Ms. Bearse's Site

We are using our shapes to design awesome playgrounds.  We are calculating how much space is used up and how much space is available for kids to run around.

Today we got into groups and had one “expert” show the rest of the group how they solved a problem posed to the entire class.  They made visible all of their thinking, and spoke their thoughts and strategies, explaining why they did what they did.  The observers had to write down what they noticed the experts doing.  Every minute we paused to allow observers time to write points.

We switched experts and we solved new problems involving linear systems.  We will collate our observed data tomorrow to come up with a master list of things that good problem solvers do.

We learned about some mindfulness strategies today, and how to help ourselves relax when we are faced with anxiety.  Emma Jane is our adolescent care worker, and she has all sorts of ideas to share with us.

We did some stretching…

Now we all know what this poster signifies!

We also met Jackson, a service dog in training, who is learning about life in a school.

He’s a pretty chill puppy.

We looked at the prisms we made.  All have a volume of 300 cubic centimeters.  

We grouped them together and ordered them from minimum area to maximum area.  The more cubelike they are, the lesser the surface area they will have.

We walked today and used pedometers to track the steps we took as we walked around the perimeter of the city block.  We used the number of steps we walked in a 10 meter distance to do some distance calculations too.

We made rectangular prisms today with the volume of 300 cubic centimeters.  We did calculations, made nets, and assembled them.  The next step will be to calculate the surface area, and compare all the different sizes of prisms.

Today we worked on determining the perimeter and area of complex shapes.

We also practiced showing our thinking on paper.

We are comparing bean growth by making scatter plots.

These two rectangles have the same perimeter.  They are made from the same number of toothpicks.

The areas are different.  Perimeter is the sum of all the side lengths.  Area is the space inside, length times width.