STEM - Halloween Pumpkins

STEM Project - Halloween Pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!  The classes had a BLAST building structures today with toothpicks and candy pumpkins. They made some really great pieces!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

Energy Cumulative Project

Electricity and Our Final Energy Project

The last component of energy we learned about was electricity. Each class completed a KWL chart at the beginning and end of the week. 

We learned that electric current is caused by moving electrons inside atoms. Students learned to distinguish positively charged atoms, negatively charged atoms, and neutrally charged atoms based on the number of protons and electrons. 



Students learned about simple and complex circuits. We also had guest speakers from Alabama Power come and do lessons about electricity, power lines, and safety.

We culminated our study of energy with group projects. Students created interactive posters displaying different forms of energy based on the following rubric:

Friday, each group presented their interactive poster to the class!

Spooky Fraction Avenue

I'm finally caught up! Yay! :)

With Halloween approaching, I wanted to incorporate the theme into math. 

This week, students created Spooky Fraction Avenue!  

They were given the following criteria for creating their "spooky street":

Students had to determine how many houses fit each piece of information. In some cases, they needed to convert the fractions to 8ths.

I think they did a terrific job, don't you?

STEM- Roller Coasters

STEM Project: Roller Coasters!

As an exciting project to coincide with our study of energy and forces, students had the opportunity to create paper roller coasters in class. Marbles were used on the coasters to demonstrate potential and kinetic energy, centrifugal force, gravitational force, acceleration and deceleration.  Students were asked to present their coasters to the class and describe all of the components. A rubric that included demonstration and application of knowledge, teamwork, and planning was used for grading.

Before we made the 3D, working coasters, students were given the following:

"Congratulations! You have been chosen to design a new roller coaster for Six Flags! Use your knowledge of energy and forces to draw, label, and present your new coaster. Don't forget to give your coaster a name!"

The final products were AWESOME!  Here are a few examples.

"Rainbow Road"

"Zip-iddy-do-dah-YAY"

"Wonderous Winder"

"The Dizzy Dome"

Students brought in materials such as cardstock paper, construction paper, toilet paper and paper towel tubes, tape, glue, and craft sticks to create their marble coasters. 

The goal was to create a marble coaster that included demonstrations of potential energy, kinetic energy, gravitational force, acceleration and deceleration. Some groups were able to create centrifugal forces through "time-wasters", cones, and even a loop!

Here are videos of 2 of the final coasters.

The students did a GREAT job and really showcased their knowledge of energy!

Multiplication

Multiplication

We practiced 2 by 1, 3 by 1, and 4 by 1 multiplication for several days before jumping right in to 2 by 2 multiplication.

To start 2 by 2 multiplication, we practiced the Box Method.

Solve 46 x 25.

Students break apart the numbers into tens and ones and place each group beside the boxes.

Next, multiply the numbers on the outside of each box.

Add the products to find the answer.

Once students understood that each number in the problem needed to be multiplied by each of the other numbers, it helped the standard algorithm make more sense.  

We also practiced creating equations from word problems and solving multiplicative comparison problems.

Example:

Sarah is 3 times as old as Jackson.

Jackson is twice as old as Cooper.

Cooper is 2 years old.

How old is Jackson?

How old is Cooper?

Potential and Kinetic Energy

Energy Continued

We moved right along in our study of energy by discussing potential and kinetic energy. Students learned that potential energy is stored energy, and kinetic energy is energy of motion. 

This WatchKnowLearn.com video links to a song about potential and kinetic energy that the students loved!

WatchKnowLearn - Energy Song

We also created Popsicle Stick Chain Reactions to demonstrate the stored energy in the popsicle sticks changing to kinetic energy. 

Here is a slo-mo video from our class! 

Isn't is AWESOME?

(Works best on mobile browsers)

To watch a demonstration of how to weave the popsicle sticks, click HERE!

*Note: The BIGGER the popsicle sticks, the BETTER the chain! It is easier to control the larger sticks, especially with smaller hands. :)

Regrouping

Math: Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping

We spent quite a while working on addition and subtraction with regrouping. We used Place Value Parkway in Number Talks and while working in our journals to support visual learners. We also used Base-Ten blocks to physically group and "move" ones, tens, hundreds, etc. to the correct place.

Students were able to move into using the standard algorithm very easily because of their understanding of place value.  

For example, in the problem below, they know they are not  "carrying the one", they are moving "1 group of 10" to the tens column. 

Here are pictures of addition regrouping using Base-Ten blocks, and a snapshot of a journal piece using the standard algorithm.

For regrouping in subtraction, we used stories of the numbers on Place Value Parkway having parties or going trick-or-treating to help understand the process of moving groups of numbers from one "house" to another. This helped TREMENDOUSLY when subtracting across a zero. 

Example:

   502 - 268

Student oral reasoning: 

"First, I start in the Ones House. 

I can't take away 8 pieces of candy if I only have 2.  So now I will go next door, but there is no one home in the Tens House! 

I have to keep walking down the block to the Hundreds House.  

I knock on the door and ask if I can move 100 to the tens place. They say yes, so when I move the 100 in 10 groups of 10, there are 4 Hundreds left, and now there are 10 tens in the Tens House. 

I still can't subtract yet, so I have to ask the Tens if I can move a group of Ten to the Ones House. 

They say yes, too. 

When I do that, there will only be 9 groups of 10 left in the Tens House, and now there are 12 ones in the Ones House. 

Now I can subtract.  

12 - 8 = 4

90 - 60 = 30

400 - 200 = 200

So my answer is 234."

Without the understanding of place value, students would simply be "borrowing" and "crossing out" like I learned when I was in school. I never knew what I was doing; I was just following the procedure my teachers taught me! Now, our students can do the standard algorithm just like the "Old Way", but they actually understand what they are doing. 

Amazing, isn't it??