Archives: Math

Breakout EDU

This summer while attending ISTE, I learned about a cool new game for the classroom called Breakout EDU.  Here’s a short video about it.

Since receiving my kit, I’ve played it four times–twice with my college students and twice with fifth graders.  All ages loved it.  For the fifth grade game, I used an adaptation of two of the games on the site (http://www.breakoutedu.com/).  The game centered around missing iPads, and students had to use their knowledge of place value to decode the clues to find them.

There are many games already pre-made to use with the kits (for free) and I enjoy making them up too.  I’m looking forward to playing with some first graders on Halloween!

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Decimal and Fraction Pic Collage

Mrs. Poindexter’s class used Pic Collage and Hands-on materials to compare fractions. Check it out!

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Mouse Traps with 3rd Graders

Mrs. Weikle’s class, with the help of Mr. Clark, visited the Makerspace for a STEM activity. They created Mouse Traps that contained at least one simple machine and one 3D shapes. Then they used Pic Collage to display their creations. Take look below!

Take a look at a few of their traps in action!

 Cross posted at Oak Grove Digital Archive.

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Spheros

The Oak Grove faculty was introduced to the school’s Makerspace at the faculty meeting last week. The project is still in the setup and learning phase, especially with the large influx of materials coming in. Part of my role in the project is to learn to use the new equipment and to explore uses for it that align with curriculum and STEM principles. The first piece of equipment that I’d like to introduce is our set of 5 Spheros. These are robotic balls that can be controlled and programed with iPad apps. They are great for real-life application of math skills, especially problem solving. One app, Drive N’ Draw, is a very simple app that can be used by younger students (even K and 1) with ease. Another app, Macrolab, allows older students to write simple programs that make the balls move in different directions, at different speeds, and with different colors. Changing speeds and colors requires division and percentages, and creating shapes allows students to practice lines and angles and other geometric principles. There’s a lot of math involved, and is appropriate for 4th and 5th graders. You can learn more here: http://www.gosphero.com/education/ 

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Lego iMovie Trailers

Students in Mrs. Sharp’s and Mrs. Downey’s Math and Writing classes used Legos to practice skills! First, they created lego houses based on a STEM activity created by Mrs. Downey. They found the area and perimeter of each of the rooms in their houses, and made sure to include at least one simple machine and working light.

Lego Houses:

Then, in writing class, they created Lego video trailers using the iMovie app.  I created templates for them to use here:

iMovie Trailer Script Plans

But there are many iMovie Trailer templates out there! Here’s a few more I’m considering using next time:

iMovie for iPad – Storyboard Help Sheets

iMovie for iPad Printable Storyboard Templates

Here’s what the students created.  They only had one class period to write and film their trailers!

Lego Trailers:

The Journey from elemitrt on Vimeo.

The Cabin from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Super Family from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Summer’s Here from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Creepy Connie from elemitrt on Vimeo.

Check Out their Final Lego Movie Blog Posts here!

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Mouse Traps

Third Graders in Mrs. Weikle’s class created Mouse Traps during a STEM project that targeted Simple Machines and 3D shapes.

Mrs. Weikle showed a Rube Goldberg inspired video before the students started their project.

Then students broke up in groups and created their mouse traps. The traps had to contain at least one simple machine (screw, pulley, lever, wedge, inclined plane, wheel and axel). Students were prepared to explain how their mouse trap worked, and what the simple machine did to help it. They also needed to identify the 3D shapes they used when building. Most of the groups even had time to create a Pic Collage labeling the parts of their machines.

Take a look at their creations below!

Cross Posted in the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

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Niche Bots

Students in Mrs. Mulvaney’s Science class created creatures using circuits and their knowledge of living systems.  They created new creatures based on a habitat and an animal type card they drew at the beginning of the activity.  The animal had to move, had to have a complete circuit, and had to have adaptations for the food it ate and the habitat it lived in.   Take a look at their creatures in action.

As a culmination to the project, students created Trading Cards (using an iPad app) about their animals.

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

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Bringing Famous Virginians and Documents to Life

Mrs. Mulvaney’s VA Studies class created virtual reality posters to convey key information about Famous Virgnians and Famous Documents.  They used a lot of technology to create these posters.  They used Pic Collage on the iPads to create the actual poster and green screen technology to place themselves in a historical setting.  The entire project is pulled together using an app called Aurasma.  If you download the app, follow the Oak Grove Channel, and scan the posters, they will come to life with the students’ videos.  Here are directions on how to load the app.

Aurasma Directions for Oak Grove

And just in case you can’t make it to Oak Grove to scan the posters in person, here are their videos below:

Cross posted on the Oak Grove Digital Archive.

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Coin Creations

Students in Mrs. Moretz’ class made coin creations to practice counting money in a very creative way.  Their task was to create a picture using three of each type of coin (penny, nickel, dime, quarter).  The total of the coins in their picture had to be more than $1.99 and less than $4.99.  Here are some examples:

 

We gave the students an Inspiration file with the coins they needed to help make the process go faster.  It could also be down with a Word Template.

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O.R.E.O. Project 2013

Mrs. Chamberland’s class participated in the great O.R.E.O. Project this year!  These second graders used their estimation, counting, and graphing skills during this project.  They submitted their results online, and compared the number of oreos they stacked with people all over the world!

Take a look at an example graph they made in Excel!
Oreo Chamberland 2013

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