All Updates - Week of December 19 - 22

All of the classes are working on a visual thinking activity using tangrams.  Tangrams are a geometric puzzle. The seven pieces are used to form specific shapes.  I ask all students to first create a square using all seven pieces.  Then, they have a stack of about 30 other designs of varying difficulties to try to complete. These puzzles work on the development of visual /spatial thinking.  The pieces must be manipulated to fit the given shape.  Often the children get frustrated, but the satisfaction when they accomplish the square is immense. They are so proud of themselves.
You can see and or print a tangram puzzle at http://math.about.com/od/geometr1/ss/tangram.htm.


First Grade - During our class on Tuesday we not only did the tangrams but we wrote another good news / bad news story.  These stories, along with the ones completed last week, will be put in the classroom library for all the enjoy during their free reading time.  We caught up with the travels of a few flat students.  If you know where the flat person might be we'd love to get an email update.  They can be sent to my school email: llecours@ucityschools.org.

Second Grade - Wow, the games are fabulous.  We only had time to play eight of the games today, but the rest will be played when we return.  Most everyone brought their games home to be played over the vacation.  Some want to make improvements to their game after it was played in class.  It is not required that they "improve" the game. I would like all games back in the class on January 4 when we return from break.  I will give the kids more time on the fourth to play the games that have yet to be played.  During the rest of January I will give the kids time to play the games at the end of each class.  Game will come home permanently in February.

Third Grade - After tackling the tangram puzzles we moved back into the Math Around the World game of NIM.  I hope you had a chance to try it out at home.  We discussed the strategies students thought they had found for winning the game.  Next, we tested out the strategies and tried to prove them wrong.  Our next game is Kalah or as most know it Mancala.

Fourth Grade - Students continued to tackle the 17 kings and 42 elephants problem. It's really interesting to see how differently each student sees the problem.  Here is the basic problem: How do you divide 42 elephants between 17 kings?  The students had to show it with cubes and then write their explanation. The writing was very difficult for some. After they wrote their solutions we traded papers to see if another student could recreate the solution with their cubes. Some were unable to do so and wonderful conversations ensued.  We'll continue on with the division unit when we return.

Fifth Grade - Due to the minimal time we'll have together this week, the fifth graders will be fine tuning their newscasts during any time we do have together on Thursday.  Everyone should bring their binders to turn in to me for review.