuts that she made to 'flatten the box.'
Sadie - 4th grade: First if you cut 3 corners of the top, and cut each side, the box will fall down in one piece.
Jake - 5th grade: I cut a Kleenex box into one flat piece.
Bella - 5th grade: I made a model and used the cubes at the top of the page. I tried it 10 times and it ended up 7 (cuts) every time.
Ian - 5th grade: I tried a few different ways and they were all 7. There are 12 edges in a box and there are six sides to a box that need unbroken edges 12-5=7. (I think you can see where he was going with this - definitely the most scientific answer I received!)
Hazel - 5th grade: I tried it with origami paper. (and indeed she did - she even taped her two examples onto her paper)
Luka - 5th grade: I cut the creases so that box would unfold. Then once it properly unfolds you can see how many cuts you made. I tried multiple ways to prove my theory.
What stood out to me with these students' answers was their connection of math to real life (the list of real life cubes); their use of models/tools to find their answers; and that many of them tried more than once to "prove my theory" as Luka put it.
I could feel the magic of learning taking place and connections being made!!!
In closing, I hope that these student examples offer some inspiration and guidance to those who are working on Challenge #12. This challenge is different from what the last few have been - the focus this time is on logic and reasoning. From what I have been hearing from Ms. Smith, Ms. Meck, and Ms. Goldman ... you are going to need to keep your patience and perseverance close at hand while solving these problems!
May the Math Force be with you!
Ms. Francisco
Here are some of the highlights:
Marina - 2nd grade: I first used this cube (the picture on the challenge) to help then my Rubics Cube. Real life cubes: Rubics Cube, dice, box, 2 by 2 Lego brick, salt crystal, sugar cube
Nina - 1st grade: "How did you do?" Awesome! Real life cube: MineCraft night light, alarm clock, dice, Kleenex box
Briar - 1st grade: Real life cube: microwave
Roland - 2nd grade: Real life cube: tissue box, wood block
Lucca - 3rd grade: I made a magnet 3d cube and dissected it. I carefully evaluated 7 times because I saw my sister break a cube down into 7 different parts.
Ava - 4th grade: "How do you know you are correct?" I checked with a teacher (not from this school) **Ava also had a fantastic diagram of her dissected cube that clearly showed the 7 cuts that she made to 'flatten the box.'
Sadie - 4th grade: First if you cut 3 corners of the top, and cut each side, the box will fall down in one piece.
Jake - 5th grade: I cut a Kleenex box into one flat piece.
Bella - 5th grade: I made a model and used the cubes at the top of the page. I tried it 10 times and it ended up 7 (cuts) every time.
Ian - 5th grade: I tried a few different ways and they were all 7. There are 12 edges in a box and there are six sides to a box that need unbroken edges 12-5=7. (I think you can see where he was going with this - definitely the most scientific answer I received!)
Hazel - 5th grade: I tried it with origami paper. (and indeed she did - she even taped her two examples onto her paper)
Luka - 5th grade: I cut the creases so that box would unfold. Then once it properly unfolds you can see how many cuts you made. I tried multiple ways to prove my theory.
What stood out to me with these students' answers was their connection of math to real life (the list of real life cubes); their use of models/tools to find their answers; and that many of them tried more than once to "prove my theory" as Luka put it.
I could feel the magic of learning taking place and connections being made!!!
In closing, I hope that these student examples offer some inspiration and guidance to those who are working on Challenge #12. This challenge is different from what the last few have been - the focus this time is on logic and reasoning. From what I have been hearing from Ms. Smith, Ms. Meck, and Ms. Goldman ... you are going to need to keep your patience and perseverance close at hand while solving these problems!
May the Math Force be with you!
Ms. Francisco