Week 2 Activities

Story Problem of the Week - JEB’s License Plate

This week our story problem revolved around Jeb and his license plate. After doing a KWC on the problem, we concluded that our goal was to determine how many different combinations Jeb could come up with for the license plate on his new car. Sound familiar? Well, it should! It has the same underlying premise as Joel’s phone number from week 1. Research has shown that by having children engage in problems with similar formats, yet varying contexts deepens conceptual knowledge. This challenges students to think of even yet more ways that other situations may apply. I definitely saw this to be the case with the Joel & Jeb story problems. Arthur Hyde refers to this as a text-to-text connection in mathematics – relating story problems of similar formats and concepts to one another.

Using the data we collected from week 1’s hand and feet measurements , we explored range, mean, median, and mode. By putting these words to movement and music, we were better able to retain their meanings. Ask your child about Range Dog – a song NOT to be missed!
(Click here to hear an excerpt http://www.songsforteaching.com/math/medianmodemeanrange.htm )
To take learning one step further and to address yet another learning style, the students also made illustrations of each of the terms. As always, I was blown away by their ingenuity and creativity!

I Have….
Mental math is an important skill for students to continually practice. Exercises in mental math can utilize the language and vocabulary of mathematics, as well as refine computation skills and develop number sense. I Have is a great way of “playing” with mental math. Children are dealt a card that contains a statement and a question. One student begins the game by reading his/her statement (ex: I have 49.) Then the same student reads his/her question (ex: Who has an even number between 52 and 77?) The other students listen, think, evaluate their answer, and respond by reading their solution when it satisfies the question asked. This means that students have to pay close attention to the clues that are given, while simultaneously staying focused on the information contained on their card. Whew! It’s quite the mental workout!