Geometry Comes to Life with Pro-Bots

Could you apply all that you know about the properties of two-dimensional figures (including angle size) to program a robot to draw a series of regular and regular polygons? These students can!

It's Time to Build the Robots!

The fourth and fifth grade students began to build their LEGO robots this week. A decade of data and research shows that exposing elementary students to robotics builds 21st  century work skills and greatly increases their motivation to seek education and careers in STEM fields. I wouldn't be surprised of there are some future computer programmers or engineers in this group!

Grade 1 Bee Bot STEM Challenge

The first graders completed their Bee Bot STEM challenge with flying colors. The excitement in my room was palpable, as you will see and hear when you watch the short video below!

Grade 1 Bee Bot Challenge

Awesome Squiggles Grades 2 and 3

The Awesome Squiggles project has been a huge success thus far. I have been wowed by the creativity of these students! Every child started with the same four squiggles, and yet the end products are each so different. Please take a moment to watch the presentation below highlighting both the process and the products!

Awesome Squiggles Presentation Grades 2 & 3

Original Four Lines

A Finished Masterpiece

Awesome Squiggles Grades 4 and 5

The fourth and fifth grade students have created some amazing pieces of art from their four squiggles.  Check out the presentation below to see a brief snapshot of the process and their amazing creativity!

Awesome Squiggles Presentation 2017

Build Me If You Can - Day Two

Students looked for and made sense of structure today as they created triangles that were 1/3 green and 2/3 yellow. They determined that each triangle was exactly 4 times larger than the previously created triangle. You know a lesson was successful when there is a collective "NOOOOOOO" heard when they were told that it was time to clean up. They could have continued exploring this math concept all day long!

Third Grade Explores Visual Models

This week's third grade math task challenged students to visualize and model the inherent structure of fractional relationships utilizing Cuisinare Rods. 

Awesome Squiggles

The fourth and fifth grade students are very excited to participate in the Awesome Squiggles project. Classrooms from around the world are participating in this collaborative project focused on developing global citizenship by broadening our individual perspectives. This week the students were challenged to create an original piece of art that incorporates the four random "squiggles" shown below. 

In April, we will share their masterpieces with our partner classroom via a Google Handout. However, we don't know where in the world our partner classroom is located! To add to the excitement, we will be challenged to pinpoint the location of our new friends by asking them a series of "yes" and "no" questions. Please check back often for updates and feel free to follow this project on Twitter at hashtag #awesomesquiggles.

Build Me - If You Can

These students are refining their understanding of fractions while also developing their ability to prove a mathematical concept using a visual model.

Which One Doesn't Belong?

These young mathematicians were challenged to construct a viable argument that would convince their peers why a particular shape did not belong in the given set. The justifications were quite impressive.