Math Brawl

 Today we gathered in the dining room for the second grade math brawl.  After completing a qualifying test, the top eleven students in the grade level were invited to participate.  Our class had three students in the competition.

There were two rounds of DIFFICULT questions.  Four children "survived" the first round and went to the finals.

 The children from our class held up signs and cheered for their classmates.

Zachary has a mind for math and WON the whole brawl!  We'll be sure to pull for him as he represents our school in the district math brawl next week!!  Good luck Z-man!

Picture Perimeters

Why measure accurately?  In this lesson first we practiced measuring the length and width of a 4 x 6 photograph.  We discussed how pictures are framed and how we know what size frame to buy.  During the work period, we measured different pieces of artwork that students in our class produced in the art lab to measure the dimensions (length and width) and then calculated the perimeter of the picture.

We recorded our thinking on our student sheet.  We all used inches so we could discuss our results with our table groups.

We brainstormed times you would use measurement (when you want to know how tall something is, the distance between two points - how far away something is), how long or how wide an object it...

Then we practiced....  We found the more we measured the more accurate we became and the easier it was to measure.

One of the misconceptions was with a piece that was 18 " wide.  When we measured 12" we were accurate.  A boy put his finger down to mark his place and then proceeded to measure 5" on the other side of his finger.  In our closing meeting, he told us he knows his finger is one inch and learned to mark his spot with the tip of the pencil instead so he would get an accurate 18" instead of the 17" he recorded.

The two most important questions students answered, discussed, revised and answered again were written on the bottom of the student sheet:  Why is it so important to measure accurately? and What did you notice about the actual length and width compared to the perimeter?  Made for an interesting closing meeting.

The first time I saw this lesson was when my mentor Suzanne Shall taught it for a demonstration lesson a few years ago.  She developed it and we "borrowed" it.
Post by Mrs. Morris

Pumpkin Math

On the last day of October we carved six pumpkins. Yes, we did carve faces into them and yes, we did use candles to light them up but our lesson was much more interesting than just that. First we did some estimating. How heavy was our pumpkin? How many seeds did it hold? What was the circumference? Then we actually measured to find the answers to our questions. After writing our conclusions, we carved faces and lit them up.

Estimating

Scooping seeds out

Sorting the seeds

Finished project

Calendar Math

Every day we do Calendar Math. First we look for patterns on the calendar. We notice what was yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Then we count how many days we've been in school and talk about how many tens there are. We have a clock (that's new). We are working on telling time. Today we counted by fives on the clock. We also have a wallet. Every day we add a penny. When we have 5 pennies we trade them in for a nickel. If we have two nickels you could make it a dime. Finally we have our birthday graph. We have most of our birthdays in July and none in March!

By Brandon P. and Mrs. Metzger

Pumpkin Math

On October 31st we had a day filled with Pumpkin Math! Ten wonderful parents sent in pumpkins of various sizes. The children split into small groups and estimated how heavy their pumpkins were, what the diameter and circumference would be, and how many seeds they would find inside. Our awesome parent volunteers helped the kids actually weigh and measure the pumpkins and then cut off the top so the children could count the seeds. When all data was collected and recorded the kids drew jack-o-lantern faces and the adults cut them out. At the end of the day the pumpkins were raffled off and sent home!

By Mrs. Morris