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.