Which One Doesn't Belong?

Our collaborative math task today had us thinking about Which One Doesn't Belong? Students worked in partners and had to come up with reasons why the clocks didn't belong. Click through our Slide Deck to see all of our math thinking today. For homework, students can continue to share their thinking on their KidBlog accounts!

 

Twitter Survey Results and Data Collecting

This week we spent a lot of time collecting data by coming up with our own survey questions. We collaborated with friends to come up with our own surveys that we posted on our class Twitter page. When we received the results, we worked in groups to try to explain the data using comparative language (example: altogether, fewer than, more than, most, least, etc).  We will continue to work on comparing data from our Twitter surveys next week. Below, you can see our results. Ask your child about it!
We also completed our own personal survey questions with a target audience of Grade 1/2 students. We are learning that we need to keep our audience in mind when designing a survey question so that the options are relatable to the people we ask. We had a lot of fun designing survey questions and using our tally chart information to build a bar graph. Ask your child what a bar graph and tally chart must have. Next week, we will continue to work with data and talk about pictographs.

What is your favourite kind of flexible seating option in your classroom? By: Mrs. Ciampa #ocsb_math

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 15 November 2017

What is your favourite type of potato chip? By: Johanna, Diya, Maria, Moyo and Kayla #ocsb_math

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 15 November 2017

What trip do you want to go on? By: Jake, Joel, Tristan and Sophie #ocsb_math

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 15 November 2017

What is your favourite video game? By: Rory, Zach, Braeden, Reid and Khoa #ocsb_math

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 15 November 2017

What is your favourite ice cream flavour? By: Lachlan, Peyton, Megan,Maya and Aubrey #ocsb_math

— Mrs.Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) 15 November 2017

Results of Principal Mason answering the grade 3 survey on twitter. pic.twitter.com/Fj5H35vaFO

— St Emily School (@StEmilySchool) 17 November 2017

Math Centers

In Math we continue to focus on addition and subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers. In class, students are getting better adding and subtracting numbers without using their fingers. Our mental math strategies really help us to solve our math problems. Our math minutes help us to review our strategies and improve our scores each day. To review how to add and subtract using strategies we learn in class, please review our previous Blog post with great charts and information.

http://mrsciampaclass.blogspot.ca/2015/04/addition-and-subtraction.html

This week we introduced a few new math games to help us practice our mental math strategies with partners. We used many manipulatives, tools and devices to help us to add and subtract. Working together with their friends students got the opportunity to practice the skills we work on in class and teach and learn from their peers.

We played an adding and subtracting game using a deck of cards, a dice and dominoes. If you have any of these materials at your home, it is easy to play math games with your child! Simply make 2 or 3 digit numbers and play some fun adding or subtracting games using dry erase markers, or pencils! Ask your child how they play these games and try them at home. If you try a game, please share it with us on your KidBlog account!

Students also created their own subtraction posters at the Math Writing Center to teach their friends how to subtract numbers. The posters will be added to our Math Vocabulary Wall. You can comment on their Subtraction Blogs on our KidBlog accounts!




Students are reminded that they can access our DreamBox Math Account from home. Please continue to play fun DreamBox math games for homework to practice some key number sense concepts that are important for your child's success in grade three.

Math Play Day

Today our school participated in a Math Play Day. The interactive activities were organized by the grade 6 class. We were partnered with the Grade 5's and travelled together to each math station. The stations consisted of measurement activities and games to challenge us.
There was a Time Bingo station, an online math game station, a perimeter and area station and a cup stacking station.

The students were excited to participate in these math activities. We learned a lot by being partnered with the grade 5's. It allowed us to see inquiry math in action. We used team work and showed grit! Not all of our strategies worked, but working with our groups we were persistent.

While playing the cup stacking game, students made the connection between our current science focus on structures! We had to build a strong and stable bridge during our Scientist Workshop. The cup game was similar. We had to build the tallest (and most stable) tower! It took a while to find a stable tower, but students worked together to build a tower as high as they could. The tallest tower measured 71 cm high.

Here are some links to the interactive measurement games that we learned about today. Our class really enjoyed these games. They were excited to see games about perimeter and measurement since we are currently learning about them in our class.

Please follow the links to play the measurement games!

1. http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3534

2.http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/perimeter_and_area/index.html

3. http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/math/games/first-second-grade/time-to-move/

4. http://www.ictgames.com/fairyClock_v6.html (an analog clock that can be manipulated)

5. http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html (hickory dickory dock)

6. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/geometry/shapeshoot/VolumeShapesShoot.htm

7. http://www.compasslearningodyssey.com/sample_act/math_k/grade/subject/mak_04_03_03.html

8. http://www.turtlediary.com/grade-2-games/math-games/length-measurement.html

Videos on Measurement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCkv_aoC7M8

Challenge:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/ks2_activities/maths/activities/measures.swf

Data Collection

Our current Math focus is on Data Management. Over the past few weeks, students have been working towards analyzing and collecting data information. We recalled how to collect and organize data on a tally chart. Students recalled what tally charts must have and created a criteria list to refer to when organizing their data. 

Next, students learned what bar graphs must have. We created a must have list, and refer to it when creating our own bar graphs. Students learned new vocabulary such as AXIS. Students noticed that a bar graph is shaped in an L. The vertical part is the Y AXIS and the horizontal part is the X AXIS. We learned about the difference between labels and subtitles. We use graph paper and a ruler to create our graphs.

This week students came up with their own survey questions and created a tally chart. We went into Mme. Erskine's grade 4/5 class to ask our survey questions. We are currently working to analyze our data using math vocabulary. We are also working to transfer our tally data into a bar graph. Ask your child about what bar graphs and tally charts must have! 

Below is our Data Collection Criteria thus far. We will continue to work on bar graphs this week. Next week we will focus on Pictographs!

Skip Counting Problem Solving

In Math, we continue to work on recognizing patterns in numbers. We are learning how to skip count in multiple ways and from multiple starting points. Students are practising how to skip count forwards and backwards by 2's, 5's, 10's, 25's and by 100's!

We read this book by Margaret McNamara that focused on counting a large number of pumpkin seeds. We are learning that when we need to count large number of items, we must use skip counting strategies to group the objects. This will help us to organize and solve problems in a quicker way. When we counted the pumpkin seeds, many groups of students skip counted the seeds by 1's.

This week we looked at other ways to sort and skip count. Students worked in small groups to solve math problems. Students used manipulatives and what they've learned about skip counting strategies to help them solve the problems. Students are learning to read the problems carefully to see which skip counting strategy to use when solving the problems. All students recalled that when we solve problems we can use pictures, numbers or words. Excellent cooperation and problems solving was observed.

At home, students are encouraged to continue skip counting items by 2's, 5's, 10's, 25's and even 100's. You can use coins, pasta pieces, rice grains, beans, toothpicks or any other items you can find at home.

Pumpkin Investigations!

Adjectives to describe the inside and outside of a pumpkin

In Science, we continue to explore, wonder and learn all about pumpkins. This week students got the opportunity to really explore all about pumpkins when we did a pumpkin investigation. Students worked in groups to describe their pumpkin both inside and out. We used adjectives to come up with how we could describe the pumpkins. We also made predictions about the features of our pumpkin including how many lines it had and how many seeds.

Students had the chance to consolidate their learning from our pumpkin investigation and post their new learning on our KWL Chart for pumpkins. We know a lot more about pumpkins now. Investigating the pumpkins and reading stories has really helped our learning in science! 

Our current KWL Chart for pumpkins in science!

Using what we learned from Math, students had to come up with their own counting strategies to determine how many seeds they had inside of their pumpkins. We are consolidating our findings and learning more about how to skip count large numbers. So far we know that we can count by 1's, 2's, 5's 10's and even 25's. We will be practicing this skill for the next while.

Understanding how to find patterns in numbers helps us to see numbers in a variety of ways. We can use our strategies to help us count and sort big object (like boxes, desks or chairs) as well as little objects (like pumpkin seeds, coins or toothpicks). Students are encouraged to practice what they recall about finding patterns in numbers at home!

Below is a video of our pumpkin investigation fun. We used the Flipagram app for the first time. What a fun app to capture our pumpkin learning!


 

Our 3rd Week

Hard to believe that we enjoyed a 3rd week of school together already. Students are working very hard toward our on-going learning goals. We are learning more about each other and working hard to demonstrate cooperation and hard work.

This past week, we celebrated International Dot Day. We read the story The Dot By Peter Reynolds. An inspiring story that encouraged us to make our mark, persevere and keep trying! We began our visual art unit with this sweet story. Students were challenged to make their mark by starting with a small dot on their page and tasked to see where that dot might take them. Our class is pretty creative. We had some great ideas about where a little dot can take us. Our artwork is posted outside of our room. Have a look the next time you visit our school!

If you ask many of the students in our room what their favourite activity is outside...can you guess what it is? Soccer of course! Students in our class spend much of their recess playing soccer outside. So naturally, we will be working on our soccer skills for the next few weeks in gym class.

In soccer, it is important to learn some basic skills such as passing with the side of the foot, stopping the ball, how to pass to a target and how to control the ball. These are some of the skills that we worked on this week in our groups. Students are also working very hard to cooperate with one another. We are ensuring that everyone is getting an equal turn to practice. We are also working in our teams to demonstrate teamwork and patience. Kicking a ball around a target is a skill that students are learning to help them focus and how to guide the ball. Ask your child what they learned about playing soccer in gym class this week.






In math, students continue to work on number concepts and place value. We are representing numbers in a variety of ways. We are composing and decomposing numbers using many strategies while focusing on a number's place value. In grade 3, students work on 3 digit numbers up to 1000.

Our math blocks begin with a math problem on the board that we work on independently and then observe the strategies of a few volunteers. Students are learning from one another while identifying how to represent numbers. We are currently working on a place value activity that requires us to identify what our initials are worth using place value. Students are really enjoying this activity. Ask your child to recall how to represent their initials using standard form, number words or expanded form!

Missing Numbers

In Math we are currently working on solving algebra equations. Students have been looking at different number patterns to solve for the missing number using addition and subtraction. They are using math manipulatives to help them solve math problems and equations. They are also representing number equations that are equal. For instance, 4 + 4 = 2 + 6! Students are having fun with this math unit and are becoming very innovative with equal number equations. Some students are even challenging themselves by coming up with equal multiplication and division equations. Great math thinkers in grade 2!

At the Teacher Center, students played a number game to represent 10 + 5 in different ways. Excellent!

Probability

Our current focus in Math has turned to exploring probability. We are looking at data in different ways and analyzing how we can make a game fair to increase our chances. We are making predictions and guessing the outcomes to simple games using new math terms:

Today I learned 5 new words they are certain, likely, equal likely, likely, unlikely and impossible.
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 23, 2014

Ask your child about the math games we have explored this week. How can you use the new math terms to explain the outcome of a game? You can also ask your child to explain how to use the new math words to explain everyday events (for example: what is something that is impossible to happen?). 

Exploring probability by playing a coin flip game in math! pic.twitter.com/rLWgunsMgl
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 21, 2014

Division and Fractions!

Students continue to work on understanding how to multiply and divide numbers. We are problem solving and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. Students are learning strategies from their peers. Excellent peer-to-peer modelling of different strategies. 

Together we are using skip counting, equal groups, array and number sentences to show our work.  

Some strategies we use to solve a math problem.

Students held a Talking circle to discuss different math problem solving strategies. We read a question as a class and decided the words we should use when explaining our math strategy (For instance, I think, I can, I use, I disagree with, etc).

It was great to hear all of the different strategies. It was also nice to see that students were visualizing the shared strategies in their head while their friends were explaining the circle. Well done grade 2! 

After our Talking Circle, students completed another question. They had to use pictures, numbers and words to solve their problem. Have a look at some of the ways we know how to solve a problem! Below is a sample math problem we solved as a class. Have your child explain what strategy they used to solve the math problem!

Can you name the strategies we used to solve the math problem?

Math Tweets!!

CW says: I learned that 25 ÷ 5 = 5 and 5 x 5 = 25. It means the same thing!!!!!
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 13, 2014

RC says: 1/3 means: The top is how many you colour in. The bottom is how many objects you draw!!
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 13, 2014

RC says: Talking Circles help us to learn different strategies!

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 15, 2014

CW says: If you need help solving a math problem you can think about it, or ask a friend or the teacher to help you.

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 15, 2014

CO says: Math is great when people help you! When people don't know what to do in math they ask a friend or read the question again!

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 15, 2014

FF says: In math we divided 20 divided by 5 = 4!

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 15, 2014

AO says: In the talking circle we talked about math strategies we can use to solve math problems.

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) May 15, 2014