Cuisenaire Rods lesson #2

As my second lesson with Cuisenaire Rods, I decided to do an activity that was some sort of challenge or game. I chose Train Riddles from the Cuisenaire Rod section under grades 3-5. I chose this lesson because it looks like a lot of fun and I know that many of my students will step up the the opportunity to make riddles that are unique and challenging to figure out. In this lesson students work in pairs to create a train of Cuisenaire Rods with a certain number of rods. Then the students create clues to help others figure out the different rods that make up their train. Eventually, each pair of students trade clues with another pair and try to figure out the correct train according to the clues provided. I like this activity because it is very hands on and it also provides students with an opportunity to practice descriptive language as well as various mathematical concepts.

Virtual Manipulatives

I recently explored the Congruent Triangles manipulative under grades 3-5 Geometry. Although congruency is a review for 5th grade students, some kids still struggle with the difference between similar and congruent figures. Using this manipulative, students do more than simply label shapes as congruent or similar. This activity allows them to manipulate predetermined lines in order to make triangle that are congruent. In my opinion, this is a helpful activity because the students actually create the shapes they are using. In this way, the concept is made more concrete and meaningful to them than if they were simply classifying someone elses shapes as congruent or similar.

Cuisenaire Rods lesson

For a lesson using Cuisenaire Rods, I have decided to do a lesson pertaining to triangles. My lesson is adapted off of the class disk under the 5-6 grade section. The title of the lesson is Making Triangles. In this lesson, students will explore creating triangles with Cuisenaire Rods. Students will also discover that certain rods will not form triangles when grouped together. Once they have explored creating triangles, they will work on classifying all of their triangles by their sides. Students will sketch each triangle on their record sheet, label the lengths of each side, name each triangle, and record the perimeter. As a closure activity, each student will come up to the front of the class and share one of their triangles. The class will determine whether or not their classification and perimeter are correct using Communicators to show their work.

Geoboard Lesson # 2

For the second lesson using Geoboards, I have decided to work with similar and congruent figures. This is a topic that is best taught using visual aides. It is quite impossible to teach without the use of visuals. First, the lesson would begin with a general direction to students such as: Everyone make a square on your Geoboard. Then, attention would be brought to the fact that the squares that the students made looked different, while others looked the same. As a class, these discoveries would be examined. Next, the class would come up with examples of acceptable definitions for similar figures and congruent figures. Several practice round would assess student understanding.

At this point, students would be split up into groups. Using dice, students will be prompted to create similar figures if they roll an odd number or to create congruent figures if they roll an even number. Each student will take turns rolling the dice, creating a figure, and watching as their partner creates either a similar figure or a congruent figure.

The lesson would end with a reference to the concept of probability that the dice incorporated into the lesson to be explored further at a later date.

NLVM - Week 8

This week I explored the Tessellations manipulative on the National Library site. At the end of each school year I expose my students to tessellations and assign a project in which they have to create their own original tessellation. This assignment always proves challenging for most of the students in my class. They are under the impression that a tessellation is the same thing as a picture or a pattern. They often leave gaps in their design and as a result, their design is not a tessellation. I like this manipulative because it gives students a way to, for lack of a better word, manipulate the shapes and see how they can fit together.

I would have found this manipulative more usefull if it started out by giving students a parial tessellation and asking them to continue the tessellation. This would be extremely helpful to my students who have trouble visualizing what a tessellation should look like. Once the students have done several tasks like this, it would be great if the tasks then turning into independent tasks such as: make a tesselation of triangles, etc. Overall, I find this manipulative beneficial and plan to use it with my kids, I just wished it provided more guidance.

NLVM - Week 7

This week I explored the mastermind activity on the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. I found this activity very interesting and thought invoking. You have to figure out a pattern by first using the guess and check method and then by using the clues that are provided to you. I used this activity as a challenge for my students. While working on a measurement unit, my support teacher and I split up the class into two groups: one group who grasped the concept of measurement and one group who needed extra practice with measurement. While she took the group that needed extra help, I used this virtual manipulative with the students who did not need the extra practice. The challenge was to be the student who used the least amount of guesses/clues to solve each pattern. We did this with the two color - six color patterns. It worked well and they all were determined to win one of the challenges.

Geoboard Lesson

For a lesson using Geoboards, I decided to do a lesson on perimeter and area. This lesson requires basic knowledge of area and perimeter. The lesson would start whole class where we create several shapes using the Geoboards. These shapes are teacher prompted such as: create a shape with a perimeter of 22. Next, create groups according to the accuracy and originality of their shapes. In groups, students will create individual shapes that follow the rules on their activity sheet. Once they have created their shapes independently, each group will share their shapes and make corrections accordingly. The activity sheets will range in difficulty according to individual/group ability. As a closure activity, each group will pick one of their area problems and one of their perimeter problems to share with the class. Encourage students to find different shapes/dimension s that will produce the same perimeter or area.

Cuisenaire Rods Lesson

For a lesson using Cuisenaire Rods, I have decided to do a lesson pertaining to triangles. My lesson is adapted off of the class disk under the 5-6 grade section. The title of the lesson is Making Triangles. In this lesson, students will explore creating triangles with Cuisenaire Rods. Students will also discover that certain rods will not form triangles when grouped together. Once they have explored creating triangles, they will work on classifying all of their triangles by their sides. Students will sketch each triangle on their record sheet, label the lengths of each side, name each triangle, and record the perimeter. As a closure activity, each student will come up to the front of the class and share one of their triangles. The class will determine whether or not their classification and perimeter are correct using Communicators to show their work.

NLVM - Week 5

This week I explored the Circle 3 manipulative. This is located under the Grade 3-5 category as well as under other grades. I like this manipulative as a do now for my class. It is one of those activities that really makes you think. The goal of this manipulative is to complete a pattern of interlocking circles according to the rules and hints that you are given. The one I am referring to asks you to complete the circles so that each circle adds up to 3. Some parts of the circles already have numbers in them ( in this case they are all decimals). The circles over lap like a Venn diagram so any number that you put in one circle will effect the outcome of the surrounding circles. The solutions to this manipulative are not easily found. I like this manipulative because the process in challenging and though provoking. I is great for practicing trial and error. A small amount of strategizing and common sense will help but trial and error is really the only way for students to solve the puzzle in this manipulative.

Color Tiles Lesson Plan

For my lesson with Color Tiles, I chose to adapt a lesson on probability from the disk. The following lesson is adapted from a grade 5-6 lesson entitled What’s Your Prediction?
In this lesson, the teacher holds a bag of 10 pattern blocks of 5 Blue and 5 Red blocks. The students make predictions and as a class, we pull out one block at a time and record our results. The results are then discussed as a class. Once the concept is clear to the students, the lesson is taken one step further. In teacher designed groups, students will make predictions for situations when there is more than one color in the bag than another color. Students will discuss whether they believe the outcomes will be different and why. Then each group will test their theory by repeating the group activity within their groups and recording their outcomes.
All theories and findings will be discussed as a class. Each group will come to the front of the room and explain their findings. This lesson will serve as a segue into probability.

Virtual Manipulatives #4

This week when I went to the NLVM, I jumped around a lot. In previous weeks, I had a tendency to get fixated on a certain manipulative and work only with that manipulative. This week, I worked in grades 3-5 under the measurement and Data Analysis categories. I liked the idea of the Spinner for probability. The only problem was that I could not figure out how to record my results. After a period of trial and error, I figured it out. I thought that the students were suppose to manually record their results but realized that the computer does it for them. I think that this is a great activity for probability. I also worked with the Attribute Trains. This manipulative was interesting because my brain automatically started working overtime. The patterns here are more complex than the Color Patterns. These patterns include colors, shapes, and numbers. I was having a lot of trouble figuring out the patterns because I was thinking of all factors (color, shape, and number). Then I realized that each pattern was discovered looking at only one of those factors at a time, while the others just served as distractions. Once I realized this, the patterns were fairly easy, almost too easy. It was a little disappointing.

Pattern Blocks: Lesson 2

For my second lesson with Pattern Blocks, I chose to adapt a lesson from Grade Levels 3-6: All Possible Perimeters. I chose this lesson because perimeter is a concept that is in our 5th grade curriculum and I believe it is a fun, interactive lesson. During this lesson, students will create various shapes using the Pattern Blocks. Students will discover that for measurement purposes, one side of a triangle will be equal to one unit of measurement. As I plan to use this with my students during our perimeter unit, I will have them assign linear measurement to their shapes such at feet, inches, yards, etc. The students will evaluate shapes that represent large perimeters and shapes that represent small perimeters and the relationships between the two. As a final activity, after the students have explored various perimeters with the Pattern Blocks, I will challenge the students to create a shape with the largest possible perimeter and the smallest possible perimeter, allowing them to use only one shape and 5 pieces. The amount of shapes and pieces used will vary based on the differentiation of each group of students.

Exploring the NLVM website: Week 3

As I continue to explore the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives, I continue to be amazed by the endless resources that it provides. In education today, and especially in my district, there is a huge push to integrate technology into every lesson plan. Technology Infusion is now required as a separate section on our daily lesson plans. Currently, my math class is starting a unit on measurement. Included in this unit is various concepts of time, including elapse time. This has always been a struggle for my 5th grade students. Recently, I discovered the virtual manipulative entitled Time: What Time Will It Be? This particular manipulative is located in grade levels 3-5 under the Measurement category. It is great because it allows you to manipulate clocks to answer questions regarding elapse time. It also provides problems presented with both digital and analog clocks. I believe that this manipulative will provide me with a great activity for my lessons on elapse time while allowing the integration of technology. It also allows students of different ability levels to work at their own speed. When using a worksheet with a set number of problems, you run the risk of your higher level students finishing early with nothing to do while your lower level students are left feeling disappointed because they were unable to finish the assignment. This virtual manipulative automatically continues to provide new problems giving students an appropriate work load for their level.

Exploring the NLVM website Week 2

By this time, I have explored many of the activities available of the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. However, I am particularly excited about the geoboard activity. During my first week using this website, I was not really aware of this activity, probably because it is located far down on the list and I was preoccupied with all of the cool activities listed before it. I think that this activity is especially great because of the type of class I have. I have a whole unit of geometry I have to teach in the spring and the use of manipulatives can become challenging with the mix of students I have. I have a lot of students with attention issues and commonly, geoboards and rubber bands become nothing but toys and honestly, a big hassle. Using the NLVM website, I can not only give my students time on the computers, which they love, but I can avoid the inevitable event of a rubber band flying across the room. With the use of the Promethean Board, I can connect to the website and work along with my students using the same technology that they are while teaching topics such as area in a new interactive way. I look forward to utilizing this in the coming months.

Lesson 1: Pattern Blocks

I have adapted a lesson from Grades 5-6, category Pattern Blocks on the disk. The goal of this lesson is for students to add mixed numbers with unlike denominators using pattern blocks. During the activity, the students will first find the values of the triangle, parallelogram, and trapezoid when the value of the hexagon is equal to 1. Then, in groups, the students will create designs using the pattern blocks. Next, they will find the value of their designs using their knowledge of adding mixed numbers with unlike denominators. The lesson will utilize various materials including the NLVM website, Communicators, Pattern Blocks, worksheets, and calculators (when appropriate).

Private Universe Project in Mathmatics

While viewing video 1 of the Private Universe videos, I immediately related to the students in the study. Like Dana and Stephanie, I would usually take a visual route to solving a problem such as drawing pictures. As I progressed in my school career, I could often solve problems similar to the ones in the video by drawing pictures but I had trouble relating my drawings to mathematical operations. While watching this video, I could not help but notice that as the mathematical reasoning of the students developed, so did there social skills enabling them to work together better. As the students worked through the tasks presented to them, there was almost an excitement that could be seen. The students didn't think of what they were doing as work. The shirt/pants task as well as the tower task brought into play two things that kids generally enjoy doing, drawing and building. It was also interesting to hear the students reflect on their experiences in different types of math classes. Memories of math class in the lower grade levels seemed very positive in comparison to their experiences in 9th grade math. These finding prove significant because I do agree that students typically do not remember much of what they learned several years prior in school. The fact that these students did remember the shirt/pants activity and the tower activity tells me that there was a genuine deep level of learning taking place.

Tower Activity

I decided to complete the tower activity assignment with my after-school tutor group. I must say, it was a big success. Every time I see my students in the hallway, they want to know when we are going to make more towers. I have cube sets that are similar to the unifix cubes so I was able to create several sets for the class. I split the students up into four groups of four. After explaining the goal of the activity, I sat back and watched. Every group immediately created an all brown tower and an all blue tower, or whichever two colors they had. Each group then proceeded to create towers that were split half and half. I found it interesting that each group had the same or similar thought process up to this point. Once the half and half towers were created, the groups proceeded in different direction. Two groups caught onto the opposite or pairing approach almost immediately while other did a type of trial and error. The groups that used trial and error created random tower combinations and checked to see if they already had a tower that looked the same. The students that utilized what they referred to as the "pairing" approach created all of the possible towers faster than the students who used trial and error. After completing the activity I asked my students how many spots there were in each tower, how many options or colors there were for each spot, and how many total combinations there were. I was shocked with how quickly they caught on. My students quickly came up with various equations that they thought would explain the total number of combinations. We soon moved onto five story tower but were unable to complete the task because we ran out of time. I have scheduled time for the students to complete their towers this upcoming Wednesday. I am anxious to see how it goes.

Virtual Manipulatives

I really enjoyed working on the virtual manipulatives' website. I decided to play around with some of the activities while my students discovered the site for the first time. I have used the NLVM site before but not with my current class. I enjoyed the tangram activity. This activity involves the manipulation of various geometric shapes in an effort to create a larger shape. I enjoyed creating the shape that looks like a running man. My students gravitated towards the peg activity and the tangram activity. This site is impressive because it offers such a variety of activities. I would imagine that there is an activity to be enjoyed by every type of student/learner. I also like the way that these activities get you to think and problem solve without any stress. I currently teach an inclusion class with certain students who struggle with most concepts. I saw absolutely no frustration from these students as they completed various virtual manipulatives. They were able to "think" and be successful without frustration and/or disappointment. I enjoyed the site and plan to use it on a regular basis in my classroom.