Pick of the Week - Scratch

SCRATCH

My daughter just finished a 4 week computer camp at her school. The class was suppose to teach her a form of computer programming well enough that she would be able to design her own computer games after only 4 sessions. I was skeptical. Sure enough though, she came home on the last day with not one but several games she had created. Although the camp used many different resources, the main form of computer language she learned was Scratch. Scratch was developed with the help of people from MIT. It is easy, fun, and students will learn valuable computer programming skills. The best part is that it is a free download. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SCRATCH. If your child needs assistance there are loads of helpful videos on YouTube, and instructions and helpful tutorials right on the site. Here is one I found on the Scratch site (Click Here), you must first download Scratch to view it. Let me know if you make any games and I will post them to my web page! Have fun!!

Math Fraction Cookbooks!

Today in my AM and PM math classes, we shared a delicious project! The task of this mini-project was to find a favorite recipe with at least four fractions in it. Then, rewrite the recipe for half the amount of people it serves and then again for  3 times the amount of people the original recipe serves. For an added bonus, if the students made the recipe to serve a third of the people in the original recipe and brought it into class today, they were able to choose a homework pass or 5 points added to their extra credit ticket. Needless to say, we had a lot of fractional food in my room today! :) Everything was delicious and we all had a great time! The students enjoyed the food so much that they were asking for the recipes. Below are links to each cookbook. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment!

AM Math Fraction Cookbook
PM Math Fraction Cookbook Part 1
Pm Math Fraction Cookbook Part 2

A digital collage by Smilebox

Famous Scientist and Inventors

The boys and girls in my science classes were given the task to research a famous scientist or inventor. Once they researched them, they needed to write a paragraph about them (a hard task to get a lot of facts into a small, concise paragraph) and make a Baseball Style Trading Card of them. Click here to view Homeroom 235's Trading Cards. Click here to view Homeroom 236's Trading Cards. Feel free to leave a comment below about them!

Nrich February Newsletter

I have written about the Nrich website before and all of its wonderful math resources. Today I am letting you know that the February Nrich newsletter is available online. If you want to enrich your child's math problem solving outside of the classroom, this is a great site to go to. Nrich is a British site, so they group their students a little differently. Select Key Stage 1 & 2 for 5th graders, but by all means try the later Key Stages if they need more of a challenge. Try it out and let me know how you liked it.

The Math and Science of Football

Before watching the BIG GAME on Sunday, why not learn something new about the sport. Science of NFL Football has wonderful videos about the science and math of football. I especially like the Pythagorean Theorem video. How about you? What was your favorite video? What did you learn that was new?  Don't forget to leave your first name and last initial only to stay safe on the web. Enjoy watching the Super Bowl and GO STEELERS!

Fraction Fun!

On Friday, the students in my math classes learned to play a new card game. Here are the rules:
1. Two to three players can play.
2. Each player gets four cards placed face down. Cards are placed as shown below.

3. Turn cards over.You now have two fractions in front of you.The top card is your numerator.Bottom card is your denominator.All face cards and Aces are worth 10.
4. Add the two fractions together.
5. Make sure to simplify your fraction.Make sure to make any improper fractions proper.
6. Compare your fraction to the other player.
7. The largest fraction wins.That player gets all of the cards that were just used. Put your winning cards off to the side.
8. Repeat until all the cards have been used in the deck.
9. Count how many cards you collected during the game.The person with the most cards wins.

You can also change up the game by doing the smallest fraction wins, or the fraction closest to 1 or any other benchmark number. Have fun playing it! I know we did!

The only problem is that this game still does not have a name. Any suggestions? Please leave a comment if you play the game or if you have an idea for a name of it. Don't forget to use only your first name and last initial.

MACHINE DAY 2011

Machine Day was a huge success! All groups were able to move their roll of pennies at least 3 feet - some even more! Fantastic job, Boys and Girls!!