Yay for Friday!

We've worked hard all week and now we deserved a break!

Our day:

The math problem that stumped the class.  We began with a Minds-On that had us rounding numbers in different ways, then made our way to the Rounding Problem.  After working on the problem for a bit, students took a break and shared some strategies, then attacked the problem again.  Some groups looked like they were on their way to completely solving the problem, but ran out of time before they could fully communicate their reasoning and check their answer for reasonableness.

Using the following success criteria, students ploughed through this challenging problem.

As you can see, every group was able to show some understanding of the task.  Some needed a little teacher support to boost their confidence and guide them through some of the shared strategies.

This group, instead of using the rounding rules to help them find the solution, used a less reliable strategy for this problem, guess and check.  Luckily, they did guess (or overhear the group next to them), the least number that would round to all three given numbers.  When checking their guesses, they did use rounding rules.  (seen on their planning sheet, not yet transmitted to their chart paper)

This group attempted to use the number line strategy to find a solution.

This group found a number that does meet the criteria.  However they were not able to give a range of numbers to come to a final solution.  They showed an ability to round to the closest 100s, 1 000s and 10 000s.

This group lost their confidence and decided they wanted to practise rounding over the weekend.  However, when I sat with them and had them walk me through the steps for rounding, they were able to do it.  It was the problem that intimidated them.

They found a range of numbers that met the criteria, but needed to go a little further to include all the possibilities.

Found the solution.   They were on their way to proving it and communicating their findings when we stopped to share our work.  As a group, we followed through with checking for reasonableness and proved this solution to be accurate.  

 They were able to find the greatest possible number, but did not quite go low enough to find the lowest number.

With some prompting and guidance, this group showed me that they could  round.  We found the solution together, but had not fully explained our reasoning.

If you are looking for a Number Sense Problem challenge try the Problem of the Week at the following link: Problem of the Week.

In French, students begin each day by  practising a scripted conversation with a partner.  They are working towards their first oral presentation in French, at the end of the month.  We took up our AVOIR work from yesterday and competed in Verbarama.  Congratulations to students who were not only able to completely conjugate the verb, but did so in order!  We finished reading and responding to our first book (5 stories) and are ready to move on to the next level.  Some students may even be able to move beyond the next level!  Finally, as suggested by Mlle Dunne, we watched a short French television show, listening for key words (and any other word we recognized) while paying attention to main ideas and main characters. I think students surprised themselves by how much they understood.

Just a reminder that our first little quiz in sciences sociales is this coming Tuesday.  As previously mentioned, we are focusing globe and mapping skills, as well as learning the continents and oceans in French. Students should be able to label a map, with correct spelling, in French.

In English, we continue to focus on thinking beyond what is written, using a variety of reading strategies.  Our primary focus, at this time, is making connections.

I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!  Remember to check out the attached math links on the right-hand side of the blog for extra math fun and support.