Circumference/diameter

Today we went out. After a task in Hasse Perssons book "Experiments with Mathematics", we practically learned how we are dividing the circumference of a circle with its diameter to get Pi. We did this by using a stick and a rope. Students were placed along the rope and had to count there steps in a full circle.Then they walked the distance to the pin, the radius. The radius we then doubled to obtain the diameter of the circle. When we met up in the classroom again and reflected and discussed, we were dividing the circumference by the value of the diameter and we all got the answer 3. 

We got this great practice outside!

PI

With the help of three hockey pucks and some string, you can prove the value of Pi. We did this by measuring the circumference of the puck with the help of a string.
Linn was assisting.

Linn placed the string over a number of pucks and clearly saw that the circumference of the hockey puck was the same as the diameter of three pucks and a bit more ...

The idea for this lab component comes from Hasse Persons book "Experiments with mathematics".

It is of course possible to use mouse pads, glass, rock rings or any other round object to this evidence. The circumference corresponds always a bit more than three diameters. 3,14 .................

The tower

Today we used multilink cubes for solving problems. How many cubes are there in this tower?

When it became more and more difficult we came up with the conclusion that the tower did not have to be all built because it was symmetrical. We discussed ways to solve the same problem and learned from each other. 

We also had time for a little humor! Olivia did some nice goggles :)

Math words

Two and two came forward and stood in front of me, one with his face against and one with his back against. I showed up one math word and the task was then to describe the word so that those who did not see understand. When the student guesses correctly you change the place and role. Super Fun!

This exercise shows in a fun way what students have mastered and what needs to be repeated in terms of math concepts. 

Save thousand

A game with dice. 

Roll a 1-6-dice and choose the value of the dice to stand for hundreds, tens or units digit. After five types you have to be as close to 1000 as possible.

Viktor and Paula save to a thousand.

Play with angles

In Hans Perssons book "Experiments with mathematics" there are a task called Play with angles and we did that today. The mission is to build a path through all the mirrors so that the beam from a laser pen can get from start to finish. 

It was a fun task, and this group got all the way from start to finish.

One challenge was to design something that could hold the mirror straight up, otherwise the beam went up at the ceiling or down at the floor.

Linnea was very focused when she got on her thinking mustache:)

Russian multiplication

Russian farmers are said to have used this method to multiply numbers between 6 and 10. The fingers are numbered from 6 to 10. Any couple can then be multiplied. 

Emily shows off her nice nails:)

To multiply 7 & 8 you put the fingers representing the numbers against each other. The fingers that touch and those below represent tens. In this case 50. The other fingers are multiplied and then added to the numbers we got on the lower fingers. Three times two is six and added to the tens you get 6 + 50 = 56 

Lucas and Rebecca examines whether the method works. It does! And it was fun!

Think thousand

Each student drew up a game plan with 9 boxes. Like this:

Then we rolled a 1-6 dice and the students had to put the number anywhere they liked. When I got 9 numbers and all the boxes were filled you had to sum up the three-digit numbers. Anyone who received a total closest to 1000 won. 

Christoffer sums up. 

Look how happy Linn was when she won the sum 998.

It was a very popular practice and the class said "one more time ..." so we spent some time with this amazing exercise. I heard several comments that "this was great", "can we do this throughout the lesson?" So it was a success!

The path of numbers

Another tip from Margareta Forsbäck!

We drew up a game plan on the board, consisting of a path of boxes. We wrote 0 in the first box and 1000 in the last box. Then we rolled three 1-9 dice and wondered what numbers these three figures could form. The chosen number was placed in an appropriate place along the path. The goal is to produce numbers that can be placed in all blocks from 0 to 1000. The students were taking turns to roll the dice and choose which number that would be formed and placed in the path. 

Robin found a great box for his number.

Blob

You roll with three dice and then using the three figures to form a number between 1 and 42, you can use the four operations. For example 3 + 6-1 = 8, you then receive one point. You get an extra point for each adjacent square that is already taken. If you can´t make any free number you get a blob. The game ends when someone has three blotches (or whatever you determine yourself) and the one which has the most points wins.

This exercise practising concentration and mental arithmetic. It's also a lot of fun! 

Math-warm up

As a little warm up on the maths lesson you can do this little exercise as I did today in grade 5. Think I got the tip from Margareta Forsbäck. It can be adapted for use in all grades. Begin by distributing the paper in which students write a big equal sign on one side and a crossed out an equation on the other side. 

Then, put statements on the board, like 0.2  2/10 or 1/2  6/3 and let the students show up right sign. The class is immediately activated and hopefully even the rest of the lesson. 

Fun charts

Welcome back! 

A new semester with lots of fun are waiting ahead.

My students are very creative and this week we are making charts in a different way. They were all asking at least 50 individuals a question, for example "What is your favourite season?" Then they present the result in a chart, like this:

Do you like pizza?

Favourite season? A knitted one!

Favourite sport in a box

Bad habbits in your home?

Favourite country, with famous buildings and people.

Were do you like to travel to?

Concentration

A lot of small pieces...

Hanna did a handmade decoration around the circle.

What is your favourite soda?

Favourite season?

I am very happy about the results and we are having a lots of fun, classroom fun!

Geometric ABC

We have made an abc of geometry, a large painting (70 cm * 100 cm) with small squares. Each square demonstrates a word that has to do with geometry, like Hypotenuse or Rectangle. It is of course in Swedish but I would like to show this great idea of mine. Enjoy!

We can take a closer look at some of the squares.

Remainder rally

I got the game "Remainder rally" from Margareta Forsbäck.

It is a paper filled with numbers in a "meandering" line. All players start in the field where it says 17. You roll a dice and ask yourself "How many times does x (depending on what the dice show) "fit" in 17?" The remainder is the number of steps you can move forward.

Whoever comes first to the end of line wins!

Weight - with wrapped milk cartons

Margareta Forsbäck told me how to work with wrapped milk cartons to introduce the concept of weight. Each carton could be filled with anything and was wrapped in neatly. At first the children were to sort the cartons by weight, then guess the weight and then check the weight to finally figure out the difference between hypothesis and results.

I then got an idea to try to balance the cartons on a self-made balance scale. We put the cartons on the balancescale trying to find balance. Two at a time we put them on the scale. We managed to put all the cartons on the scale without losing the balance. We then decided  to remove the cartons, also two at a time and still without losing the balance. It became more difficult but we made it.

Here's what it looked like:

Rocket Racing

We have built rockets for a rocket racing. Who has built the best looking rocket? Who built the rocket that flew the longest? Launching ramp I built at a lesson with Hans Persson. (http://www.hanper.se/)

Half of the class proudly presents their rockets.

They all eagerly wait  for their turn to fire.

The results

Here are the winners! Ellas rocket got the most votes and was named best looking rocket. Patrik built the rocket that flew the longest, more than 30 meters. It was perfectly balanced and it was a lot of tape involved :)

We all had great fun!